RACE AND RAGE
Today's Boston Globe reports that an arrest has been made in the murder of a young Vietnamese teenager in Boston, who was killed in a white/Asian brawl a few weeks back. As this story has been developing, it now that seems that this tension might date back to an earlier incident where a Vietnamese girl was attacked by white youth and in turn, a white girl was attacked in retaliation. It's hard to tell if Bang Mai's death will help sober up both sides or instead, lead into a further spiralling of tensions.
I have to say - and this completely ignorant to suggest - but part of wishes the shit would just jump-off, and for once, someone besides us could feel scared and intimidated but of course, in these kind of situations, people of color are always the ones who get fucked up in the end. It's just that inner rage begs for release at times.
Speaking of which, how infuriating is columnist Annie Jacobsen? She wrote for WomensWallStreet.com about an encounter with a band of "Middle Eastern" musicians on a plane, and pens one of the most inane defenses of racial paranoia that I've ever seen in the last 50 years. I can't even, in good conscience, direct people to her ridiculous column but you can read how Salon destroys her entire argument (from there, you can link back to her writing if you're so inclined).
I have to say: not only are her politics reprehensibly backwards (she's advocating that we should be racially profiling airline passengers, especially if they look like they're "Middle Eastern") but her arguments are so laughably dumb that they piss me off intellectually too. I mean, hey Annie: quoting Ann Coulter, even "for facts" is like quoting Michael Moore "for facts." You can't be naive enough to think that people won't read a political intent into your choice of sources.
Annie has now made herself the hero of racists everywhere, especially those who spend their time listening to right-wing radio - congrats! That's got to be one feather in her career cap.
But hey, it's not all bad. At least Urban Outfitters is now selling "Everyone loves an Asian Boy" tees.
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