Remember the Worldly Responsibilities of the Holocaust

How the ESSENCE of the Holocaust is EXACTLY identical to the Israeli-Hamas “Conflict” right now, and how we all need to be made aware of this, so we can, all do our parts, in stopping the eradication of this, particular culture of, people on the planet…off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Today is, the global memorial of the Holocaust, and we grieve for the six million Jews who’d lost their lives in the darkest time during human history.  For a lot of people of Taiwan, the Holocaust is nothing more than a distant echo that comes from, foreign soils, but, the lesson it had to offer is, quite, important to the, global, communities, and it resonates with the core values of Taiwan.

The Holocaust is not just a war toward an entire race of people, but a war against the natures of, man.  Between 1941 and 1945, the entire world bore witness to the systematic abuse that’s quite unimaginable.  The Jewish men, women and children herded away from their homes like livestock, stripped of their dignities, and, murdered in the groups in the concentration camps.  And, this act of violence is NOT from the solitary outburst of hatred, but at the height of anti-Sematic emotions—this stereotype toward the Jewish left the shadows to the world to carry.

People may think, what did this act against human that happened so far, far away from us had to do with us?   The answer lies not in the geographical distance, but the closeness of the values of moral responsibilities that we all shared, as human beings.  The challenges toward the minority groups such as the Jewish, the hatred for the groups, became a challenge for the entire mankind.  It’d eroded the structures of our, societies, destroyed that mutual respect we originally held for one another, our empathies, and what binds us as a whole, that common, understanding of each other as being, one in the, same.

Taiwan’s hard work toward democracy, human rights, as well as harmony in the society is worth noting.  All of these values aren’t just the ideals of politics, but the lifelines of a free society, and as these values get discarded, what will happen.  As hatred started, spreading, as aloofness replaced that sense of alert in ourselves, as human nature is, denied, we’d, be on that, unimaginable path of, no return, paved with the, perils.

Unfortunately though, the hatred for the Jews still exists in this world right now.  The Hamas ambush from October seventh of last year, killing the civilians in Israel, taking the locals hostage, caused the hate toward the Jews to get to an intolerable, height, the rising anti-Semitism not only threatened the safety and lives of the Jewish, it also brings the challenges toward the core values of human society too.

“Never again” is often, associated with the Holocaust.  This is a vow, the collective promise we made as mankind, to NEVER allow this sort of a mass murder from happening, again.  But, these words, aren’t, at all, passive: we must all, be motivated, to do something, especially, to memorialize those who’d died in the Holocaust, we needed to work hard, to educate the people to be more tolerant, understanding of, other, cultures.  We need to teach the younger generations of the dangers of having the prejudices, along with to avoid all the paranoid, beliefs too.

This is, a shared, duty of all of us, in the, world right now.

So, despite the lessons in history, but because it is NOT happening in that same location, but elsewhere, we rarely, noticed that how the two are, similar, like how the Israeli-Hamas Conflict, it’s also, on the perils of the group of people, getting, ERADICATED off of the planet, because a group thought that the group they’re attacking, wasn’t, fit enough, to live on the planet, similar to how Hitler ordered the genocide of the Jewish people, and the Israeli-Hamas Conflict had become, the Holocaust of the, modern day, era…

The Complex Predicament that the American Universities Now Faces in the Racial Slurs

On how moral responsibilities starts from the heads of these universities, the presidents, the deans of these, schools, then extend down to the students…off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The president of University of Pennsylvania, Magill, in her testimonies, painted over the anti-Sematic speeches, causing the debates, which led to her resignation, showed, the complex struggle of how the universities are caught between protecting the students and freedom of speech, her resignation is due to the public’s unsettlement of the rising anti-Sematic air, along with the hostility that’s in the school’s getting ignored by the management of the university.

Magill, and the presidents of Harvard, M.I.T. recently testified at the American Congress, on the management of the university campuses, and the anti-Sematic slurs.  The Republican congressmen inquired, “is the call of Holocaust a violation of the behavioral principle of the university?  The presidents responded using the legal wordings, that there needed to be physical actions from the racial slurs, for it to be, punishable.

And their responses had caused anger in the donors, governors, senators, and the Jewish communities too, especially toward Magill, due to her lenience toward anti-Sematic believes, the school lost a hundred million dollars in donations from the sponsors, the board of trustees are now looking for a new president for U of Pennsylvania, and, Magill had, resigned from her position in a few short, day’s time.

The core of the problem, is that a lot of the Jewish students now feel, unsafe, and the groups in the school called out the anti-Jews mottos, the professors were advocating genocide, and the constant coming on of death threats, making the Jewish students hide.  The critics blamed the higher up officials of the school for turning away the students who had been, discriminated against, to prioritize the needs of the persecutors, instead of the, victims.

The culture of these university campuses reminded me of Germany in 1930, at the time, anti-Semitism had been normalized in the younger generations of people, then, turned into the ideology of which the country is, governed under, allowing the rising up of Hitler.  Legally, the offensive speech are protected, unless there’s physical threats, the schools would need to weigh closely, if they are to punish the students who’d spoken these, racial, slurs.  But, to balance between the delicate relationship of preventing harassment and civic freedom, we would need to consider it in the means of the moment which these instances had, occurred, and the universities are now, admitting, that they’d, failed in the balancing of this matter.

The focal point of the presidents’ arguments lies in the protecting of the First Amendment rights, other than the physical threats, the freedom of speech is, protected.  But, in doing so, the presidents seem to have no empathy of the Jewish students who are, in the midst of this atmosphere.

So, what lessons can we learn, from this?  First, the schools had yet to resolve the issues of tolerance, safety, and the various ideologies that existed; the presidents’ resigning, may satisfy those who’d, criticized the behaviors, the handling of this matter, needed the weighing in of the complexity of the debates and issues.  Secondly, education should act as an prevention in discrimination, the universities need to teach the students of the lessons in history, and the values of humanitarianism.  Thirdly, with the empathies and the cohesiveness of the local communities, this is way more important, than the written-in-stone policies, empathy is what will get us past, the hatred.

This debate, showed just how difficult it is, to balance between the welfare of the students, and freedom of speech, and whether or not this can be, successful, it relies on how to reach that delicate state of balance between freedom and safety, stereotypes and tolerance.  Through courage and wisdom, the universities can help overcome the hatred.

And this showed, the importance of the roles of these higher ed facilities, in that it’s a place, where the right sorts of values should be, instilled into, the students’ minds, but, the key here, is that you would need a just, a morally responsible, president, and board of trustees, because if these heads can’t even act morally responsible, then, how would the professors, the deans, even the students who operate under them, have the right kinds of examples to look up to, to act right?

Respecting Others, Don’t Discriminate, This, is the Most Basic of Being a Fitting Citizen of a Country

And yet, people can’t even, do this, and so, the morality is still, going down that, slippery, slope, the morals are, too, messed up here!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The econ student of N.T.U., as s/he went for the election of the head of student council, posed the wayward campaign calls, that’s filled with a ton of sexist beliefs, along with, the wayward claims too, this caused the criticisms from all around.  Or maybe, the student was just, amusing himself, a careless act on his part, but, this, “sense of humor”, had hurt a lot of people, and it’s, not at all, funny!  And for this, N.T.U. publicized the apologize to the society.

There’d already been, countless incidents of how students turned something that’s outrageous to believing it was humorous.  As early as the N.T.U. student council’s free speech month had a racist slur about the natives, on how they were given the free percentage scores added to their entrance exam grades automatically, with the P.S. of “the specialty rights of the natives is the government’s tyranny to the rest of us”, this clearly, sparked up debate, and it has nothing to do with freedom of speech, and it’s worrisome, that this might start up the chain reactions of racism responses.

There are many more of these incidents, including the unnamed high school in Taichung, setting up the carnival booth, using a derogatory remark against the native populations as the booth’s name, the unofficial fans pages of several high schools had the Swastika made of the symbols, it’s also, alarming.

In 2016, a high school in Hsinchu held a costume parade, some of the students dressed themselves up like Nazis, and it’d caused upset from the Israeli Diplomatic Office here.  All of these bad behaviors, had all, gone overboard; they’d all, discriminated against a subculture, a people, and they all sparked up the hatred for the certain groups in question.

The high levels of discrimination will cause hate, what the Nazis did to the Jews, were the violence acted out from discrimination.  As educators, we needed to remind our students, teach them, that the global community is made up of many different races of people, that they should avoid any forms of stereotypes and, discriminations too.  In Taiwan, freedom of speech is what’s been given, but, these speech can’t discriminate against others, nor should it, spark up hatred.  The values of the students aren’t yet stabilized or formed completely yet, the school teachers, the parents, the friends, and the classmates, all have the responsibilities to remind them to note, that freedom by definition, is not to discriminate against anyone else, nor can their speech, actions spark up anger, and it doesn’t matter if it was intentional or not, discrimination is, unallowed and unacceptable.

But, these incidents, are only, occasional, we can’t generate this to every school in the country, nor can we, round all the younger generations up, and label all of them as, discriminatory.

and, here’s, the “hoard” of what we can be called, based off our, “colors”…photo from online

Back in 2005, Prince Harry wore the military attire with the Nazi Swastika to a party, and it’d, caused something huge; but if we say that the education in England had, failed, then, it may be, too, overboard.  Back then, the age of Prince Harry is around the same age as the econ students in N.T.U., clearly, he too, hadn’t, considered everything, just like this group of students hadn’t either.

Respecting others is the most basic of virtues of citizenship, nobody can use any forms of discriminations toward anyone else.  Making fun, and joking around, should not have anything racist, even if it is a discussion of public policy, for instance, the policies to give the extra points to the natives on the entrance exams.

And so this, is just how dumb these, COLLEGE students are these days, or maybe, the prefrontal cortexes are, delayed in developments for some reasons, I mean, at LEAST, you should have the senses, to know, that hey, what I’m about to post to say, to write, constitutes as, “racist” or “sexist” remarks, I mean, you can’t point to a BLACK (I mean, “African-American) person, and call her/him a “nigger”, just like you should NOT making those noises that sounded like metals clinking when you encounter, one of us, Asian people, because that is not what Chinese sound like either!

But, hey, these college level ADULTS are still, getting, DUMBER by the generations, thanks to the education in the schools, in all around, the world!

The Structures of Enablers Still Intact, there’s NO Resolve to the Matter of Racism

How the use of the high school classes “carnival stand” is, a racial slur, and it’s, spinning, out of, control, and this is still due to the students’ IGNORANCE, and the school should’ve been more watchful, in educating the high school age “kids” on this too!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Taichung First High School students using the C₃H₅Na to make fun of natives had spun out of control, the legislator brought the fact of how the native students are being cyberbullied on social network.  The matter of racism kept recurring in Taiwan more and more prevalently in recent years, and what we need to note, is how the incident from Taichung First High School suggested to the enabling culture of discrimination in Taiwan.

The American sociologist believed that “trends are signs”, the single incident does NOT exist independently from society as a whole, it’s a social problem with more severity.  So, from the incident at Taichung First High School, we can deduct, that in the recent years, the “backflips” of mocking natives in a university, the youtuber, Ghosts Kuo’s “the residents of Lanyu are the most sexually open”, to the mainstream Golden Bell T.V. Awards making fun of the native cultures, reflecting just ONE core matter: our society enables the means of racism.

The students who’d set up the carnival stand using the derogatory name referring to the natives, they don’t see anything wrong with what they’d done, the groups that bullied the natives, nobody puts a stop to, the online media making fun of the native winners of the awards, but, none of the members of the press believed it to be, wrong, that hey, maybe what we are saying, might, offend someone.  From the sociologist’s angle, the problem of racism is now, societal, and now just in the means of education, workforce, news media anymore, meaning, that in the society, there are, a ton of people, who’d lacked the pathological awareness that they are, racists, and, oftentimes, it would take something to  get out of control, for the individuals involved to realize, “hey, I seemed to have done or said something, awful!”

racism and bullying often come hand-in-hand…photo from online

If we take “anti-racism” as something that’s vital to the wellbeing of all the people, then, the Department of Education should, improve the awareness of “multiculture” in the high schools and universities.  If we don’t do anything, and just allow these incidents of racism to keep recurring, then, “respect for ALL the subcultures in Taiwan” will become, nothing more, than that, overly used, motto!

And so, this showed just how, ignorant, the schools, the officials, and the students are, I mean yeah, you can make the excuse for the students for NOT knowing better (uh, they’re all, at least, SIXTEEN, and you would imagine, that they would have some, COMMON sense here!), but because, the schools didn’t put an end to this bad behavior, I mean, it was, a school carnival, that’s, hosted within, the campuses, and yet, nobody higher up (the principals, the disciplinary officials, yada, yada, yada, yada) thought to REVIEW the booths, the stands set up first, before the students, started using the racist slurs, “for fun”…

Don’t Let Discrimination Spread Across the School Campuses

The name-calling, and, I’m sure, it’d, started out, very innocently, by these, middle school, students, but, this showed of the intolerance the people have for different cultures, how ignorant, the schools can be, in allowing these sorts of discriminatory remarks to get posted!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Awhile ago, a carnival stand at the First High School in Taichung had the name of “Sodium Cyclopentadienide” homophonous with “you DEAD Native”, it’d caused the online community to get heated up.  In actuality, this wasn’t an isolated incident; last year, at a middle school in Taichung, there’d been an incident of someone calling a native, “You DEAD Native”, that’s caused a fight to break up, that ended in the victim of the bullied leaping off the building to commit suicide.  The school and the department of the school responsible in overseeing these issues in discrimination, if they don’t take these things seriously enough, and start changing the systems, once the modeling effect sets in, there would be more and more cases of bullying in schools.

There are two facets worth noting in this current “incident”: the meaning of these events, what the schools and departments of the schools responsible should do about it.  On the meaning of the events, the racism in school went from the individual, to the collective.  The propaganda with the discrimination isn’t from just one individual, but through the discussion of the class, which they’d, come up with; not only did the theme carry that overtone of discrimination, the items served on the stand, are also, insulting to the, natives.  A group of sixteen, seventeen year-old boys, spent a whole lot of time in class, discussing about how they’re to, verbally assault a certain group, this collective discrimination is alerting to the realms of, education for sure.

at a school carnival like this, where discrimination against the natives was, happening! Photo from online

Although the school demanded the students take down the posters as soon as it was sighted, and gave the class opportune education, to prevent the discrimination from spreading, but the severity which the school viewed the events, needed more attention on.  What sort of a schooling environment, can cause the students to make fun of another race, subculture so heartlessly, to STEP on the dignity of the group, to view it as, something, funny.  I strongly recommend, that the school go back, and reexamine the lacking of education in cultural awareness, race, equality, to make up for the damages of the events, and to have the measures, to PREVENT these sorts of things from recurring again.

Besides, the school should not forget, that there are, many, native students attending the school, as a parent of native origins, we feel it, that our young is, learning in an, unfriendly environment.  I suggest, that the school should pay more attention to the minds, the psychological wellbeing of the natives students who are attending the school, to not put this group of students under more pressures, or cause them to become the detonator of conflicts on the campuses.

And, although the education forum had started pushing forth the education of native cultures in the policies, through the curriculum, teaching the students to understand the native cultures more, but, comparing to the gender equality education, with its separate set of curriculum, there is, the room for more improvement on this.

And so, this, is how something that’s, so “innocent” (no it’s not!), can get blown, out of, control, and, these students did NOT get their discriminatory beliefs, from thin air, they must be, absorbing these values, from watching the adults in their lives, interact with their, environments, because, children still watch and, learn, and, the school, as well as the classroom are both at FAULT, for NOT “reviewing” things, more, carefully!

When Color MATTERED, Way More, than the Plot or, the, Storyline…

What this world, became, in all its, “politically-correctedness”…

When the colors of the skins of the main character of the stories we’d listened to, watched from T.V., that oughta, turn our worlds, up side down, doesn’t it?

Imagine how your child was watching say???  Aladdin?  Then, as the dude rubs that lamp, out popped, a large being, with the black-colored skins (hey, I thought that genies are supposed to be, BLUE!!!), then, your kid gets confused, because s/he had watched the cartoon version with the BLUE-COLORED GENIE from before, hey mommy, why is this genie BLACK???

Or, how about, that very FIRST, BLACK “princess”, Tiana (I believe???), from the @#$%ING (maintaining my PG-13 ratings???) The FROG PRINCE, and, if you really want to get political about it, then, why the HELL is this BLACK princess the one kissing that god damn toad, I mean, all those other princesses from Disney (i.e. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty & the Beast, yada, yada, yada), they all got to kiss humans, and, wouldn’t THAT be, unfair, if the BLACK (fine, “African-American”) princess was made to kiss that slimy, yucky, T-O-A-D?

the very FIRST “African-American Princess”, “assigned to kiss a TOAD, what would that mean??? Picture from online

And this, is what cartoons for children became currently, when the COLORS, the politically-correctness, mattered WAY, WAY, W-A-Y more than, the STORYLINE (the PLOT???), and this is still driven by the IDEOLOGIES, and that’s still just, BULLSHIT, if you ask me…

Yeah, yeah I know, who asked Y-O-U, right???

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-hmmmmmmmmmmmm, and how does THAT make YOU feel?

End of THERAPY!  And you all should know WHAT you need to do already, so…

Racism (Hot take) — Ordinary Person

Only a white bigot or a very ignorant, impressionable person ensconced in privilege will say racism doesn’t exist. You encounter it everywhere — the blogosphere, predominately white countries and hell, even in Asia. You’ll find the puritanical preacher from the deep South, arriving in ‘poor impoverished India, where the cheats and scammers live, the crude […]

Racism (Hot take) — Ordinary Person

Right to Bear Arms, Discrimination, Hate: the Law Enforcement Overuse of Firearms Causing Death Increased in Prevalence, a Long Way from the Reforms

How the overflowing availabilities of gun is one problem, and how the police’s overuse of gun power is another, and there are, other factors to consider in this, and until the U.S. tackles every one of these factors, and change the means of training, and how the police forces “equate” colors with threat, there are going to be more, racially related murders by guns in the U.S., that’s not going to change, NOT anytime soon!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Yesterday, the news from Tennessee of the five African American police officers in an arrest, beaten an African American teen to death, this caused the local communities and the African American communities to start protesting.  The American President, Biden stated that he was angered by this and felt heartbroken over what had happened; the former president, Obama stated, that there’s a long ways to go, to reeducate the police forces on how they patrol the streets.

But, a lot of people want to know, how come, there are, the growing number of cases where police in enforcing the law, civilians were being, murdered off?  And, how come, most of the victims of the police brutality, why are they mostly African American males?  For instance, from the March 1991 case where the African American male, Rodney King, was brutally beaten by three LAPD officers, causing the riots in L.A. back in 1992; along with the May, 2020, a middle-aged African American male got choked to death with the police choking his throat in Minnesota by the officers on duty, which started up the “Black Lives Matter” movement all around the U.S.  Clearly, the American police’s overuse of forces causing the African American citizens to get killed still continues on to this very day.  But why?  I sum up the five main causes here: first, the legal ownership of guns: because the American citizens are allowed to legally own arms, the excessive guns in the current situation in the States right now, everybody feared getting shot, so everyone owns a gun (for self-defense), casing the vicious cycle of distrusting one another.  And due to the legal ownerships of guns, there are many shootings, the guns going off in accidents (including school shootings, the six-year-old student shooting a school teacher).  Due to the excess of arms causing the officers on duty to become hypervigilant, which leads to the next cause.

Secondly, the police’s life are at all moment, in danger: because of the excess of weapons, the police’s natural reaction is that they automatically assume that the citizens they came into contact with are, armed.  And, under this mindset, the officers on duty worried over getting shot by the ordinary citizens, which led them to become extremely alert, to stay, alive, to prevent getting killed.  And, behind this state of mind, is relative to these three following factors.

Third, the problems of racism remain unresolved: the racism in the U.S. is still growing more and more serious, no matter if it’s toward African Americans, Asian Americans, they were the racial slurs, and the discriminatory behaviors against these minorities.  And, the African Americans are the least advantageous, which causes the vicious cycle, with the crime rates in the areas of African American residents being higher too than average; or, the officers on duty holding that higher level of alertness toward the minority groups.

Fourth, the hate that comes from being discriminated again.  This hate, with the excessive supplies of firearms, will cause many more lives to get, lost.  For instance, there’s the elderly Asian killing the Asian woman, and how in the outbreaks, the Asians often became targeted, all of this has to do with hate and fear, and racism.  And so, when hate is in place, and the guns are easily owned, there are, the built up of the murders in the society all around the U.S.

Fifth, the training of the officers should emphasize: the difficulties in resolving all of the above issues, or at least, for the time being, or in the, near future too.  But, we can use the police training to help the law enforcement become more aware, to strengthen the means of justice in police enforcing of the law.  Because the American police are local, not of federal matter; it’s hard to say, that this sort of education can get set up on the state of local government levels.  Or maybe, other than the functions of fighting crimes, the police forces needed to go through the continued education, trainings, the awareness seminars, to help reduce these, tragedies.

And so, this summed up why and how come, there are, so many, hate crimes, overuse of force in police in carrying out the laws in the U.S., causing the people to die: the overflowing of GUNS, because it’s our SECOND AMENDMENT right to BEAR arms!

But, if the guns aren’t that easily accessible, then, those shooters can’t get their hands on them, and, there would be, surely, a whole lot deaths caused by guns.

I agree, that police need more training, and, that this is a impossible thing to accomplish, because, as studies (don’t ask me which ones) showed, that colored persons are more easily misperceived as holding up a WEAPON when we’re holding up something harmless, like a pen, as interpreted by the police, because the law enforcement officials had been “groomed” to equate skin colors with danger, and this is rooted down too deep, and it can’t be changed that easily.  So yeah, EXPECT more of us who are, “minorities” to DIE by gunshot here.

Boundaries

The schemata of how we interpret things, which got exacerbated by what was told to us, adding to the stereotypes, which made us get into the flight mode, translated…

I’d stayed in the third largest city of the U.S., Chicago for a time.

Before I set out, the contacts of University of Chicago notified me, that they’d set me up for the international student dorms, that a lot of the shorter stay exchange students or the scholars all live there, that it’s a, “safe” location.

I couldn’t understand what the man meant “safe”, started guessing at it, was it the earthquakes?  The typhoons?  Or, the threats from the Chinese missiles?  And clearly, it was, NONE of these.

The contact also told me, because I had a mediocre length stay, and it was in the middle of the semester, that if it was during the summer vacations, I could find a room to rent from a student who’d gone home, that it would be cheaper, and closer to the school, that it would be, “safer”.

Another matter of safe and safter, the man kept mentioning the word, “safety”, and it’d made me imagined the gun shooting scenes in the American movies, and I couldn’t help but, trembled, and started wondering on the “difference between safe and safer”, and, with my language barrier, I would have to live at a “safer” location, why would I want to risk being just, “safe”? 

Perhaps, my contact noticed my trouble, he’d immediately told me, “don’t worry!  You live on 59^th Street, 59^th north up to 49^th is all safe, just don’t go over 59^th~”

This made me worry even more, south of 59^th is dangerous, doesn’t that means, that I live, on the “borders”?  Then, how can I be certain of how what’s “unsafe”, doesn’t break the boundaries?  Or, is the real boundaries of “unsafe” actually on 60^th or 61^st, 59^th could be, farther away, from what’s, “unsafe” then?  But, what is the measurements, the considerations of this, means of, “safety”?

After a long, long ride, close to twenty hours since I’d landed, I’d finally, arrived at the gates of the international student dormitories, it was a road of at least, eight lanes, a freeway with all the cars rushing by, like a river that you can’t see the other side of.  There’s the widened island in the middle of the road, the green trees grew on that island, and I can’t seem to find a pedestrian’s crossing section.  I’d finally understood, the boundaries of “safety” of the 59^th then.  I’d thought, what weaves to and from, in and out of this, boundary, perhaps, are nothing more than the pigeons, and the, sparrows.

Every day, I’d trekked to and from the international dorm and the school, and on the weekends, I’d gone to Lake Michigan to stroll.  As it was winter, there’s, nothing but snow on the streets.  And, I’d started, bumping across those riding out on their bicycles or the joggers, those who’d brushed shoulders with me, no matter the skin colors, they all, looked, decent, enough, and clearly, the local residents were with, higher levels of, education, with good jobs, and, so this, is a, “good” district.  I’d always, stared dumbfounded across the other side, looking up at the clouds overhead, imagined what the trees covered up, what’s, on the, other side?

One day, a few of my lab mates were driving out.  All the way, we were all chatty, and getting into good conversations, and then, suddenly, after a turn, everybody fell, silent, and, the streets were, sunken, in the, darkness of the rustiness of the steel, and, even if the colors are painted with brighter colors…………as I saw the faces of those who’d been living in Chicago for long, as a newbie, I’d, come to know, and, started, making myself, scarce in the seats.

At this time, the engine started, making the weird noises.  The driver started, sweating now, the passenger next to the driver, with his eyes opened wide, as if mumbling, “why did you have to turn in here”, and questioning, “did you get this car tuned up on time?”, at the same time, alerted to watch the goings on of the window, with one hand, clenching the handlebar over the window tight.

The engine that sounded like it was dying, was totally a contrast to the hearts beating in the car then, I’d felt heated u, but that cold sweat started, rolling down my spine.  Then, a few more blocks, the car, died.  And the three large guys by the side of the road noticed us, and the driver started getting, panicky, there’s no other pedestrians, no other cars anywhere near us.  The large man moved slowly, the driver quickly pressed the central door lock systems, and we had all, started, hyperventilating, and the driver started the keys in the ignition over, over, and over, I’d squinted my eyes to the lines.  “Could it be that he’s here, to offer us help?”, a thought came to me, but I’d not, dared, blurt it aloud……………

It’s moving, it’s moving, the car is, moving, I’d looked through the rearview, saw the large men spreading their arms out, and, shrugging, away.

Then, I kept on wondering, maybe, they were there, to help us out, it’s just, that invisible border of the stereotypes are like the boundary of the 59^th, like that huge gap that none of us can, and were, willing to, cross, to the point that as I’d asked my friends later, if they would, live through it again, will they still have run in a hurry, they’d responded, that they, would.

And so, this is how the stereotypes can get so deep in us, that we get into the mindset of automatically separating people into the categories that we were, socialized to put them in, and that’s just wrong, because if you don’t get to know the individual personally, how can you tell if the person is good, or bad, just based off of their, skin colors?

Filosofa Grumbles — Filosofa’s Word

Okay, I gave you cute critters to bring smiles to your faces this morning, but now it is afternoon, and I am back in my snarky, grumpy, growly mode. Miscarriage of justice Former Minneapolis police officer Kimberly Potter was sentenced yesterday.  Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu sentenced Potter to a total of 24 months, 16 […]

Filosofa Grumbles — Filosofa’s Word