Sans Regret

One day I was in a small shop. The owner was in the back when I selected my purchase. As I waited at the register with my merchandise, a young woman entered and began looking around. When the owner emerged, he stopped suddenly on his way to the register. He looked at me, then looked at the other woman and walked over to her. He said, “Can I help you?” She said, “No, I'm just looking around if that's alright.”

I was pissed because he ignored me when I was ready to check out while the other woman was clearly browsing. I assumed he did this because the other woman was younger and cuter than me and this guy was a total creeper. I was tempted to leave, but he kept staring at that woman in a super pervy, “To Catch a Predator,” type way. I didn't want to leave her alone with him. He started ringing up my purchase, but continued starting at the other woman while barely acknowledging my presence.

Finally, the other woman was creeped out enough to leave the store. The moment she departed, Creepy Store Owner finally acknowledged my presence. In a mocking tone he said, “I'm just looking if that's alright. If you don't speak to them, you're ignoring them. If you do, you're harassing them.” The other woman was black. Did I forget to mention that?

I'm sure people who live in a white privilege bubble will say things like:

“So what? If they don't shop in that store, there won't be a problem.”

Or:

“If they never go outside, police won't shoot them for no reason. And there won't be a problem.”

Bullshit like this fills me with such rage I have no choice but to pull out my laptop and blog about it. I pound the keyboard excessively hard as I type to punctuate my rage. That's right. I'm willing to risk carpal tunnel to fight injustice. You're welcome, America.

In my previous post, Dear White Trash, I addressed my distaste for people who are cool with blackface. I only discovered people who have a peculiar emotional attachment to blackface after my sister shared a previous post entitled, Dear White People, on her Facebook page. Though my intentions were good, it seems I may have hurt people with my offensive use of the term, white trash. Please excuse me while I write an open letter of apology to white trash.

Dear White Trash,

I am deeply sorry you were offended to learn of your white trashiness. Based on your public comments, which are all like, “#MAGA! Trump was sent by God to save us all from imaginary problems,” I foolishly assumed I couldn't possibly be the first to call you white trash.

Perhaps, we can use this moment to build a bridge of unity over a river of rainbows, or however you see the world from your perch atop White Privilege Mountain.

If you would so indulge me, please take a moment and really think about how being called white trash made you feel. Sure it pissed you off, but on the plus side, the person who said it – me – has no power over your lives.

Now, take a look at this picture of a current sitting governor.

This man is in a position of power and you thought black people should just shrug it off. And then tried to paint yourselves as the victims.

Now please indulge me as I share some lyrics from I'm Not Racist by Joyner Lucas.

“And even if I wasn't picking cotton physically
That don't mean I'm not affected by the history
My grandmama was a slave, that shit gets to me
And you ain't got no motherfucking sympathy” 

 

I'm also deeply sorry to have mentioned the extent to which our hometown was, and is, immersed in racism. It seems your memories are as camouflaged as your clothes. I could list numerous examples of racism, but one should suffice. There was a KKK march in our town in the nineteen-motherfucking-eighties. I'd like to forget it happened too, but alternative facts are just lies we tell ourselves to avoid confronting nasty shit. I don't care what Kellyanne Conway says.

One of you rambled incoherently about my post showing what's really in my heart. Uh, yeah, I was pretty open and deliberate with my words. Perhaps, you should give a little more thought to what you choose to show.

You see, Facebook is located on this thing called the World Wide Web. This means people all around the world can see everything you post. And when you post on the timeline of a person from high school, people from your high school aren't the only ones reading it. When we declared our abhorrence for this:

 

And someone responded with this:

“When will we stop trying to perpetuate racial tensions? Let's not look for racism. Let's not go backward. For your one instance of racism I see hundreds of unity in my church.”

That was extremely hurtful to people I care about. People who felt the sting of this:

I shall now quote a friend who so poignantly stated how those comments affected her:

“You know in my adult years I have literally gone through the stages of grief when it comes to race. I've been sad, angry, even depressed. The only reason why they don't want people to “dig” for racism is because they know it will expose them. She basically pulled the 'I'm not racist. I have a black friend.' Thank you for using the color of my skin as a token to make you feel better.”

And now, since you're all Trump supporters, it is my duty as a snarky blogger to block the on-ramp to the moral high road you so clearly believe you're entitled to. 

Ladies and Gentlemen and White Trash: The President of the United States

“A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market. I think sometimes a black may think they don't have an advantage or this and that... I've said on one occasion, even about myself, if I were starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black, because I believe they do have an actual advantage.” - Donald Trump, September 13, 1989 

“I want five children, like in my own family, because with five, then I will know that one will be guaranteed to turn out like me,” - Donald Trump, September 1, 1990

“You know, it doesn't really matter what the media writes as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” - Donald Trump, 1991

“You have to treat 'em [women] like shit.” - Donald Trump, November 9, 1992

 “I love the poorly educated.” - Donald Trump, February 24, 2016

“Wow! Just think — in a couple of years I’ll be dating you.” - Donald Trump to two 14-year-old girls in 1992

“I'm gonna be dating her in ten years.” - Donald Trump of a 10-year-old girl, in 1992 - CBS News

 

“I'll go backstage, before a show, and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know I'm inspecting, I want to make sure everything is good, the dresses, "Is everyone OK?", you know they're standing there with no clothes, "Is everybody OK?", and you see these incredible-looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.” - Donald Trump commenting on his ownership of Miss Universe, April 11, 2005

“If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her.” - Donald Trump on The View, March 6, 2006

“I sort of hope a housing crash happens because then people like me would go in and buy.” - Donald Trump,  November 4, 2006

“If Hillary Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?” - Donald Trump,  April 16, 2015

“He's a war hero 'cause he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you.” - Donald Trump, July 8, 2015

 “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” - Donald Trump about Megyn Kelly, August 7, 2015

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters.” - Donald Trump, January 23, 2016 

“They said, "Mr. Trump, there may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience." So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously... Okay? Just knock the hell... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees, I promise. I promise.” - Donald Trump, February 1, 2016 

“I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks. I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.” - Donald Trump, February 22, 2016

"By the way, if you had some guns in that club the night that this took place, if you had guns on the other side, you wouldn't have had the tragedy that you had. If people in that room had guns with the bullets flying in the opposite direction right at him." - Donald Trump on the Orlando nightclub shooting,  June 2016

“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read them the rights -- they didn't talk, they were a terrorist, it was over.” - Donald Trump, July 5, 2016

(The Source these stats are credited to does not exist. Fact.) 

“You know what, I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard. ... I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was gonna hit this guy so hard, his head would spin. He wouldn't know what the hell happened.” - Donald Trump, July 29, 2016 

“I like the challenge and tell the story of the coal miner’s son. The coal miner gets black-lung disease, his son gets it, then his son. If I had been the son of a coal miner, I would have left the damn mines. But most people don’t have the imagination — or whatever — to leave their mine. They don’t have “it.” - Donald Trump, 1990 Playboy Interview

“I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and fuck her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look. Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” - Donald Trump, 2005,  Access Hollywood

I now see the error of my ways. It was low class of me to refer to people as white trash. From this day forward I shall follow the meritorious example set by our president and carry myself with the same grace and dignity.

So again, allow me to offer my sincerest apologies to those I offended. I'm terribly sorry you're so goddamn dumb. Deep down in the cockles of my heart lies a small place which takes pity on witless assholes. Unfortunately, the part which yearns to mercilessly ridicule them is dominant.

Sans Regret,

Donna Troy

Namaste, Bitches