The pain of racist words

SHERRI THOMAS

 

‘0 one will be surprised to
N= about a young

womyn in her early 20s
fussing over her appearance,
especially when she is
going out with her
family and friends.
This was the case for
me one night, twenty
years ago. I remember
this night very well. A
group of us prepared ourselves
to meet other family members
to participate at a certain
function. We primped our hair,

put on makeup ever so
carefully and arranged our
clothes to suit the occasion.
With anticipation we eagerly
looked forward to a happy
night.

66 * .
She’s a nice girl;
too bad she’s a damned

Indian squaw!”

Once there we met new peo-
ple. I was introduced to a
young handsome man known
to our family for his intellect

Kiss Ass

ANDREW CARROLL

 

“Kissass is the Part of Peace
America will have to Kissass
Mother Earth/Whites have to
Kissass Blacks, for Peace &
Pleasure,/Only Pathway to
Peace, Kissass.”

Allen Ginsberg. April 24, 1968

Kiss Ass. Ginsberg’s words
resonate down to 1999 to me
as queer white male working
on my own racism.
Acknowledging that each one
of us is racist is difficult.
Combating racism on a daily
basis is harder. Kissing ass is a
radical yet practical way of
combating bigotry.

Being queer has taught me
to question much: how desire
works, and how love is blocked
by not only gender, but race
also. When love is blocked, it
hurts.

In the past, my preferences
have always been for white
men. As I worked on issues of

sexuality, I started to realise
that my preferences were
racially motivated. Having
racist parents and being a
product of a racist society has
prevented me from getting
sexually intimate with my
queer brothers of colour.

In the gay community,
racism is prevalent just as
much as in the straight world.
The image of “gay” and “les-
bian” is overwhelming white,
especially within the main-
stream media. Categories and
labels exist for those who love
those of the same “race” and
those who love those of other
“races.” For example, white
males who desire only men of
Asian heritage are called “rice
queens” and men of Asian her-
itage who desire only white
men are called “potato
queens.” While men of Asian
heritage who only desire men
of their own backgrounds are
called “sticky rice.” I have

mB le ~ ience Club

and knowledge. Our conversa-
tion drifted towards culture, a
topic I enjoy. This man seemed
to be enjoying our conversa-
tion. At some point I excused
myself to the ladies restroom.
Coming back to the
table, I overheard this
person say to his
friends, “She’s a nice
girl; too bad she’s a
damned Indian squaw!”
I couldn't have been
more shocked. The pain of
those words cut through my
heart and I went to sleep that
night with a deep shame. I

even jokingly called myself
“mashed potatoes.” Indeed, all
of these terms are racist in
some way; my term, however,
is probably the saddest, for
who really wants to be
“mashed potatoes,”—it cer-
tainly isn't appetizing.

Within the past four years,
I have been unlearning this
racism and teaching myself to
admire men of colour.
Beautiful shades of skin and
the sheer diversity in the male
form, it has been amazing
what has opened when I
allowed myself to kiss ass.

So it is important for whites
to kiss ass because it is a way
of acknowledging that they
are racist, to be put in a sub-
missive position, and in doing
so combatting and subverting
this racist society.
Metaphorically and literally
kissing ass is political.

Pub Nite

 

could not understand it. My
senses went deeper than the
kind of disappointment that
most womyn experience at
some point in their lives. The
word Indian coming from this
individual sounded like an ugly
descriptive word. Squaw was
another word he used. Just for

One has to only look at the
many diversities of cultures,
races and nationalities at
Douglas College. I compare it as
a mini-world with gender, age,
classes of status, etc., etc., etc.
My list should be long. Our
prejudism hurts.

Knowledge is healing and

 

your informative mind and suf-
fice it to say, it is not nice to
call a lady this word at any
time. Unfortunately, this will
not take away the fact that
some ignorant people will
choose to use it in reference to
First Nation womyn.

time may ease pain but who is
going to stop our prejudism? I
guess we only have to look
within ourselves for that
answer.

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ee Gee oe

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