Poem on Racism. The Story Without a Punchline.

WHEN NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS

The days news headlines shouted out –

There was no earth quake, no tsunami, no landslides or owt.

The CEO’s and Politicians told no lies (rare I know)

Headlines notable for the lack of porkie-pies.

 

But I heard a man tell a story that had all enthralled.

How he got on the bus and like it was the end of the world

Got off in Moss Side, a connection to make

And this HUGE great big black guy followed him –

No mistake.

He thought he was a gonner

And he started to sweat

Till the guy crossed the road and . . .

Well . . .

Simply went.

 

He’d not had to phone our wonderful police

His body went limp and he gasped in relief.

When he got to his mates at the end of the lane,

He retold the story . . .

Again . . .

And again.

20 years on he’ll still reminisce

Over the night he survived this scary near miss.

 

But why is he headlining this cautionary tale?

Telling over and over this ‘story to no avail’.

If the story seems odd –

It’s as it’s missing a punch line,

Nothing happened.

No mugging, no murder, no crime.

 

In reality the punchline

If there’s anything to tell,

Is one of racist assumptions,

Him being a bell

And acknowledging that racism

Is alive and well.

But they never get to that bit do they.
10/9/2015
20 years or more ago, someone told me a parallel story.  It troubled me greatly and I pored over it until I had worked out what was going on. I realised that this is a story about something that did not happen.   A story with no punch line.  In most peoples eyes, this does not constitute a story.  It needs the punchline.  The realization of the implications of this persons fears.

I have heard variations on this story many times since, but then, over 20 years after I first heard and dissected the story that isn’t a story, I was shocked to see the original tale on which I based my thoughts written up in a booklet of peoples reminiscences.  Over 20 years later, the person is not only still telling this “entertaining anecdote”, they also went so far as to submit it for publication as an amusing anecdote.   In writing, there for all to see.  Presumably therefore, 20 years on, they have still not got to the punch line.   If they had, they might be a bit more sheepish, or at least one would hope.

It appeared under the heading “We still laugh about that one . . . ”

Strangely, if the black guy knew of his starring role, I doubt he would be laughing and neither dear reader am I.

 

Crazy Racist Lady or Racist Post?

So I saw this post about some “Crazy Racist Lady” and decided to have a look.      http://www.newsempires.net/crazy-racst-black-lady-attacks-white-man?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Postcron.com

The film was meant to show some woman who they referred to as a “Crazy Racist Black Lady” “attacking” a white man.  I immediately doubted that this is what it would be, but thought I might possibly get a film of some woman with mental health issues, who they should not have been filming, given her ill health.    What I found was very different.    What appeared to be a film made by someone who along with his friend seemed to be engaged in race baiting a woman to get some sort of reaction, which in my view, they did not even get.   So I responded to the video as follows:-

“Crazy Racist Black Lady ” “angry hate filled racist b*tch” “Race baiters” “they discount the reality that THEY are the ones that are rac*st” “attacked by a blatantly rac*st welfare queen” Really? Well for starters, if a complete stranger was in a queue filming you for no reason whatsoever, many would have said a lot more a lot earlier on. Hate filled? Attacking? Actually no. She SAID SOMETHING to him. In reality she REACTED to behaviour which would appear to have been entirely based on racism. The article is riddled with racist assumptions and views. Race Baiters???? Really. Look in the mirror mate. It was the one that was filming that was race baiting and we do not know what expression etc was on the face of the guy. Smirking maybe? The whole thing was deliberately trying to provoke a reaction. Racist welfare queen? Did they know she was on welfare or is that simply yet another assumption about black people. There is also a gender dimension. Here are two presumably both white men targetting a woman. How does she know what their motives are once she has left the store? He was not a “boy” by the way, which presents him as younger and more vulnerable. He was a big man, with a beard. I am guessing that they would not have done this to a man. Their behaviour was potentially very intimidating on a number of fronts. I started off clicking on play thinking that if someone “attacked” a white man, at times this can be down to underlying mental health problems, frequently the result of a persons day to day experience of racism. What I saw was evidence in my view of racist assumptions fuelling an attempt to provoke a reaction, in order to try and prove a spurious point. Those who made the video were the racists. If I had been in the queue, as a white woman, I would have challenged what they were doing, intimidating a black woman in that way.

As soon as I had posted my comment, I sat and pondered on the curious way they had ‘Cleaned up’ word Rac*st.  Hysterical really.   So I went back for another bite of the cherry:-

“Not sure either why they write “rac*st” They substitue an asterisk for the “i” in B*tch to spare us from a swear word / insult. Many would do the same if using eg the “N” word, or indeed call it the “N” word, as it is offensive. The word racist is not a swear word. Not sure what toning down the word racist tells us about the author. A word that THEY do not want to be called maybe? If the cap fits . . . .”

Any reason to try and prove black people are racist it seems.    What do you think?