Rosie's ching-chong comments

[sparky]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

I'm sorry that you had this very unpleasant exchange. What they said was really, really uncalled for. However... in the spectrum of "racial epithets," that registers, very, very low. It's a flesh wound. It's almost like calling someone a "rich bitch" or a "yuppie." It's a dig at you, but it's also indirectly saying that you are in a better position in life than they are. Again, it's the power dynamic that exists.

I'm glad you think it was a flesh wound. It wasn't that big of a deal, no. **** happens to people. I've had worse days. However, if you could have seen the sneers on their faces, their balled up fists, and the way they both stepped forward like for all the world they were gonna beat the f*ck out of me because I'm white, you might not dismiss it so quickly. If it had been dark, and we had been in the parking lot and not the store, I am pretty sure I would have had a fight on my hands.

You know all too well that Mexicans in this country, legal or not, are all perceived to be illegal, uneducated leeches on society, when, if anything, the U.S. today cannot function without them. Accordingly, even in this day and age, it almost seems acceptable to display overt signs of racism against Mexicans. When the difficult issue of Mexican immigration comes up, it seems that everybody's flaming crosses come right out of the closet... and it's okay.

Yeah, it couldn't function with certain people making such a large profit, and prices being low because people accept slave wages. And I couldn't rail about people who have 7 kids and can't afford to support two. But that's another thread!

The Mexican guys are angry at those who hold power in America (the whites), the ones who have the biggest houses and the biggest cars (the whites), and the regime that wants to criminalize them.

No one needs to criminalize them. The law already does that. The laws aren't new.

Unfortunately you happened to be a whipping post for some of their frustration. I'm not saying it was acceptable or appropriate... only understandable.

I'm wondering if you have gone to this trouble to think out and find understandable the racist **** you have had to go through.
Just curious.