As the comments section of Ennis’ post on the GOP’s efforts to reach out to minorities indicates, many of us saw the video below on ABC News last night. I know I wasn’t the only one who immediately hit rewind, out of a combination of incredulity and astonishment.
Natural disasters are awful and over-worked, frazzled law enforcement officials are under much strain, but that still doesn’t justify ignorant reactions like the one captured above. I wonder if that same cop instructed other drivers who annoyed him or “talked back” to perhaps return to Africa or England? I’m thinking not.
Reader Suede wrote in to the tip line, with this update:
3:40am PST.
World News Now on ABC 7
Vinita Nair and her co-host are covering a story about the devastation in Texas, and they show a clip about how cops are turning people back and not letting them return.
The clip begins with a guy (desi) in a car arguing with the cop who is not letting him go through. The cop finally tells him “go back to India”. After the clip, Vinita didn’t just shove the comment under the rug, but instead, she was shocked and raised her concern about the trooper’s comments.
Go Vinita! As a massive insomniac (who grew up in a home with no cable), I have always loved WNN— I even list it under my favorite TV shows, on my facebook profile ;). Now that the beautiful and brainy Ms. Nair is co-anchoring it, consider me a rabid fan. Yay for calling out stupidity and not glossing over the truth.
I have seen quite a few ABDs who roll their eyes when forced to meet with DBD guests in their house which pretty much say “go back to india or whereever. just leave me alone”. So when I see a white redneck cop say the phrase “go back to India” to a person from another country in exasperation and the Indian guy with the strong accent looks ready to blow a gasket, I can only laugh even if I feel the officer is out of line and should be disciplined.
I think that that cop is obviously racist. That’s troubling for sure, against the baseline of a non-racist society. I guess I’m more cynical, b/c I don’t agree that the (current!) US is particularly racist (compared to other societies–i.e., it seems like more of a universal human failing). As far as my daily life goes, at least since I graduated from a public high school here in the US I don’t fear these interactions, b/c unless that cop is going to (possibly, but unlikely) beat me up, I have a lot more SES clout than he does. For that latter reason, I’m more pro-US, I guess. . . . day-to-day, I’m fine. And not just fine, but better off here in the US than elsewhere, which is why I choose to remain here.
45 · Maitri said
wasn’t there some sort of weather involved (again, and again, and again, and again…) in this misfortune? Nobody is telling Galvestonians or New Orleanians to move–just not demand that the government step in when weather patterns make it completely unprofitable to write a whole host of property coverages on the coast or vilify anybody who point this out.
52 · rob said
You think the average ‘public servant’ empowered with bypassing the constitution at will gives two hoots about your superior contribution to our economy? I’ve made it a practice to trust no bureaucrat with a need to predicate civilized conversation on the fondling one’s nether regions or to look for the cracks in the foundations of our democracy with a trained dog.
45 · Maitri said
Galvestonians are Americans who live on a glorified sandbar which wouldn’t be there if tons of sand weren’t added every year. New Orleanians are Americans who live below sea level at a time when sea level is rising. This is not sustainable nor pragmatic. I know that some people can’t afford to pack up their lives and move (Galveston and NoLa are both pretty broke-ass towns), but I have a hard time feeling any measure of sympathy for developers and vacation-homeowners who invest millions of dollars in such places and don’t really want my tax dollars subsidizing their land grabs and subsequent bailouts.
46 · suede said
I suppose this requires a real response.
The prim/proper societal and cultural stereotypical behavior of a librarian contrasts with the place of learning and imagination that is a library. An incredible rich and vivid world internal world is explored thru books. The fantasy and internal life that is created coincides for males during their first years of puberty. Librarians are associated with that contrast symbolically.
Personally, girls with glasses have always been sexy to me.
Just watched the video…the cop was out of line…but that Indian dude was really annoying.
57 · Amitabh said
Quit being so Indo-Normative! He could be Bangladeshi or Nepali or Pakistani or Sri Lankan for all you know.
57 · Amitabh said
The way he was exploding, I thought the Desi dude was going to explode ala Kerpal(of You kicked My Dog fame). “DAMN RIGHT!”
I know there are a lot of Libertarians who read this site, so here is a Libertarian perspective on what’s happening in Galveston for y’all. That desi dude isn’t the only Galvestonian who’s pissed off about being shut out.
I would rather fight prejudice on the spot and die early of a heart attack than leave things as they are with a “don’t rock the boat” mentality……..Really I get so upset…..
If you’ve got feedback or tips on something you’d like us to cover, please email us.
“This is disgusting, I guess stress brings out the racist in some”
The reason is an inherent quality of what racism is: a power heirarchy unidirectional in nature. which is why someone saying, “you white piece of shit” or something like that doesn’t amount to much “reverse racism” or whatever that term even means. Racism is a method of one person trumping another based on essence of being, knowing full well the other person has no “comeback” as it were, unless they escalate it a few levels above.
So; “Go back to India” needs to be met with “go muder some natives” or something along those lines.
55 · Harbeer said
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blockquote>45 · Maitri said
Foolishness crosses class lines. Responsibility may, as you say, be apportioned differently.
64 · Nayagan said
It’s the difference between someone who is there because they’ve always been there and don’t have the resources to leave vs. someone who chose to take an informed risk to make a lot of money and failed. It’s also the difference between someone who needs, say, $1,000 for moving expenses and temporary aid while they get on their feet someplace else vs. someone who needs $100,000 to continue making money in a dangerous location where they will eventually need the public to help the rebuild again, the next time. It’s the difference between someone losing everything because of where they were born, on the one hand, vs. someone who might lose a vacation home or a fraction of their investment portfolio because of choices they made.
Actually, the owners and bosses can hardly be characterized as “fools.” They’re pretty smart for buying off the politicians who will use our money to bail them out when the real world intrudes on their abstract models and Pollyanna-ish projections.
if i recall, harold and kumar solved the problem of cop racism by reverting to classism…ie, putting the guy down for being a cop and not what they were (i think harold was an ibanker and kumar a fledgling doc).
not that i’m advocating this. in fact, i advocate not talking back to anyone with a gun.