Absolutely. That's what makes me scratch my head when reading Nepenthe's post a little. I don't think anyone is saying you're not justified to assume the worst as a black person, because you are in fact justified. The issue, however, lies in the fact that people immediately went full throttle against this 23 old student working at a chipotle, instead of at least waiting for some piece of extra corroborating evidence or something.
Unless we have evidence of people sending threats and insults directly to this woman during the initial incident, then you're preaching to the choir. People on ERA- as far as I know- kept their personal reactions to ERA, and did not go "full throttle."
Unless "going full throttle" in this instance means simply means "making a character judgement," which, no duh. This was initially a story about racism, specifically the act of falsely accusing black men of a crime (
which is not something that happens once in a blue moon). There's going to be character judgements. Expecting black people
not to make character judgements of those they reasonably perceive as being racist is a fool's errand of the highest order and will remain as such until America can get it together and stop perpetuating white supremacy.
Furthering this fancy is the idea that plausible deniability concerning racism is magically a wholly separate from the discussion of how
this specific Chipotle incident fits into the narrative concerning "The Mob Mentality™." No one went after her because they perceived her cooking skills to be subpar or something else equally frivolous. Absolutely no one cared about this woman
until they perceived her to be perpetuating a significant issue that actually exists and has harmed millions over centuries. That was the source of the reaction. "This woman appears to be racist." And what else is the reflexive reaction to racism
supposed to be? Storied neutrality? Fence-sitting? That's for people who don't get affected by these issues.
Trying to somehow untangle the issue of how racism in the service industry is perceived in this specific context is an exercise in futility and ironically does what people who are using this instance to run a victory lap are accusing the true perpetrators of the incident of doing- trivializing black people's concerns about their specific issues. Because shit, what else am I supposed to think when my particular perspective is brushed aside as "being reactionary for reactionary's sake?" All I think of that person is that they think a kneejerk emotional reaction to
shit that has actually happened to me and my folks isn't worth paying attention to. Just a reaction for reaction's sake. Just part of the mob. Just wanting to be mad.
Bollocks.
