white privilege my ass

[wombat_socho]

The next time some asshat tries to lecture me on how only white people can be racists. I'm going to get up, intone "BULLSHIT" in my best parade-ground voice, and walk out. This is the latest reason why.

There was a Walmart dude fighting (and losing) a battle to get an insanely heavy piece of DIY furniture out of a shopping cart and into the SUV of these two Latinas, one middle-aged and one bonafide abuela. I couldn't get out of my parking space until he was done or admitted defeat, so I unassed the Toaster and pitched in. We got it into the truck, I got thanked by all concerned, and as I climbed back into the Toaster I said "De nada," as I do at least half the time when I'm dealing with Latinos.

So the grandma says with some surprise, "De nada? De que sabes 'de nada'?" (How do you know 'de nada'?)
to which I replied "Porque soy Hispano." (Because I'm Hispanic.)
"Pero tienes cara de gringo!" (But you have a gringo's face!)
*shocked* "Que?!?"
"Tienes cara de gringo!" (You have a gringo's face!)

I was dumbstruck. I finally ground out "Y mi mama tambien!" (And my mom does too!) before I drove off.

I was having a good day before this shit happened. People like that can Иди на хуй черmy.

Comments

[jtrainor.livejournal.com]

If there's one constant in this world, it's probably going to be casually racist old women. :/

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Sad but true.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Wow, bizarre. A lot of "Hispanics" have pale skin! My entire family does!

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Apparently abuela doesn't watch Univision or Telemundo, which both have talking heads that make me look almost black by comparison.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

You know, she didn't mean it as an insult. Racial observations like that which are rude as hell here are not considered offensive in the Latin American world. I rapidly got used to being La Guerita (light skin, dark hair and eyes) when I lived in Mexico. Asians are inevitably "chinos" no matter what their origin. It's unthinkable to us but seriously, she almost certainly didn't mean to provoke you.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Obviously she succeeded, but I'll keep that in mind for the future.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

"...Racial observations like that which are rude as hell here are not considered offensive in the Latin American world...."

Somehow I'm not seeing that as an accomplishment.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

I wasn't implying that, only that was what might be happening.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

It was in no way any sort of criticism of you or your comment.

The culture mentioned, on the other hand....