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Work 4 Peace,Hold All Life Sacred,Eliminate Violence! I am on my mobile version of the door-to-door, going town-to-town holding readings/gatherings/discussions of my book "But What Can I Do?" This is my often neglected blog mostly about my travels since 9/11 as I engage in dialogue and actions. It is steaming with my opinions, insights, analyses toward that end of holding all life sacred, dismantling the empire and eliminating violence while creating the society we want ALL to thrive in

Tuesday, September 04, 2018

Anti-male, anti-white, and anti-trans....grrrrr

I'm still hot as hell - the shower I took earlier at the y is as far distant as a childhood memory - but I need to get a couple hundred miles east so I can make it in a couple days to my veggie oil guy's place in time .

As I roll down the window preparing to take off, I notice a large charcoal grey pick up truck roll up beside me, angle his truck in front of me so he can lean across the passenger seat, smile broadly, in order to let me know with that both white and male confidence that little ole me just needs to be told and of COURSE I'll agree that "racism works both ways".

I meet his smile and ask "Huh? And what ways are those ways, do ya think?"

His smile loses a little of it's luster as he leans even farther over to try to almost whisper emphatically "brown people can be racist too" and then adds quickly "so can Black people."

I get out the truck and walk over to his window before he can roll it up and drive away, as I'm sure is his intention. He just wants to deliver his racist bomb and ride away into the sunset (which is not setting fast enough for me).

I ask him if he knows the difference between prejudice, bigotry, discrimination, and racism because "what I think you're describing is bigotry or prejudice, not racism."

He rears back and sneers "You're talking about power. They have power, you pretend they don't, but they do."

"Oh" I say, very curious now, "so you've already been informed about power."

"Yeah and it's bullshit. 'They' have just as much power as I do. In fact...." But I interrupt him, I know what he's going to say.

"The only reason you're saying that is because you're white and male and you can dismiss or ignore or deny your power."

He rolls up his window then, indicating if I'm interpreting this move correctly, that our conversation is over. I flash him the peace symbol, which he takes such great offense to that he lowers his window once more to yell at me "You're just anti-male and anti-white".

And he's right, although not in the way he thinks: to call out the truth of racism, is to be anti-white when white means racist; to identify the truth of sexism, is to be anti-male when male means sexist; to point out misogyny in transdomination theory is to be anti-trans when trans means attacking, defining and exploiting female sovereignty.

I see him shaking his fist in his rear view mirror and hear him yelling "anti-male, anti-white" all the way out of the parking lot.

So be it.

 

Oh no, the 'buying new' choice....

It's 98 degrees and only 10a.m. There's no way I can drive in this heat, and not because I don't have air conditioning - it is actually much more pleasant driving with the windows down than being outside. But because the strain I'd put on both the engine and the tires.

But being outside my truck is challenging, to say the least, in this heat. Already I've used the early morning 80's weather to change first one veggie filter - the small one - but when that didn't result in a smoother ride, I found an auto parts store and bought two more filters for my veg oil system: the big one and the pre-filter little one.

I was pleased to notice there were two womyn working in the store, both white, although the boss was a younger white male, of course. Still gotta work on that! They were so friendly and helpful, even after I dropped the new oil filter (filled to the brim with cleaned veggie oil) on their pristine cement parking space while I was in the process of changing that filter....grrrrrr

Then I went to the hardware store and purchased the screws necessary to replace the two that had disappeared from my camper door lock, plus a few eye hooks so I could re-secure my dish drainer to the camper wall. If you have a camper, you know that EVERYfuckinTHING needs to be secured down if you want anything left after driving even a couple miles.

So I feel SOOOOOOO accomplished, once again, having fixed my veg oil system, the door lock, and the dish drainer. Now I need to find a ymca and then library or grocery store where I can huddle for the rest of the day, waiting for whatever relief from the heat and humidity the dusk will bring.

Of course, my sense of accomplishment is tampered by my knowledge of making choices that counter my values and I'm breaking one of my first 10 'things to do' that anyone can do: never buy new.


PA air quality damaged

Poor western Pennsylvania - those boys with the diesels that can drop black smoke on command seem to be all on the road this morning, damaging the air quality as they noisily rev their engines, race past me, and then let out a huge black billowing cloud of smoke from their trucks.

AP Government

I'm at a gas station, buying ice in preparation for the heat of the day and my poor suffering solar batteries that are barely working. I can't afford to let my food spoil.

A youngish white man and a shiny black pickup truck rolls in next to my truck. leans out the window and shouts at me. He is so very excited to see me and promises he will talk about my truck to his AP Government classes today. They're talking about what is protest.

He snaps pictures all around my truck while he talks. He warns me that this is the MOST republican county in Pennsylvania and cautions me to be careful. I have gotten several fuck yous and disgruntled drivers expressing their dissatisfaction already early this a.m.

I give him my card and ask him to invite me to come speak to his class. He nods enthusiastically and promises he will contact me.

We'll see!

Howard County Friends of Latin America

I am focused on leaving early this morning, trying to get the miles behind me while it is still below 80 degrees out. I do take the time to go to the bathroom and as I approach a huge, older white man steps out the building and starts questioning me.

He wants to know if I'm going to NYC, to which I say no. "D.C.?" he asks. No. He starts asking me how long I've been on the road and do I like the rest stop.

I'm stumped for a few minutes, I don't get a reading on him and I don't know if he's seen my truck and connected me to it. So I ask who he is and where he's traveling.

He tells me he's from Baltimore, on his way back home, and asks me if I've ever been to Maryland so I tell him I'm heading there right now, to a lesbian music festival where I'll read from my book.

He tells me he's an activist also. He's working on abolishing the police and the prison industrial complex, he explains, Baltimore has been devastated by racism and police violence.

I ask him who he's working with and he tells me the Howard County Friends of Latin America - he's committed to ending violence against immigrants and refugees. He invites me to join them weekly on the bridge until I let him know that I'll only be in Maryland for the festival, then I'm off again.