Black over White, historical example?
Well, historical I know nothing about. But when a person of Color
intimidates a person of Whiteness, I consider that to be an example.
So as I stand at the bus stop in Seattle's Rainier Valley, waiting for
my #7 bus for home, after a days work at the Blind Services, and the
door of the bus opens and a very large man shoves me aside as he exits
the bus and in the Rainier Dialect tells me to get the Hell out of his
way, I consider that to be a Black over White power play. This angry
man is very definitely exercising his Black dominance over a White
man. He certainly is not concerned that the White man is blind. Nor
does he care that the White man is probably twice his age and a bit
out of shape. No, what he is doing is to push a White man around
because he can.
The young Black kid, about ten years old, came walking down the
sidewalk along Rainier Avenue. Arlene, a very pretty Orientation
Mobility instructor, and of Japanese extraction, was walking toward
him. As he was about to pass her, he shot out his hand and grabbed
her squarely in the...what did President Donald Trump call it?...her
pussy. Arlene was absolutely furious. She came busting into my
office still frothing and sputtering. That little twerp upset Arlene
for several days. Pure and simple, the boy was striking back for the
treatment he felt was being dumped on him. I could go on with dozens
of similar examples. But they are, in fact, Black people striking
back out of frustration. Hatred of "Whitie". In their anger we all
look alike, just as they all look alike to White folk.
When Donald Trump shouts out his threats to wipe North Korea off the
face of the map, he is doing no differently than that Black Man
shoving me out of his way. North Korea is in Donald Trumps way. With
an angry gesture he shoves them aside. He does not stop to consider
the impact of his actions. I know how I felt toward that pushy, rude
man, Black or White, I was filled with rage. Donald Trump's actions
and words must surely have the same effect on North Koreans. Of
course my examples do fail in their comparison to Trump and North
Korea, since Donald Trump appears to hold all Koreans in contempt, and
I was angry at just one Black Man, and Arlene was furious at just one
little ten year old Black Boy. Neither of us transferred our anger to
an entire People.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/5/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Black over white? Give me a historical example of that!
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2017 4:21 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Anita Hill on Weinstein, Trump, and a
Watershed Moment for Sexual-Harassment Accusations
Nice thought, Abby. But when the old crop of lechers die off, the Gentlemen
in Waiting will be ready to step into their shoes. We can debate whether it
is in our human nature, or that we've been conditioned for such a long time,
but the result is the same. We need to dominate those around us. Men
dominate women. Women dominate children. Rich dominate poor. White over
Black. Black over White.
It never ends.
Until we figure out how to deal with the central problem, it will never end.
And as long as "leaders" like Donald Trump promise to lead us back to our
former Greatness, we are basically doomed to repeat our behavior over and
over and over...
Carl Jarvis
On 11/4/17, Abby Vincent <aevincent@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've been telling myself that when the angry old white guys die off,
everything will be OK. Maybe not. It is a problem on college
campuses because school officials don't want to ruin a guy's life by
making him a criminal. Most of the women who are speaking out now
have some status and therefore have a voice. If a woman with an
ordinary job is harassed at work and wants to speak out, she probably
won't be heard. It's depressing. I was a volunteer for a rape crisis
line for years. We believed that hundreds, even thousands of
one-on-one phone calls would all add up to a big difference. For
those we reached, it probably did. We never reached our goal of making
ourselves no longer needed.
Abby
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam
Vieni
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2017 1:06 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Anita Hill on Weinstein, Trump, and a
Watershed Moment for Sexual-Harassment Accusations
I do keep wondering about all of these women, suddenly coming forward
with accusations of predatory male behavior which is taking place,
and which has been taking place for decade upon decade. And some men
are being fired from their jobs because corporations are embarrassed
to be employing men who have acted in such unacceptable ways. But none
of this feels like real change to me. This is the way men have always
acted. It's part of our culture. I don't believe that the basic
attitudes can be changed. I think that only behavior can be changed
and behavior is changed by laws and rules with suitable discomfort
when one breaks the laws and rules. That's how this society has kept
overt racist acts in check. The basic racist attitudes of white people
didn't disappear, but white people were made to feel uncomfortable
when behaving in a racist manner. The minute permission is granted,
the racist behavior is back. You can do the same thing with men's
sexual harassment of women. You can control it by making the men who
do these things feel very uncomfortable, lose their jobs, lose their
reputations. But the basic sexist attitudes? They're not going away.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2017 3:16 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Anita Hill on Weinstein, Trump, and a
Watershed Moment for Sexual-Harassment Accusations
If we Americans are serious about altering the behavior of men in
power positions, toward women, we need to establish a Task Force to
develop guidelines that will impact those long established male habits.
The "Right" of men to pressure women for sexual favor is so ingrained
in all aspects of our culture, that merely turning the spotlight on a
few violators will not change a thing. After the dust settles and the
public shock has subsided, we will settle back in our old, comfortable
ways.
Unless we explore methods of modifying our behavior, nothing will change.
Like so many social improvements, interaction between men and women
has shown some improvement over the years. But underlying these
improvements is the same male nature, better covered but just as
aggressively male as ever.
Even as women have made gains, our current president holds women in
contempt. His remarks are seen as signals by predator wannabees.
Women's place in their community, better today than 50 years ago, is
being challenged. Women's role in society will be part of our return
to our former Greatness, if Donald Trump has his way.
Carl Jarvis
Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Attorney and law professor Anita Hill, a trailblazer in raising
public awareness of sexual harassment. (photo: Andreas Branch)
Anita Hill on Weinstein, Trump, and a Watershed Moment for
Sexual-Harassment Accusations By Jane Mayer, The New Yorker
03 November 17
During the 2016 Presidential campaign, eleven women accused Donald
Trump of making unwanted sexual advances toward them. Following a
well-worn playbook used by other accused sexual harassers, Trump
dismissed the women as "horrible, horrible liars" and their
allegations as "pure fiction." The women's voices swayed very few
voters, it would seem. Even after the "Access Hollywood" tape
surfaced, allowing voters to hear Trump boasting about "grabbing"
women "by the pussy," he was elected President. Among those who put
his candidacy over the top (at least in the Electoral College) were
fifty-three per cent of white female voters.
So why have Harvey Weinstein's alleged transgressions been taken so
much more seriously? One answer, it seems, has less to do with the
accused than with the accuser. Weinstein's sexual-harassment scandal
is unlike almost every other in recent memory because many of his
accusers are celebrities, with status, fame, and success commensurate
with his own. Sexual harassment is about power, not sex, and it has
taken women of extraordinary power to overcome the disadvantage that
most accusers face. As Susan Faludi, the author of "Backlash: the
Undeclared War Against Women," put it in an e-mail to me, "Power
belongs only to the celebrities these days. If only Trump had
harassed Angelina Jolie . . ."
Anita Hill, a woman with unusual insight into this topic, agrees that
the nature of Weinstein's accusers is the reason that his exposure
has proved to be a watershed moment. In a phone interview, Hill
emphasized that sexual-harassment cases live and die on the basis of
"believability," and that, in order for the accusers to prevail,
"they have to fit a narrative"
that the public will buy. At least until now, very few women have had
that standing.
Twenty-six years ago, Hill learned this the hard way, when, as a
young Yale Law School graduate, she famously testified that Clarence
Thomas was unsuitable for confirmation to the Supreme Court, on the
grounds that he had repeatedly harassed her while he served as her
boss, at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (I wrote about
the confirmation process and Hill's allegations in the book "Strange
Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas.") Her testimony blasted the
subject of workplace sexual harassment into the public consciousness,
but it was swept aside by the Senate. In televised public
congressional hearings, Hill's credibility was attacked, her
character smeared, and her sworn testimony dismissed as an
unresolvable "he said, she said" conflict. After Thomas described the
process as a "high-tech lynching"-despite the fact that both he and
Hill are African-American-the Senate confirmed him.
Hill, who is now a law professor at Brandeis University, told me that
what Thomas possessed, like many accused harassers, and unlike many
accusers, was a winning "narrative." The lynching story resonated
deeply. Without a similarly widely accepted narrative, Hill was
vulnerable to detractors supplying their own readings-imputing false
motives, insinuating psychological problems, and smearing her, as the
American Spectator notoriously did, as "a bit nutty and a bit slutty."
In contrast, Hill pointed out, "the Hollywood-starlet narrative is
part of the folklore. The casting couch is a long-standing issue." In
addition, she told me, "people often believe the myth that only
conventionally beautiful women are harassed-and so it didn't seem
that far-fetched to people that this would happen to beautiful
starlets who we all know and love."
Charges levied at political figures, Hill believes, face a
particularly high hurdle. Her case, like those of the women who
accused Trump, she says, "was cast as a political story." In such
situations, "everything gets interpreted through a political lens,
and it makes it almost impossible" for people to seriously consider
whether the accused harasser "is the right person to represent you.
It just becomes 'This is our guy' and 'people are trying to bring him
down.' "
Meanwhile, as Jessica Leeds, who accused Trump, during the campaign,
of groping her on a plane thirty years ago, told the Washington Post,
"It is hard to reconcile that Harvey Weinstein could be brought down
with this, and [President] Trump just continues to be the Teflon Don."
Melinda McGillivray, another accuser, told the Post that she, too,
was having trouble accepting the double standard. "What pisses me off
is that the guy is president," she said. McGillivray accused Trump of
grabbing her at Mar-a-Lago, in 2003, when she was twenty-three years
old.
Hill says she is "hopeful" that, in light of the Weinstein affair and
other recent sexual-harassment revelations against powerful bosses,
"people will revisit the women" who accused Trump. But she fears that
the Weinstein lesson "won't translate to everyday women, or even
those in high-profile careers in places like Silicon Valley," who
still don't have the fame, success, and standing of movie stars.
"We need to transfer the believability," Hill said. She argued that
the public needs to understand that Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina
Jolie "are just like women down the street. People need to take this
moment to make clear that this is not just about Hollywood."
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