As a white guy, I have the kind of privilege that allows me enough space to realize that I’m sad. Hell, I could probably just walk up to a cop and tell them I’m sad, and they’d offer me some horrible, but well-meaning advice.
But when I mention my Judaism, something interesting might happen. Especially if I told them that my Zionist family lives in Israel. But the real excitement will start when I say “free Palestine.”
But the saddest part of all is that I could say nothing, and just be white, and no one will give a fuck. It’s mostly sad because I’m incapable of saying nothing.
I’m pretty sure every cop that I’ve ever met (in the US, anyway) would be indifferent to anything in that second paragraph. It would be such a wildly uninteresting encounter for most of them, they’d forget about it by the end of their shift.
As a white guy, I have the kind of privilege that allows me enough space to realize that I’m sad. Hell, I could probably just walk up to a cop and tell them I’m sad, and they’d offer me some horrible, but well-meaning advice.
But when I mention my Judaism, something interesting might happen. Especially if I told them that my Zionist family lives in Israel. But the real excitement will start when I say “free Palestine.”
But the saddest part of all is that I could say nothing, and just be white, and no one will give a fuck. It’s mostly sad because I’m incapable of saying nothing.
I’m pretty sure every cop that I’ve ever met (in the US, anyway) would be indifferent to anything in that second paragraph. It would be such a wildly uninteresting encounter for most of them, they’d forget about it by the end of their shift.
That was quite the rollercoaster and I’ve got a complex bundle of sympathy and relating going on (as a kiwi, not the Zionism)