Sorry, but I didn’t take umbrage at the author’s contention that people of color & Black people aren’t interchangeable, rather it was the assumption that she was owed & apology & only his alleged sense of white privilege prevented him from offering one.
Interestingly in your reply you also appear to have violated the author’s imperative by using the phrase “Black people and other People of Color…” In short Black people constitute a subset of the general group, people of color, or, if you prefer, non-white people.
There are valid reasons for someone to respond “S/he’s polling well with people of color” in reply to “S/he’s not popular with Black voters…” It’s clumsy to lump them together, I agree, but there is also substantial cross-over between Black voters & other non-white voters. No. The correspondence isn’t 1/1. Black people don’t have the same interests as say Native Americans, but I’m willing to bet their voting habits are more alike than different.
How dare a Black person correct a white person…?
No. How dare one person pretend to speak for an entire diverse group of people — to the point where she believes she’s owed an apology for someone’s apparently innocent transgression? Are you going to argue that all Black people agree with the author?
“A dialogue is supposed to be a conversation between two or more people and not a set of commands between a supposed superior and an inferior”
That’s exactly what prompted me to reply to the article in the first place. It certainly appeared to be a command by the author rather than a conversation about race & signification.
“In my experience that is how most exchanges are with White people. I am supposed to listen without any response or counterpoints, and go quietly when THEY are finished.”
Same here. Absent the issue of race. I was raised to be polite & not interrupt. Therefore I’ve spent many a tiresome hour listening to blowhards of every race & national origin spout off. Generally speaking I shut down, because every comment I make prompts an additional 30 minutes of verbosity from my interlocutor. That said, I know my experience isn’t universal. I know women in particular are expected to listen passively & I can only imagine how frustrating that can be.
The article wasn’t an affront to my whiteness — you can believe me or not — but my reply was an expression of frustration at how conversations can be co-opted by disagreement over the language used. If I’ve learned anything as a grown-up, it’s to accept things in the spirit which they’re offered. I think the Bernie-bro was trying to be helpful, & was certainly polite in his response to the author. I think she was wrong to believe more was owed.
“We are never to question you let alone demand anything.”
Question me & demand all you like … just don’t expect me to apologize for saying something you don’t agree with. Maybe that’s an expression of my white privilege, but if it helps any, I don’t expect you to apologize, either.
