[click image of 1st congresswoman of color, so to speak,
to check out Prompt Night at Dash of Sunny]
I was so ready to live through first female POTUS… guess I prolly still will. Egads though look what we got? Nope now mustn’t obsess.
It’s a blog post. Breathe.
Patsy Mink
“She was the first woman of color and first Asian American elected to Congress.”
I guess I did know that Asians are called people of color. I could call myself a person of color (incarnadine!), but no, no pass. I read a whole stack of books about ‘passing’ back in undergrad one semester. Another semester I did Asian lit.just tangentially, and learned how the Japanese genocided their indigenous peoples too, the Ainu…
Another semester, coming out stories and gay fiction. I have read some off-the-wall books. The Anthropology of Race… Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks….
Race issues are similar to gender issues aren’t they?
Do women pass for men to succeed in the workplace?
There are all kinds of different kinds of passing.
How I would have liked to be able to pass for Asian sometimes when I lived there 5 yrs teaching English. Not speaking the language, and coming on to my onset of schizophrenia at the time too, of course every unintelligible overheard conversation was about me.
The alienation I generally encountered all over Asia was akin, though, to a sort of minor celebrity, which some ppl of clr in the US, or maybe more in Canada and elsewhere – but here too – may relate to on some level, but which hardly parallels the experience of the toxic prejudice which necessitates passing.
I did have a few drunken uncles on different occasions tell me Johnny Go Home.
Anyway womensday2017…
The degrees of prejudice are vast as well as subtle, whether is be gender, race, religion or income! Perhaps the only answer is to make prejudice a crime but then free speech is then compromised. Humanity likes to make divisions, boundaries and differences to judge others. We have such a long way to go before being truly civilised.
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Well-stated oldegg. Maybe as we evolve culturally, we’ll grow more fingers too.
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Whistles!!❤️❤️ This is absolutely stupendous writing Eugene 🙂 I love the fact that you chose Patsy Mink as inspiration and how you have highlighted various issues in this. Thank you so much for participating at Prompt Nights and for your constant love and support.❤️❤️
Lots of love,
Sanaa
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Thanks Sanaa rly good to chime in.
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All the ways we judge people… not just race or gender but so many silly ways… thanks for chiming in
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The pleasure is mine.
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