Andy: I came home the other day to find a letter posted up by the mailboxes in my building. Apparently someone broke in to one of the apartments and stole some stuff. It was all very sad, but what I found almost more disturbing was the way other people in the building treated the poster of the note. Let’s take a look:
For those of you squinting at the screen, allow me to summarize and provide a typed transcript of the comments (to the best of my ability).
The original poster had decided to add detail to the physical description by adding:
Very dark complexion.
In a fit of unbridled righteous indignation, a concerned citizen took it upon himself or herself to let the victim of a burglary know that they were racist. They circled the word “African American” and wrote:
It already says African American. Was this necessary?
Well apparently another resident saw this addition and decided that an opportunity to climb up on a high horse is not something to be missed. They wrote:
I don’t fucking think so!
Someone else chimed in with:
What is white? Very very white???
Um, WHAT?! Seriously?! I would not be offended if someone said I was a white male, very pale. Because, you know what? I am. Not everyone of a particular race or ethnicity has the same skin tone. I thought that was rather obvious. Apparently not.
And yes, the final comment was mine (sorry for the horrible handwriting):
Some African Americans are light skinned and some are darker… Not racist.
There wasn’t really space but here is what I wanted to say:
“Um, what the fuck? What the actual fuck? One of our neighbors was burglarized. I’m sure he or she is feeling completely violated and horrified. All the victim was trying to do was inform their neighbors of what happened so that they can be careful, and to give a physical description of the suspect. You people called him or her a racist and tried to make the victim feel bad. Good. Do you feel better about yourself now? Do you you have so much superiority that find it offensive to describe a person’s physical appearance? “Dark complexion” is a physical descriptor and a statement of fact. The poster didn’t say “suspect was a real darkie.” Honestly! There is nothing inherently racist about describing someone’s physical characteristics. Are we so politically correct these days that a victim can’t describe the suspect without being attacked for describing physical features in a factual manner?”
What do you guys think? Am I overreacting? Am I the one being racially insensitive? Or are my neighbors just dicks who would make a victim feel worse so that they can feel superior?
P.S. Before anyone asks if it was maybe the landlord that posted it… the landlord is a very dark skinned African American.
P.P.S. Sorry if that made me sound racist.
P.P.P.S. I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
Evan: Actually I would have been pretty satisfied with “black” as a description since the guy could have been Haitian, or Dominican, or British for all we know. I’m surprised that whoever deemed it necessary to mark up this notice for its presumed racism didn’t point out the lack of ‘ ” ‘ to denote inches in the physical description, I mean if you’re going to be passive aggressive you might as well do it right! I’d also like to point out something that no one seems to have batted an eyelash at thus far in the posted notice: The 2nd part of the description, which details that the MacBook thief was wearing light blue scrubs and a stethoscope. PAGING DOCTOR MCROBBERSON! Send the squad cars to Mercy Medical and start a department wide sweep, shouldn’t be too hard to find a really tall, really black doctor with a MacBook under his arm!
Andy: You’re an asshole.
Evan: A really really white asshole.
TIL: Evan bleaches his asshole.
Andy is right, as is Evan. African American may not not correct here, and other African Americans will tell you so, or at least that was my experience at a recent conference on diversity, at least. African Americans are often considered to be descendants of slaves born here in the U.S. while black Americans are from Haiti or even modern-day Africa.
And I have never, never, never understood why a physical description of a robber is inappropriate- whether it is skin, or hair, or anything else. At least skin color it wasn’t the only descriptor in this case. I am the whitest-skinned person I know and would totally expect that as part of a description of me.
I mean descriptions can be racist, but this one isn’t. See if you can spot the difference:
“Suspect had a large nose”
“Suspect had a big Jew nose”
It’s subtle, but I think I get the inference.
“Subject is Asian, probably good at math”
Subject is driving a caucasian honda civic, poorly.
And yes, this particular black man could have been from the Caribbean, from Europe, or from Africa. We have no way of knowing that he is African American.
Clearly these people have no idea what they’re talking about and could use some slaps. Look, saying that the person had a dark complexion is making no inferences, it’s a physical descriptor and is in no way racist. It’s like saying they were wearing a blue shirt and then making the addendum that the shirt was a lighter blue for better clarification. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Honestly, I’d feel better about having the added identification information so that I didn’t stupidly suspect any African American man entering the building in blue scrubs. Now I know how to narrow that definition and make sure that I’m not putting someone into the situation where they’re mistaken as a potential criminal. Ugh.
It’s easier to be an a-hole when it’s on paper…you bet your ass that if the victim found out and confronted the person that wrote those things they’d freeze in terror and prompty wet themselves. Verbal confrontation is much more terrifying!
White man’s guilt! It’s fun for everyone!
I got my candy ripped off one halloween as a kid, and they hit me in the head with a stick. When i told people what happened at school, that “a bunch of black kids attacked me” i was labeled a racist. I labeled the girl a fat idiot with branding iron, so it worked out ok.
How dare you describe your attackers! You were supposed to fubmle over your words. “What did they look like?” “Um, they were, um, tall. Probably play basketball. They had baggy jeans. Um…”
I don’t think that you’re overreacting; I can definitely see that the actual victim must feel very upset, as you noted & it creates a weird vibe in the building. However, I believe that it is a lack of tact rather than actual malice causing your neighbors to react like this. I really, really don’t think that ANY additional comments were needed.
I /do/ think that the person that wrote about it being “very very white” is a douchebag & was meaning to be a douchebag.
(Also, I agree with some above comments: why not use the word “black” or simply “dark complexion” to begin with?)
It was pointed out on FB, and I feel it deserves repeating: The person that thinks “African American” is enough descriptor of skin tone is likely someone who thinks all black people look the same.