Saturday, February 28, 2009

Complain, Complain, Don't Go Away

I'm sure some of y'all have heard about this mayor out in Cali.

This cat had to resign after he sent a racist email out to bunch folks basically suggesting that since Obama's in the White House the annual Easter Egg hunt will be replaced by a watermelon picking contest. Just lovely. Oh yeah, he was a Republican.

But, I'm not hear to get all hot and bothered over the latest racist incident connected to President Barack Obama. If I tried to generate anger over all of these incidents my blood pressure would be higher than it already is.

Nope, I want to talk about the sister who snitched on the mayor. Yep, that's right. The only reason this cat got caught and ultimately had to resign was because a black woman saw his email and decide to take some action. She complained loud and hard, and forced the mayor's hand and the hands of all the other folks on his email list.

Start Snitching.

That's my message. When you see someone behaving in a racist manner, snitch on their ass with the quickness. Particularly if they have the gall to get all racist at work. I want you to run to the Human Resources Director so fast that cats start calling you Jesse Owens. Snitch like your life depended on it.

Some of y'all may be surprised by this advice. Most of our parents taught us that nobody likes a tattletale, and our peers made sure we learned that snitches get stitches. "Rats" are viewed with contempt in almost every social and professional setting, and the easiest way to become a pariah in this world is to develop a reputation as a fink.

I don't care. Keep snitching.

Don't allow the folks benefiting from the status quo to try to tell you that you have to adhere to the status quo. If you listen to them, you'll never get ahead. Don't be a team player when it comes to racism, don't be thick-skinned. Be a sensitive, complaining, snitching pain-in-the-ass.

Snitching, or complaining, is the only way we are going to force folks to own up to their racist behavior and change. We have to use our complaints as leverage. We need to document racism and if our immediate supervisors won't assist us in rooting it out, then we go over their heads. We need to go to the corporate office, we need to make EEOC complaints. Don't be a silent witness or victim, open your damn mouths.

Racism and discrimination flourish with silent acceptance. Look at our history in this country. The only time we've been able to force those in power to make some attempts to rectify wrongs is when we opened our mouths and told them that what they were doing was wrong. As long as we quietly ate shit, they kept taking a dump on our faces and saying "Would you like some more?"

I know complaining has some drawbacks. You'll probably get told that you're obsessed with race, that you're too politically correct, that you don't know how to take a joke. Your co-workers may stop inviting you out for drinks, or stop talking to you in the breakroom. People don't like their flaws pointed out, and they will surely attempt to punish you for exposing them.

Who cares? Do you really want to be cool with people who are fine with racism? Are those the types of folks you want to spend time with?

I didn't think so.

Obama's election has made it more difficult to get some white folks to admit racism is a problem. That's why it's our job to yell at the top of our lungs whenever somebody effs up so that there can be no mistake that racism and discrimination are still huge problems. We have a responsibility to our children to keep standing strong in the face of criticism and ridicule. We owe them the power to speak up and be heard.

Keep talking.






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16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm nodding my head in complete agreement. I agree that no longer can we sit and be complacent and excuse the BS.

Lorraine said...

This is damn right.

Anonymous said...

I'll sign on to that sentiment.

Anonymous said...

A Saturday post...

I feel so special, lol.

But yes...double Amen from me.

strangefruit said...

I wholeheartedly agree with what you said and we definitely need to make our children aware of the fact that they need to tell when they encounter racism or bullying too... Just the other day I *almost* walked in on a "frustrated" teacher telling a little 2nd grader that he was "stupid". Instead of proceeding into her classroom for whatever my initial reason was, I made a beeline for the Principal's office and sang like a canary. "Snitches no longer get stitches, they bring down b*tches."

Anonymous said...

Right on, Big Man. You bring up a very interesting point. Why do parents tell their kids not to be "tattle tales", when they also give them contrary advice? I don't get it.

Dizzy said...

What galls me is, how many people saw this shit and just let it go?

v-know, I dunno about you, but it's easy for me to tell if my kid or somebody else's kid is tattling, vs. just telling you the facts. Tattling means you're taking joy out of bringing someone else down, and my son NEVER is gonna get a free pass on that.

Same thing applies to this mayor. Anyone who's taking joy mout of him, or Don Imus, or any other idiot getting taken down a few pegs for racism is totally off base. It's good these guys are getting taken down, but we shouldn't be happy, we should be pissed off that this even needs to happen.

Big Man said...

Dave

Good point man, real good point on the difference between tattling and stating the facts. That's a lesson many parents fail to teach their kids, and I need to make sure I'm vigilant about that myself.

Ferocious Kitty said...

I tell my kids that tattling serves only to get someone in trouble, while telling serves to get help for someone in trouble, or to make things right or fair.

Anonymous said...

Exactly right. I agree that there is a line between our weariness and determination to not let these shitweasels get attention and just plain calling them out. It doesn't feed them or give them any power to just say "oh no, that's WRONG" and then keep moving, without them. You know?

Big Man said...

Lolo

That's right, keep moving. I know I've been guilty of wallowing in some of that stuff, and I'm trying to move past that. Instead of letting these folks derail me, I'm making it my business to derail them. You don't need to get all upset, you just need to state the facts and then let the chips fall where they may.

Anonymous said...

You know how you're supposedly more patient as you age? Not true in my case. Once upon a time I would get all tangled up in explaining and educating certain types of people but not any more.

It's simple, it's wrong and I don't have to be the one who has to explain just how and why. I wouldn't discuss the wrongness of child molesting, oh wait "loving the young", with those idiots in NAMBLA, for example. I would just put the wrong end of my foot up their ass on my way to the police station to report their pedoazz. Same thing with the watermelon mayor. Foot up his ass on my way over his carcass but I wouldn't spend the time to help him back up and explain just why he's wrong.

Anonymous said...

I'm mad I didn't read anything on Saturday. This would have had me in stitches then.

As is my life, I died laughing as soon as I got to "START SNITCHING."

lol. great post.

GrannyStandingforTruth said...

What the watermelon mayor did will be considered minor compared to what this piece of dung wrote. Read this article. Whew! Granny got to go fan to cool off.


www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197363/posts

Anonymous said...

Granny, I would sooner step in dogshit than to read anything on the Free Republic. The smell would be sweeter and the mess would be easier to clean off.

That place is exactly the kind of mess that I refuse to allow admittance into my life.

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