Ask Amy How To Insult The Whole Neighborhood

This is just sad.

Student struggles with neighbors' racist assumptions
By Amy Dickinson Jul 26, 2018

Dear Amy: I'm a college student from the suburbs of San Francisco. I've been attending college in New York.

My best friend from school is coming to visit me this summer, and I couldn't be more excited! But, excitement aside, I do have concerns.

In a time where people of color, especially men, are having the police called on them for everything from waiting for a friend in Starbucks to taking a nap in a common area of a dorm building, I am worried about my neighbors' potential reaction to a man of color showing up in their predominantly white suburb.

I have toyed with the idea of making a post on Nextdoor.com [a neighborhood social media site] asking people to think twice before panicking, should they see my friend walking down the street, as he belongs there as much as they do, but I know my county prides itself on being a liberal and progressive area, and I don't want to insult anyone.

I don't want to upset my community by accusing them of racist behavior I have never witnessed, but I am aware of incidents taking place in similar communities.

I do not know what to do to offend as few people as possible, while still trying to make sure my friend feels safe and welcome in the place I call home.

Your suggestion?

-- Toeing the Line

Dear Toeing the Line: In recent neighborhood news, "neighbors" in a community similar to yours called the police because they saw an African-American firefighter (in uniform) performing a safety inspection in the neighborhood. The firefighter's white (female) colleague said that in the future, she would accompany him on neighborhood sprinkler checks, basically for his own safety.

You should start this process by notifying your friend that your neighbors are somewhat likely to "panic" and call the police if he is bold enough to walk through the neighborhood while also being black.

Strangely, you seem to worry more about offending your neighbors by challenging their lofty notions of themselves than you do about the risk posed to your friend if he walks through your neighborhood alone.

I have two suggestions: Challenge your neighbors out loud to actually let a black man -- any black man -- walk through the neighborhood unchallenged, not because he is your special guest, but because he is a human being walking down a sidewalk.

Also, be completely honest with your friend about the kind of community he would be visiting, and the physical or psychological annoyance (or worse) he could face, simply by being there.

 

Another racist LWN.

 

The community prides itself on being liberal and progressive. And yet "Toeing the Line" is worried about someone being harassed for Walking While Black. I suspect that "Toeing the Line" is probably as bad at introspection and self reflection as most people who pride themselves on their extreme political ideology.

 

Thought this was going to involve Amy Shumer

 

Me too.

 

I thought it was the telemarketer.

 

She’s clearly out of touch with her “liberal and progressive” area otherwise she would have just told her friend to identify as white for the weekend.

 

Sad that it never occurred to her that people might watch him walking down the street becase he is a stranger that does not live there and the are concerned about break ins not to race. Yet if the same person was walking with her they would not give it a second thought regardless of race or gender of the visitor. Just another loon looking to be offended.

 

Perhaps she has her neighbors correctly pegged as the fear-ridden scared snowflakes they are.

 

Did you not read the words “liberal and progressive”. Not a chance they assume a persons place by the color of thier skin. Were talking liber..........oh wait....

 

Meh, just more commie virtue signalling.

 

I bet she’s real fun to hang out with.

 

Dear Toeing the Line,
Your (white?) guilt and carefully closeted, racial difference thoughts are starting to show.

 

No different than a white guy in a nice car getting pulled over in a predominately poor or black neighborhood because the cops assume he's trolling for drugs or prostitutes.

 

Keeping an eye on who comes and goes in your neighborhood is not being fear ridden it is being aware. Of course they could also be a bunch of self hating racist white progressives also..

Yep and if you are not up to no good the cops will let you go in a few minutes and likely are doing their best to make the neighborhood your friend lives in safer.

 

I've already been called a racist in front of the county commissioners at the last meeting here in Forsyth County. My new past time is to yell out "Fuck you. I'm a racist." every time that piece of shit drives by us while I am walking with the wife.

 

She says she lives in a progressive liberal community. Of course she's surrounded by racists, that's what they all are. She is one too.

 

Expound.

 

Any time I want to insult the entire neighborhood I fire up the Harley

 

We have a jack hole who is doing the VRBO shit because he was too dumb to see that the internet was going to destroy his printing business until he was in danger of having his house foreclosed on. It is his opinion that the neighbors that called the cops on the 140 or so people being brought in by party bus, was not because they were making so much noise while having their little shindig and keeping the cancer patient next door from getting the sleep she needed on a treatment weekend, it was merely due to most of them being black....

Of course while standing in front of the commissioners proclaiming that they were doing no wrong he neglected to mention that fact that most of them were parked illegally in a nearby state park and were all cited for it. That is where the party bus was picking them up and running them into the neighborhood.