I Was 'King Coon' Until I Hit Back

[nolabear]

18. What an outstanding, important piece of writing. Do seek a wider audience for it.

I won't go into it much but I grewup in the 1960's South and now live in the "liberal" Northwest. I've always been aware of the covert racism here but had it brought home to me recently when I was discussing a book I wrote with a number of old Northwest "doyennes" who were just fascinated by my writing about racism in the South and more than willing to nod a bit condescendingly even as they made comments like "Well, I don't think we have racial problems here, really. I think most of the black people here prefer to live in the CD, which is a lovely area, though now that the lesbians have started moving in and fixing things up the drug trafficking has moved to other areas." I mean, really???

So yes, it needs to be brought to everyone's attention that soft racism is racism--even mine. Although many of my best and most treasured influences come largely from the black culture of the South, I work every day to fight those tiny, unfair responses that make no sense to me but now and then crop up. It's a big old crazy world, but posts like yours remind people like me to keep working, on levels large and small, to, as Clinton said, celebrate one another.

Today, I celebrate you.