Do Better, PLS.

Two concepts I have never liked regarding passive racism and insensitivity toward the gay community  have been on my mind a lot lately. The first is when my non-black peers feel the need to refer to black people as "this black guy" or "some black girl". There is no need. I cannot count the number of times in which a peer of mine has recalled some trivial banality of a story in which one of the persons involved happened to be of color and the person telling the story felt compelled to point it out.

To be sure, this often happens when the story-teller is trying to convey that the person at hand was either thug-like or intimidating in some way, but these are simply ludicrous, hyperbolic stereotypes that do nothing but perpetuate said stereotypes and influence peoples' reasons to falsely acknowledge and declare these absurd racial distinctions. Even if you think it adds flavor to your story, leave it out because you are, in every way, part of the problem if you don't. It's some form of passive racism in which people have no idea of the implications of their statements. Go ahead and refer to the person as "thug-like" or "gangster" or "reminiscent of U-turn from Showtime's 'Weeds'" for all I care, as these terms could have white-non-hispanic representations as well, but don't suggest that the color of ones skin need be suggestive of any of these qualities. I used to think this awful phenomenon was defensible because people just did it out of ignorance. That perhaps it wasn't intentional racism but just a cultural component, but I cannot abide by it any longer.

(Addendum to the first half:

I recently found out that Queens County in New York City is the only large county in the United States in which black incomes are higher than white incomes. The fact that this is the case for Queens is great. I love Queens. But the fact that this is the only large county in the entire country to boast such a statistic is quite troubling for me, to say the least.

During my orientation at the NSSR, one of the speakers mentioned a recent study that showed the effect of making students declare their race (as well as sex) on standardized testing. It found that black students fared worse on math and science subjects on tests in which stating race was required, while it found that black students fared equally to white students on tests in which there was no question about race. I thought this was amazing, and also very disconcerting. It shows how much the labeling of the black community (perhaps not of itself to itself, but of itself to the rest of the word) affects its well-being. Making awful implications out of bullshit generalizations perpetuates this labeling and this separation, so, please, think about that next time you're about to do it.)

The second concept which yields great contempt from me is when people defend gay marriage or gay-anything by arguing that people do not decide to be gay. Don't get me wrong, the likelihood of deciding to be gay has got to be very low given the moronic nature of mankind and its propensity to loathe everything one might deem "weird", but whether people choose to be gay or not should be irrelevant. So what if someone chooses to be gay? If that person is happy doing so, so fucking be it. Why does it need to be about excuses? Would you argue the same about ethnicity? I would hope not. The overlying issue of morality here is that people should be able to do as they please as long as they aren't harming anyone else in the process. Some might argue (and many do) that same-sex marriage has the capability to harm someone psychologically (e.g. the sanctity of one's marriage is threatened by the sinful nature of another's same-sex marriage), but these are simply terrible, atrocious people to whom you should not afford any attention. For the record, if you would like some analogous social-libertarian (the good kind of libertarian) literature on the matter, read the superb John Stuart Mill's 'On Liberty' and his "harm principle". He doesn't talk about same-sex marriage per se, but his remarks on polygamy can easily be extrapolated to make the same point.

Embrace and celebrate homosexuality for all that it is: unadulterated beauty. If you don't, you're just an asshole and you're furthering the idea that heterosexuality is right and normal while homosexuality is wrong and weird. I've reached the point where I can't accept any defense of gay-marriage simply because it's a defense. Do the right thing. Be a good person. I love living in New York City for a myriad of heartfelt reasons, but one of the most prominent is how comfortable they gay community is here.

Addendum: the Yankees won tonight in comeback fashion (ignited by Derek Jeter) and I had a great group-iMessage conversation with my parents during it while I was drinking too much at a bar. It has left me feeling cozy and spirited in a way only my family can achieve.