"This double murder is what many residents of Northeast Baltimore have always feared would happen if blacks started moving into their neighborhood."
Dear God, people make me tired. So very tired.
A woman and her daughter were murdered by the woman's husband in Baltimore last night. That event, which could have happened to anyone of any race, any time, any city, spawned an outpouring of bile on the Baltimore Sun's bulletin board. Apparently, it's the fault of "black Section 8 families" moving into good neighborhoods. (Yes, they were black; the murdered woman was the vice president of a company, the murdered daughter was an honor student, and the man drove a cab -- they weren't Section 8.) Because they were having severe financial problems, the man was apparently "a deadbeat". For another person, apparently it was the woman's fault because "you know how some women are, they just HAVE to have a man around the house, and ohmigod, what will they do without someone to take care of them and support them." Another person says, "Believe me, I've tried integration, it doesn't work" and "BUT when blacks do move into a neighborhood in significant numbers it goes to hell--and you know it."
And it's not just the United States, either.
What the fuck is the point of even trying? trying anything?
It's the sort of thing that almost makes me wish that the fundies were right, and that god should come, sweep the planet clean of the human virus, and start from scratch, having learned a lesson about how to work this free-will experiment a little better the next time. Maybe make an actual gene for tolerance of differences, for empathy, and make it strong. Clearly, we can't do it on our own; maybe some successor creature could do better.
At least one person kept sight of the people involved.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
Search entries:
12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!