The Self-Bondage Of Racism
[guest post by Dana]
In today’s perceived racial outrage, Brittney Cooper, who teaches Women’s and Gender Studies and African Studies at Rutgers is upset that a man – a *white* man of privilege, no less – moved her computer bag on the subway seat next to the one she was occupying in order to have a seat for himself. Because racism.
On Friday, I was on the train to New York to do a teach-in on Ferguson at NYU. Beats headphones on, lost in thought, peering out the window, I suddenly saw a white hand shoving my work carry-on toward me. Startled, I looked up to see the hand belonged to a white guy, who was haphazardly handling my open bag, with my laptop perched just inside to make space for himself on the seat next to me.
That he wanted the seat on the now full train was not the problem. That he assumed the prerogative to place his hands on my bag, grab it, shove it at me, all while my computer was unsecured and peaking out, infuriated me. I said to him, “Never put your hands on my property.”
His reply: “Well, you should listen when I talk to you.” That line there, the command that when he, whoever he was, spoke, I should automatically listen encapsulates the breadth of the battle against racism we have to fight in this country.
Buoyed by his own entitlement, his own sense of white male somebodiness, this passenger never even considered that he might simply try harder to get my attention before putting his hands on my stuff. His own need to control space, his own sense of entitlement to move anything in his way even if it held something of value to another person, his belief that he had the right to do whatever he needed to do to make the environment conform to his will are all hallmarks of white privilege.
Dear Brittany, I’ve ridden the trains numerous times and here’s a way to keep it simple: If you have an empty seat next to you on a full train, put your bags on the floor between your legs. Leaving the seat open from the get-go is not only a no-brainer, but a gracious move. Problem solved. And if you have your Beats on, lost in the music, then either expect someone to move your bag or tap you on the shoulder to get your attention. (Personally, I prefer the latter, but let’s consider how you would perceive and later describe that white man of privilege touching you.)
Further, Brittany, what if it was you who went to grab a seat and saw a white man of privilege sitting there with his Beats on, lost in the music and his computer bag occupying the empty seat next to him? I think it’s safe to say that you would not respond the same way, and that you would automatically assume in your narrow, myopic view of people, that the white man in the seat – by default – would be exerting his white privilege and “somebodiness” believing he deserved to have two seats to himself. This way, you would be able to justify your claim that “[B]lack women are rarely entitled to the courtesies proffered to white women, and black people never presume they are entitled to occupy interracial spaces so aggressively.” In your world, there is no way that he could be the same as you saw yourself on the train: an innocuous traveler, lost in the music, daydreaming, unaware. Sadly, Brittany, your presuppositions about white males and their privilege do not permit you to experience the sublimely delicious freedom to judge individuals on the content of their character, but instead, you have willfully chosen to walk the narrow path of constraint, thereby condemning yourself to judging others by the color of their skin.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (8e74ce) — 12/20/2014 @ 1:09 pmHello. Well done, Dana! I agree completely.
felipe (40f0f0) — 12/20/2014 @ 1:17 pmSomebody needs to send poor maligned victimized Brittany the 188 second video about our place in the solar system that Col. Haiku posted on the Christmas card thread.
Furthermore, all Women’s and gender studies programs need to be systematically and immediately purged from American Universities. There is no reason for them at all. And they are seriously screwing up the heads of a whole generation of Americans.
elissa (dbc629) — 12/20/2014 @ 1:36 pmShe’d have kept her mouth shut if it had been a black man.
SPQR (4764ea) — 12/20/2014 @ 1:46 pmThis is so ridiculous as to almost be self-parodic. People like this woman are among the most entitled people on the face of the planet. Get your damn bag off the seat, lady.
Patterico (9c670f) — 12/20/2014 @ 1:47 pmBrain dead–but still breathing–silly and self important—Brittany that’s no way to go through life. Now as for trying harder to get your attention—what would you have thought of say, a good “pop in the chops”. That’s microagression cubed.
Skeptical Voter (12e67d) — 12/20/2014 @ 1:55 pmAt least the entitled crackah mofo didn’t ask Brittany to get something out of the overhead for him. Then all hell might have broken loose (See Michelle Obama’s Nightmare of Racism at Target).
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:00 pmOne could say that the white man is simply fulfilling MLK’s dream of people treating each other according to our actions which reveal our character as opposed to the color of our skin,
as I’m betting that white man would have done the same thing had she been a white woman as well,
and if she had been a man, white or black.
It really is all about the lens through which one views things.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:02 pmWhen it comes to privilege, this is a good example of the pot calling the kettle black.
AZ Bob (34bb80) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:02 pmIt is also an example of our less civil society.
AZ Bob (34bb80) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:03 pmI would like to reveal my regionalism, though, and say that I never thought Rutgers should have been let into the Big Ten…
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:06 pmbut then this could have happened in Ann Arbor, Evanston, Madison, Minneapolis, and several other places, if not all of them, as well.
Dana,
What you said! Thumbs up and dead on.
Bill M (906260) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:08 pmOn Friday, I was on the train to New York to do a teach-in on Ferguson at NYU.
Really, that’s all you need to know about Brittany right there.
Gazzer (ae5179) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:09 pmTwo NYPD officers were shot dead while sitting in their marked patrol car in broad daylight this afternoon. This happened in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. Details are still sketchy but I fear this is not going to move the national conversation on “race and police brutality” forward in a positive way.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/20/2-nypd-cops-shot-execution-style-in-brooklyn/
elissa (dbc629) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:14 pmThis girl doesn’t have a clue about being discriminated against. Fact is in today’s society there is no-one more put upon, more falsely accused, more reviled for no reason other than their skin tone, than the white male.
I don’t even want to be in this conversation, it pisses me off that much.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:21 pmBrittany demonstrates, once again, pure projection of the lefist. She is a smug, self-centered, racially bigoted ass projecting her own worst traits onto the designated Other.
Eric (0ebc49) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:22 pmhow is this not funny
dumb hoochie needs to learn how to ride a train
i picked it up super-quick
happyfeet (831175) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:35 pmPlease excuse my moment of self pity and whining.
I denounce myself.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:43 pmShe should be grateful it was a white guy, otherwise her computer would have been converted into crack by now.
nk (dbc370) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:50 pmthis might be a good time to review the rules about talking loudly on your cell phone while you’re on a train
ok let’s review
the rule is…
Do not talk loudly on your cell phone while you’re on a train.
POP QUIZ
While on a train I will not…
A. Take care to keep my personal items near me where they will not inconvenience my fellow passengers.
B. Talk loudly on my cell phone.
happyfeet (831175) — 12/20/2014 @ 2:51 pmShe shoulda told that honkey to move his white a** to the back of the train!
I think that is what some folks mean when they say “have a national conversation on race”
here in America.
I just never talk about anything but work at work. It leads to nothing good. Most people’s minds are already made up. I am pretty not going to be the one to change their minds and when they start to realize how wrong and arrogant they are, it is off to HR to complain about me for creating a hostile work environment by allowing them to demonstrate their ignorance…
WarEagle82 (b18ccf) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:09 pmWell, the blacks and fellow travelers got their wish. “What do we want ? Dead Cops !”
We’ll see if DeBlasio is welcome at the funerals.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:09 pmI felt a micro-aggression running up my leg just reading that.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:11 pmAnd the funny thing is, I ROUTINELY offer my seat to women, the elderly and handicapped riders on the train regardless of race, color or national origin.
And I NEVER put my bag on a seat on the train because I KNOW rush-hour trains are going to be standing-room only.
But then my mother raised me right…
WarEagle82 (b18ccf) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:15 pmI would highly recommend to black people in New York City not to make police officers “fear for their safety” in the next few days.
nk (dbc370) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:15 pmHello.
Denver Todd (5f001f) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:30 pmgood and bad in all
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:30 pmebony and ivory
or salt and pepper
she’s ridin’ that train
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:34 pmhigh on triggerwarningcaine
she ain’t casey jones
selling cars in a once grand suburb of cleveland ohio, i deal with this garbage daily. actually i don’t deal with it; i don’t hold the door. i don’t look them in the eye. i keep my eyes away. i walk a wide circle around them. i respond as if autistic when they confront me.
bb (ba1333) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:38 pmi mumble some jumble just like they do and walk away. no i cannot change the TV channel in the waiting room. no i cannot make popcorn for them while waiting in service. i pretend i am trainman on a shy binge, keep my eyes low and retreat. i’m even ok if they think i’m retarded. it’s much safer. i spend my entire day hiding from even the slightest interaction wif dem…
hiding from them, as a car salesman, at any cost, cut’s my income in half. but i still make a living.
but everyday it’s worse
Some people are just too full of themselves.
askeptic (efcf22) — 12/20/2014 @ 3:59 pmWe don’t have fur. We don’t have claws. No gills or wings either. When it comes to helpless and about to die horribly, naked ignorant humans in unfamiliar terrain are definitely bottom of the foodchain. Aren’t we fortunate to be able to “make the environment conform” to our will? We can go where polar bears, eagles, and fish can. I guess that makes people pretty arrogant. How dare we! How dare we make our homes conform to temperatures other than North Pole cold or Death Valley hot? How dare we take half a seat for two when an entitled princess wants the whole thing?
Jack (ff1ca8) — 12/20/2014 @ 4:18 pmI have a newsflash for you, sweetie, you’re damn lucky he didn’t take your package and toss it out a wimdow. I would have.
C. S. P. Schofield (848299) — 12/20/2014 @ 5:44 pmthe corect answer is “B”
if you chose “B” then you’re welcome to ride trains anywhere in the whole whirl
however, if you chose “A” then you might be a “Women’s and Gender Studies and African Studies at Rutgers”
which, bless your momo heart
happyfeet (831175) — 12/20/2014 @ 5:50 pmoh i forgot to say prof
happyfeet (831175) — 12/20/2014 @ 5:50 pm“Women’s and Gender Studies and African Studies at Rutgers” prof
happyfeet (831175) — 12/20/2014 @ 5:50 pmShe’s just looking for something to HATE. Makes her feel alive and righteous.
Otto Maddox (990b3b) — 12/20/2014 @ 6:43 pmOn Friday, I was on the train to New York to do a teach-in on Ferguson at NYU. Beats headphones on, lost in thought, peering out the window, I suddenly saw a white hand shoving my work carry-on toward me. Startled, I looked up to see the hand belonged to a white guy, who was haphazardly handling my open bag, with my laptop perched just inside to make space for himself on the seat next to me.
On Friday, I was on the train to New York to work my 7-hour shift at the Coffee Shop very near NYU. Crowded morning train as usual, I spied a seat with a bag on it. A woman sitting next to the bag, Beats headphones, lost in her listening….no other empty seats in the car….
That he wanted the seat on the now full train was not the problem.
I wanted the seat, but how to handle it: move the bag, and possibly start a confrontation; touch the lady to get her attention, and maybe start one, but, it might be easier to get out of; stand for the 23 minutes left in this ride, and add to my long day on my feet. I moved the bag.
That he assumed the prerogative to place his hands on my bag, grab it, shove it at me, all while my computer was unsecured and peaking out, infuriated me. I said to him, “Never put your hands on my property.
I saw that this was the wrong move. I’m going to lose this one, and have to sit next to her for the ride. I’m hoping that what happens next is easier to handle than moving the bag seems to be. I mean, I did speak to her several times trying to get her attention, with no luck. Then…. she spoke. Not going to happen. Nothing will be easy here. I think I’ll just give back to her what she gave me, and see how it goes. So…..”Well, you should listen when I talk to you.”
His reply: “Well, you should listen when I talk to you.” That line there, the command that when he, whoever he was, spoke, I should automatically listen encapsulates the breadth of the battle against racism we have to fight in this country.
There was no other response. I sat down. I’m glad she stopped after I spoke. I can tell she is upset about moving her bag; I just don’t know how upset she’d be if I had touched her first. Would have had to do that to get her attention. I guess trying to sit down on a train is becoming a bigger deal than it used to be….
Buoyed by his own entitlement, his own sense of white male somebodiness, this passenger never even considered that he might simply try harder to get my attention before putting his hands on my stuff. His own need to control space, his own sense of entitlement to move anything in his way even if it held something of value to another person, his belief that he had the right to do whatever he needed to do to make the environment conform to his will are all hallmarks of white privilege.
Since I can’t know what she is thinking, I’m guessing that she is bothered by my touching her stuff….I wonder if apologizing for doing that, hoping she might see that I just wanted to sit down, maybe we could talk it out, and I’d get her a coffee if she came near the shop….but, as I thought, the ride ended, and I probably missed a chance to make some amends….
A question for our readers….which one brought race into a simple disagreement???
reff (4dcda2) — 12/20/2014 @ 8:27 pmjust another ignorant liberal full of indignation … and apparently a racist …
KaiserDerden (faa0ee) — 12/20/2014 @ 8:35 pmDana,
You take her words to seriously. She was just practicing her writing skills in preparation for the next great race novel.
Davod (f3a711) — 12/20/2014 @ 9:11 pmLeaving aside poor Brittney having her bag “touched by a white man” (zOMG!) for a moment- PEOPLE, BE AWARE OF WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND YOU! Do *not* ride public transportation playing “Angry Birds”/ checking your email/ texting your BFF/ bopping to your Beats. There are mean nasty people out there looking for victims, and the best way to NOT be a victim is to be alert to what’s going on around you. (I’m thinking specifically of the Canadian bus incident from a few years back – passenger Tim McLean was dozing off at the same time a member of the Religion which Must Be Praised as Peaceful developed Sudden Jihadi Syndrome. McLean was beheaded.) Dear Brittney is darn lucky the guy only wanted a place to sit.
A_Nonny_Mouse (19bb48) — 12/20/2014 @ 9:30 pmhow mad would she have been if he had sat on the bag instead of moving it?
😎
redc1c4 (2b3c9e) — 12/20/2014 @ 9:44 pmBrittany is a stripper name i think
or at least it should be
happyfeet (831175) — 12/20/2014 @ 10:27 pmTranssexual name, I’d say. http://cdn.happyplace.com/assets/images/2012/06/4fe38d472377d.jpeg Mildly NSFW.
Here are some more hints on train etiquette from down under under, some also mildly risque.
http://happyplace.someecards.com/psas/brutally-honest-psas-on-subway-etiquette/
Train etiquette. Super-simple stuff.
nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2014 @ 5:16 amThere was a related story in the New York Times today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/nyregion/a-scourge-is-spreading-mtas-cure-dude-close-your-legs.html
They seem to think this is maybe a man-woman issue. The only thing is, she was doing the sort of thing the men are supposed to be doing – taking up more seat space than necessary.
(He might have been alitle bit too abrupt, that’s true. You probably should give the person the choice)
Sammy Finkelman (6a57b5) — 12/21/2014 @ 9:16 amI ride a bus to work every day. No kidding people – don’t use the seat next to you for your stuff. It’s the most annoying thing ever. And while we’re at it – don’t take the aisle seat leaving the window seat vacant so a person needing the seat needs to climb over you to sit down. It’s just common courtesy (not to mention common sense).
Georganne (e37667) — 12/22/2014 @ 6:50 am