So, over in the comment thread on the Billy Ray post there’s a commenter named Anthony who stumbled upon my little blog while Googling on Billy Ray’s name. At first, Anthony seems like a pretty upstanding guy. He expresses outrage that such terrible things can happen and even goes so far as to threaten bodily harm on the perpetrators, if given a chance. But then Anthony rolls his clown car right back into privilege-land and the fun begins:

This is not a black and white issue and it is a shame that it is being made into one. Does not matter what color the victim was or the perpetrators. It is equally as sick if it was white on white or black on black. A sick fuck is a sick fuck regardless of color.

…keep on track, this is not about color, open your f’ing eyes we are all human beings and I dont care what color you are, if you treat another human being this way you should be taken out of the gene pool…….PERIOD!

EVERYBODY get over the race shit and learn to treat one another like human beings. The past is the past so live in the now. No wonder the terrorists want us dead!

Does this sound familiar to anyone? It should. It’s a variation of Ways to Suppress Discussions of Racism #5 (and possibly elements of #6).

I made an offhand comment about there being a lot of overprivileged people commenting lately and Anthony returned to defend his honor:

You think “white” people are overpriviledged by simply the color of our skin?

All of the sudden I understand who the racist is and who should be angry. No wonder you are angry. Obviously deep down you realize that you are part of the problem, thus it must really suck living in your skin, regardless of it’s outward color.

More #5. In my response, I offered Anthony a chance to educate himself by reading the How To Suppress article as well as my post about White Privilege. I don’t think he took my advice, because he returned to say:

Would you have posted the story about Billy Ray if he was a white, hispanic, oriental, or any other race than black? The atrocity is the same regardless of his color, right?

…If your answer is yes, you would have posted it, I find you very respectable. However, if you tell me no…..then I stick to my previous statement that you are part of the problem. You are just as big a racist as those your site criticises. [sic]

…You and your kind (regardless of color) are the problem in America. It is called being a hypocrite.

To be heard and listened to, one must walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Get off your fucking soapbox and make a REAL difference.

Somewhere in there he called both Ann and I “black racists”. I invited him to read the Racism debate, but I don’t think he did that, either. And, of course, there was a liberal sprinkling of ‘blame the victim’ and putting on the onus for change on someone else and not himself. Because we are the problem, you see.

I react predictably to this. Anthony’s (so far) final comment:

WOW…You ladies are angry.

NO WAI!! We are??

I am well aware how sickly racist white people can be and I TRULY find it deplorable…….and NOW I am SHOCKINGLY aware of how racist even one of color can be. Thank you for the eye opening militant experience,…… I think.

I hope and pray that you and yours can find some peace and happiness somewhere in your lives.

P.S. Since the above responses rattled me so deeply, I showed them to 2 friends this morning:
Person #1 Black hetero female (Majored in Liberal Arts with a Masters in Sociology.) Person #2 White lesbian female. Person #1 informed me that there is no “real” social discussion to be had with you and yours. You simply hate yourselves and take it out with these racial “injustice” tyrades. and Person #2 asked me to tell you the term “queer” SHOULD offend you, it does her. Just an FYI.

Yes, kids, he pulled out the ‘my black friend says I’m not racist’ card. And a bonus ‘my lesbian friend says that I’m right’ card with extra added bit where a random white woman gets to dictate which words should offend me. Someone tell Angry Brown Butch to stop using the word Queer right now! It offends some white woman somewhere!

But seriously, this kind of thing boggles me to no end. I realize that it’s the classic example of white male privilege in action, but I am stunned by the level of ignorance on display here. Add to that his seeming surprise that not only was this blog filled with angry ladies, but that we mainly care about black people and black issues. Is the header on this site not fucking big enough?