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I am NOT just a statistic

Jeannine Chavez,
Huntington Park, CA.

As a United States citizen who lives in Los Angeles as a gay Mexican female, it has limited my privileges. Being a different race, sex, and having a different sexuality than others have all caused me to be oppressed and quite often hear remarks about these three social identities that people perceive me by. Racism, sexism, and homophobia are things i have to deal with on the daily because i’m not in compliance with society. Just because I am a gay Mexican female and not a straight white male, I get judged everyday by several people but I always keep in mind that I am special and unique. Society teaches us to be prejudice of how people look and act but in reality there is more to that then just appearances.

Is the scrutinizing of ideas racist?

Joey Klein,
Lakeland, FL.

Why is it that if one disagrees with the claims of a feminist, or an SJW, that the one disagreeing is sexist, or racist? The claim that women make less money than men in the US because of systemic patriarchy can be used as an example. I’m not entirely bought into that claim. Does that make me sexist? Not necessarily. After the research I’ve done, I actually think that the issue is a pay gap, not a wage gap. As a collective unit, women do make less money than men in the US. But does that mean the system is based upon sexism? That depends upon the reason for women making less money. Also through the research, I’ve done, I think that the reason women, as a collective, make less money is not because they’re being paid less, but because fewer of them are working in certain jobs, such as stem fields. But why are fewer women working those jobs?

Is it because their applications are being rejected due to systemic sexism? Or is because they’re merely deciding either not to work those jobs, or not to work at all, so that they could take care of other things? For me, I think the latter question is the answer. Does my rejection of the first claim make me sexist? If you read my reasons for rejecting the claim, no, it doesn’t. But what about racism? For that, let’s look at the claim that police brutality on blacks in the US has gotten worse due to systemic racism. I reject that claim. Does that make me racist? Like the last claim, the answer is: not necessarily. See, again through research, I’ve done, I think that police brutality on blacks in America, as horrid as it is regardless, hasn’t gotten worse. Rather, I think that it’s just a few bad cops painting a bad picture for the rest of the force due to either their mistakes or their individual prejudices. In actuality, most blacks in the US suffer most of their deaths from other black people. At least according to most of the statistics I’ve seen and/or heard of. So does my rejection of the police brutality vs. black America claim make me racist? If you look at my reasons, no. But quite a few feminists & SJWs would, and will, label me as racist & sexist regardless of my reasoning. But why? Well, based on everything I’ve seen, I can only assume that it’s because instead of discussing their ideas with an open mind, they’d rather do their best to censor me by labeling me racist & sexist. That way they can discredit me & avoid my criticism. So I’d like to apologize to anyone if I’ve invaded your safe-space. I know how much those mean to you… (Note: This is the second time I’m submitting this exact memoir due to not being able to find it once I submitted it the first time. If how submitting a memoir could be explained better, that would be appreciated.)

America: do you hate me?

Andrea Catala,
Burke, VA.

It seems that half of the U.S. felt fear and panic of non-whites or immigrants taking over our country. Well now I’m fearful and panicked that half the country hates non-whites. Is that true? Was this election truly an anti-establishment referendum? Or was there sexism and racism that tinged the voting electorate as well?

Sexism: worse than racism. It’s complicated.

Woman,
Raleigh, NC.

Yes, racism exists and at times, thrives, but if you’re a woman of color, you’re more likely to be affected than your male counterparts. Sexism, an outworking of centuries of patriarchal systems – systems that allowed for racism in the first place – makes every “ism” it’s present in worse. So, when we talk about race, let’s not forget the dirty secret in the closet, and let’s deal with that too, because the two are inextricably intertwined.

Experiencing reverse discrimination, sexism, ageism, (is) insightful.

Pat,
Charlotte, NC.

As a young white girl of 9, my family moved to a NYC housing project. I was greeted with “white cracker”. A term I had never heard previously, and didn’t know why I was disliked. I was not raised to focus on skin color – my mother told me we all had the same color blood. As a young woman, I experienced gender discrimination in a predominantly male workforce. As an older, divorced, childless, retiree I experience ageism. The latter is widespread, deep in our culture, and difficult to ignore – the stereotypes are painful – I am an invisible individual to many. I was not prepared for this last battle and have empathy for others who are objects of discrimination because they dare to exist.

You’re not as pretty as Asians.

Kimberly
San Jose, CA

Since moving to the San Francisco area, I’ve been told by a few men quite bluntly that I’ll never measure up to an East Asian woman. This is what I’ve heard; “You white women age faster. Asian women are so much prettier. Asian women don’t get fat. Asian women are nicer, more demure. They’re smarter.”. The blatant racism and sexism infuriates me, never mind the rudeness of it. It’s like somehow okay because I’m white, in the majority, and they’re talking about a minority race. It’s never right. Racism is racism. Sexism is sexism.

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