This is what "conservatives" say behind closed doors
My brother married a woman whose dad is VERY conservative. Most of my family is very liberal, and many of us are atheists. You'd think he would try to fit in with us. My brother participated in a gay rights protest against his church when they fired a gay music director, and the father-in-law was horrified. He won't accept that we just don't agree with him.
I am not boycotting the holidays, because 90% of my family is very liberal. My dad was very liberal and I miss him terribly. It hurts my feelings to have to listen to homophobic and racist shit at the holidays, all coming from one guy. It makes me angry, because my liberal, fun and cool dad is dead while this racist bore is still alive. How can this guy talk to me like this. It's rude. He also said condescending stuff about my dad after he was dead, like, "he sure was an interesting guy."
They think they're not racist, but this is what they say at holidays, "Black people say we're racist, but they have stuff like Black Entertainment Television and the Black Caucus. Can you imagine if there was White Entertainment Television and a White Caucus?" As if my family has no black friends or family on our side, and we do.
I mean, what nuttiness to think that BET and the Black Caucus is racist. Just because the Republican politicians don't say this stuff doesn't mean that their supporters don't think it.
These are people with mainstream Republican politics - middle-class church goers - and they say stuff that also comes out of the mouths of white supremacists. Never let them cow you into saying they're not racist. This is how they really are.
I'm thinking of writing a letter to this guy's pastor asking him why he does not condemn racism coming from his congregation. If religious leaders took a stronger stand against racism, these people might think twice before hurting people's feelings with their views.
= new reply since forum marked as read
..."We don't have an Abraham Lincoln Day! It's just stupid!"
And "well blacks are known to be lazy anyway, at least the males"
Racist to the BONE.
If the relatives are already brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh - as so many people are - then saying "That's what Limbaugh says" just reinforces their brainwashing. You're not calling them out and making them think about it, you're reinforcing it.
I grew up in Saint Louis, but my family moved to Pittsburgh when I was in high school (in the 1960's). So it was a red state moving to a blue state experience. It really opened my eyes a lot - I'd never met a Jewish person, hadn't known any black people other than servants, had never met a blue-collar steel worker or factory worker until I came here.
Everyone needs to have their eyes opened in one way or another. If I ever listen to Limbaugh I've already tuned his garbage out, there's no chance he'll convince me of anything. But many people are the opposite, that's all they hear and it sounds normal to them. People don't voluntarily leave their comfort zone, unless it's forced on them.
