Post B37CtExtLBLvMXdmE4 by dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org
(DIR) More posts by dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org
(DIR) Post #B36qonKJxWTRUhbft2 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:09:23Z
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I find the way that some people understand what is and isn't racism mystifying. TO ME? Saying (lying!) about Black Haitian immigrants "eating cats and dogs" is wildly racist and probably worse than putting the most powerful and untouchable Black American couple in a racist video as apes?Like both are bad. But the "eating dogs and cats" thing whew! Stinky. And yet there are these people who were shocked by the video and unmoved by the "cats and dogs" line?1/
(DIR) Post #B36r4fQ183hpbJq7NY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:12:15Z
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What is the issue? It's the same thing. It's a prejudice that Black people are primitive and inhumane. Like apes or some animal that attacks your pets. It's the same kind of racism. Is it that they don't care if it's not powerful people?Dazzled by the wealth and power of the Obamas and so you can recognize an insult to them but not to some regular blackfolks?It's really odd and I don't get it. These things are equal and we only got a retraction for ONE of them.
(DIR) Post #B36rHUgqKSXY5ipHTk by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:14:34Z
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I'm well aware that the kind of person who is "shocked" by the Obamas as apes video, but somehow didn't have the same level of reaction to "cats and dogs" isn't interested in what Black people think. They are mostly worried that important people do not think of them as racist. So, even saying this is a little pointless. But, maybe some of ya'll can ask your uncle or auntie why are ya'll like this? Why?3/3
(DIR) Post #B36rSt5NxxfGwHjqka by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:16:38Z
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I do not worry about the Obamas. The Obamas are fine. It's hard for me to feel sad or bad about anything that's said about them them. A Haitian working two jobs and living in Ohio having to try to prove that they don't eat cats is MUCH more upsetting to me. I mean it's all ignorance and very embarrassing.
(DIR) Post #B36rbWcAsmmRquC5dQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:18:11Z
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They have NEVER apologized for that "cats and dogs" BS. Some people are still running around thinking it's true.
(DIR) Post #B36s0GsWWjKmHpdo5g by thejessiekirk@ohai.social
2026-02-08T11:22:37Z
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@futurebird Aye, it is weird (and I'm honestly surprised he redacted any of his racist garbage).I did some reading; may I please share my thoughts on why this might be?
(DIR) Post #B36sEHccYjxSe9ssS0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:25:11Z
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To some white people with racism it's like they have a check list. The following things are racism... and NOTHING else:1. The n word said in a MEAN way.2. Monkeys3. Watermelon4. Segregated Water Fountain Signs.Show them a sign that says "No Blacks Allowed" on a changing room and they are like "well maybe there is a good reason for that one? People steal"It's is buck wild. Why even pretend that you care about racism at all?Some of ya'll are so damn strange.
(DIR) Post #B36sLYtYjiU2FIHGy0 by RogerBW@discordian.social
2026-02-08T11:26:27Z
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@futurebird "Racism is bad. I am not a bad person. Therefore I cannot be a racist. Therefore what I do isn't racism." Many other things can be put in place of racism there, of course.
(DIR) Post #B36sNZ6GweKbSdBAzw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:26:46Z
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@Anke Some of their racism is so off the charts that it fails to register with me. It's just nonsense to me and I don't even feel offended since I can't make sense of what they are doing. It kind of fails to be hurtful and just looks goofy. Maybe that's what bothers them?
(DIR) Post #B36sfi8I6JOwgfmApk by GlasWolf@mastodon.scot
2026-02-08T11:30:08Z
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@futurebird Yet here's a Black journalist basically saying "we knew he was racist, but this is next level". I agree with you, I don't understand it. Maybe it's that racism against famous and influential people is, by its nature, more overt?https://news.sky.com/story/i-never-thought-i-would-see-a-us-president-post-a-video-containing-such-an-unquestionably-racist-image-13504357
(DIR) Post #B36tVT1VWRhssuHZHU by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2026-02-08T11:33:32Z
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@futurebird Don't you consider that there's a difference between conscious racism ("I hate n****s and wish harm on them") and unconscious one ("I'm suspicious of the behavior of these people") ?
(DIR) Post #B36tVUDF6IgiZamSDA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:39:28Z
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@lienrag Lying about people eating cats and dogs isn't just being ignorant and suspicious of people you don't know well or understand. It's deeply malicious and dehumanizing. This isn't assuming the Black person can't possibly be the manager racism. It's not a mistake based on having a bias. It's propagandizing to eliminate humanity.
(DIR) Post #B36tqT3eaZ374bIfOC by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2026-02-08T11:43:12Z
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@futurebird It certainly is, but it is in a more perverse way than "I hate black people".It's "I hate foreign black people" - you are absolutely right to be totally riled up by that as a US black woman (and to understand that you're next if they can get away with it), but still it's less obvious racism than the Obama picture.(I totally agree with you, just trying to answer you're "what's wrong with y'all" question)
(DIR) Post #B36u3LiLChkk3sTQbA by femme_mal@mstdn.social
2026-02-08T11:45:35Z
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@futurebird I'm not even going to grant the leeway that some are "damn strange."I pass because unlike my siblings I am pale skinned. Because I pass, people say wretchedly racist stuff in front of me -- and I watch people who think they aren't racist/claim they aren't racist just stand there, mute, if they don't bob their heads in agreement.These same people may sway if put on the spot but they never question their own behavior or stop racist behavior in front of them.
(DIR) Post #B36uAnrAy9KfN4A0Vk by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T11:46:52Z
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@driusan Well on one side you have a video, on the other you have Trump himself saying "eating cats and dogs" with his own ugly lips out loud. With the video he can say "someone posted that not me not me"He *said* that other BS. And before the election. Everyone heard it. A bunch of people didn't care so it's odd to me that now they do care?Because it's what? Obama? I thought Ya'll hated him.
(DIR) Post #B36uW2ajNfiT9RayDw by petealexharris@mastodon.scot
2026-02-08T11:50:47Z
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@futurebird Acknowledging that racism is the toxic waste dump their whole country's history and many of their unexamined norms was built on requires more work from them than not saying the n word.
(DIR) Post #B36vzDogpCnOJkbRJY by benh@mastodon.scot
2026-02-08T12:07:16Z
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@futurebird Is it that (white) people cannot (don't want to) think about racism for themselves.They have _already_ been told that comparing people to apes is racist, and so can recognise the pattern.But talking about "eating cats and dogs" is a novel form of racism, and does not get pattern matched
(DIR) Post #B36wBnMIVRXy1ZJmLo by Klara@drupal.community
2026-02-08T12:09:28Z
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@futurebird this is exactly what I feel. They threatened the safety of people who dont have unlimited means to shield themselves from harm. That is what made it scary on top of the racism.
(DIR) Post #B36wUigk5tsR2euAZU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T12:12:59Z
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@Klara I think about the little Haitian American school kids and what it has been like for them walking to school or in the lunch room. The most powerful man in the world is talking pure trash about people like you.
(DIR) Post #B36yqGnqeTSoptdGUa by Nocta_Senestra@eldritch.cafe
2026-02-08T12:39:12Z
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@futurebird I get the point being made, agreeing not questioning it or anything, but what's the thing with watermelon? Does it have something to do with Palestine or?
(DIR) Post #B371pA7iIhT5h05UQ4 by superflippy@mastodon.xyz
2026-02-08T13:12:37Z
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@futurebird People from outside the state kept telling me there wasn’t racism in California, I must be mistaken. What???
(DIR) Post #B372BNc8p4zru7ujWS by rozeboosje@masto.ai
2026-02-08T13:09:02Z
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@Nocta_Senestra @futurebird I wondered that myself, but from what I've seen over the years it seems that foods like watermelon and fried chicken, in the American psyche, are seen as "stereotypical things black people eat". Of course to us, Europeans, that makes no sense as to us there is nothing "ethnic" or "race specific" about eating such things, but it's good to be aware. Another example: "mammie". To the Irish in Ireland that is literally just what you call your mother. Not in the USA.
(DIR) Post #B372BPIMZaMf7MfxyK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T13:16:41Z
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@rozeboosje @Nocta_Senestra WatermelonIn the south sometimes black kids would steal watermelons to eat. Because they were hungry. This was a nuisance to the plantation owners and they thought that hungry kids eating watermelon fast was funny. Fried ChickenIt's a way of making inexpensive meat more tasty and nourishing. You can't afford a steak or pork but maybe some fried chicken.These are things that brought poor black people joy so they made fun of it.
(DIR) Post #B372EniWEI45jIWotc by Nocta_Senestra@eldritch.cafe
2026-02-08T13:17:17Z
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@futurebird I knew about the fried chicken but not the watermelon, thanks for educating me 💜
(DIR) Post #B372VWrEAMCMMbZuwS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-02-08T13:20:22Z
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@Nocta_Senestra It's really more about the kind of imagery used in cartoons and minstrel shows to make fun of black people for... really liking two of the objectively best foods around?But also turning any joy into shame. Ha ha ha you like eating food. How embarrassing.
(DIR) Post #B372aia00jkCAPzhnE by Nocta_Senestra@eldritch.cafe
2026-02-08T13:21:17Z
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@futurebird Yeah :(Could be a dogwhistle too in some contexts it's always good to be aware
(DIR) Post #B376j3CRd5FGFiCo52 by PizzaDemon@mastodon.online
2026-02-08T14:07:34Z
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@futurebird I see only one other distinction between the remarks: one was made while out of office campaigning and the other while in office. People still expect candidates to be closer to fringe and elected officials to be more cautious despite his specific track record of no variance.
(DIR) Post #B3796THn0WLfj508MS by Heartofcoyote@neuromatch.social
2026-02-08T14:34:14Z
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@futurebird I think it’s because the video was targeted at specific people, which makes it easier to empathize with the targeted. I agree that it’s actually more harmful to target a whole group of people with a disgusting (and obvious) lie, because it’s harder to debunk and draws a whole group of people into an argument (they had nothing to do with) as straw men. But think it’s a feature of our cognition that things seem more real the more concrete they are, whether they’re harms like racism or benefits like public health interventions that prevent or reduce death and disease (like vaccinations).
(DIR) Post #B37AlcYZXmZQJ12Krw by jonathankoren@sfba.social
2026-02-08T14:52:52Z
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@futurebird When he said that on national television, I thought “Finally! This is it! This is so fucking stupid, this will finally be it!” Then that moment quickly passed. Nothing can get through, because he hates the people they hate
(DIR) Post #B37Cb8yor1QDaVRfto by plsik@mastodon.social
2026-02-08T15:13:23Z
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@futurebird Thanks for this thread on racism. Here in Europe, we naturally have specific forms of internalized racism. Someone who would refuse to be called a racist refers to Vietnamese people as "reed men" or "Chinese" (because all people from Asia are Chinese, of course). And they refer to Roma people as gypsies/cigosh.
(DIR) Post #B37CtABX72IGXOz6IK by dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org
2026-02-08T15:16:37Z
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@futurebirdI would like to know as well. Race was always a very in your face issue for me as a child (in Oakland California). As a child, obviously I had no responsibility for the "way things were" but I was a poor white child in a school full of poor black kids, and so I was hated by some of them as a member of the oppressor. seriously, the kids were taught that white people were evil because they made the families poor and the kids internalized that.
(DIR) Post #B37CtExtLBLvMXdmE4 by dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org
2026-02-08T15:16:38Z
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@futurebird@sauropods.winNow, its true that white people DID do things to make the black families poor, while at the same time, I had nothing to do with it, and my single mom was also poor and also receiving the same food assistance etc. Its all too much for 7 year olds to understand. And while some kids hated me, some kids were great friends. I always think about Corey, a black kid with cerebral Palsy and stuttering who was just the most enthusiastic and active kid on two crutches... running all over
(DIR) Post #B37F1EEq7s6ZKlVMEC by heptapodEnthusiast@mathstodon.xyz
2026-02-08T15:40:30Z
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@futurebird I suspect that a factor in this is that covertly racist whites don't have a problem with the racism of either of these, but were scandalized by how uncouth the ape video was. Targeting low status Haitian immigrants: classy. Targeting a former POTUS and First Lady: not classy. They see the Obamas as having proven themselves as "civilized", and Trump is debasing himself because he can't control himself when the topic of Obama comes up.
(DIR) Post #B37Ffdm6bK8q7LKnMO by foolishowl@social.coop
2026-02-08T15:47:47Z
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@futurebird Part of this is commercial news media's racism and its fixation on celebrities and high-ranking politicians, but the rest of us should push back harder against their choice of the topic-of-the-day.
(DIR) Post #B37I4xfTyXmkxlREMy by SteveClough@metalhead.club
2026-02-08T16:14:47Z
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@futurebird FWIW (not a lot, I know) I think the retraction came because The Right People pushed back.I know that all of the racist comments and post he has made have offended me. In fact, every racist thing, every ablist thing, every fucking offensive word out of his fingers sucks.But I also know that a) I don't see or hear most of it; and b) It is what we expect from him, so we get inured to it all. Sadly. It takes some new level of offensiveness to spark a response.He and his ilk are just vile. But there is nothing I can do about it. Except - where I can - express my disgust and support for those being offended.
(DIR) Post #B37IAuxIyQIMHtcAsa by burnoutqueen@todon.nl
2026-02-08T16:15:51Z
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@futurebird People want to avoid the guilt of being labeled racist, but they want their segregation and their cheap sweatshop slop and their police etc
(DIR) Post #B37IH0fedYmFkcGPqa by burnoutqueen@todon.nl
2026-02-08T16:16:57Z
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@futurebird @rozeboosje @Nocta_Senestra Racists don't make sense. I would personally do unspeakable things for free fried chicken... and I am white.
(DIR) Post #B37J6SJdc6bmG6UsPg by thomasjwebb@mastodon.social
2026-02-08T16:26:15Z
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@futurebird My first impulse is to think well yeah, Obama is at least kinda in the in-group but Haitian immigrants aren't. And that's probably part of it, but yeah it does seem like it's more heuristics like you say. Maybe it's more comforting to the average white American to think of a checklist as necessary and sufficient to avoid doing a racism.
(DIR) Post #B37LnwKk5FTziYsNnM by burnoutqueen@todon.nl
2026-02-08T16:56:33Z
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@futurebird @Klara Government sanctioned harassment
(DIR) Post #B37PgXq39mwjXNFW5o by jrdepriest@infosec.exchange
2026-02-08T17:40:02Z
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@futurebird @Anke Maybe it's just as simple as "if they will go after this power couple that I perceive as their peers, then nobody is safe".It could be a hierarchical / caste thing. They didn't see the racism in saying "Haitians will eat your pets" because it was "obviously other nations are inferior and deserve trash talk; it's not serious, it's just how you treat your lessers" kind of shit.
(DIR) Post #B37U9usoxKJrDvo3SC by P__X@mastodon.social
2026-02-08T18:30:09Z
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@futurebird to me the interesting part is how these disingenuous arguments revolving around "what makes you think trump's racist?" disappeared the past year and a half. To me it's a sign of a rare societal unity that considers his racism a fact not worth debating.
(DIR) Post #B37XCnYAyZHDDDDQfY by integerpoet@sfba.social
2026-02-08T19:04:18Z
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@futurebird Indeed. And the fact that some white people are programmed to reject monkey depictions means that other white people jump on the opportunity to see “See? We told you he’s a racist.” This incident may have been less hurtful but more **useful**.
(DIR) Post #B37YFrvNGklVbL5ut6 by gooba42@mastodon.social
2026-02-08T19:16:03Z
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@futurebird There's a second order effect too where "racist" is somehow such a horrible accusation that it's beyond the pale.It's somehow worse to label something racism than to do the racist things. The media especially is too "polite" to call anything racism outright and it's percolating into regular people's behavior.
(DIR) Post #B37auWO2Rz6oaJ0wnA by rehana@mastodon.social
2026-02-08T19:45:49Z
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@futurebird The timing could be part of it. He has done a lot of unpopular things since then, and people who were willing to cut him some slack may not be anymore. Just a guess though.