if it had been me that he had talked to, i most likely would have been surprised at first, but also interested in having a conversation that most likely wouldn’t have happened. for those who are going on about racism, you’re missing the point of his post. its about going out of your comfort zone and trying to experience more of life. even if the title is a little sensationalist. :)

Common ground is important.

Walk into a bar in Ireland and order the wrong brand of whiskey and you’ve just identified yourself as an enemy of the community.

(Also, half of the people crying racist are doing it because of the unfortunate title.)

So here’s the sequence of events:

1. I have a long conversation about nationalism and multiculturalism with my friend Jason. He tells me to read the MLK speech again and decide whether or not it was for unity or multiculturalism.
2. The woman comes and sits down next to me. I like to talk about these issues but normally wouldn’t discuss our conversation with a complete stranger — especially one who might take offense. An older black woman wearing African colors and sporting dreds fits that category.
3. I decide, as most people would, NOT to say anything to her because it’s too risky. Too politically charged. Too strange for a stranger of another race to just up and start talking about real topics like these.
4. I remember the comic that says to do it anyway.
5. I do it.

–

As to those who said that the post was self-congratulatory — they’re partially right. But they missed the point there too. The part I was proud of was putting into action the lesson that I had blogged about earlier, i.e. the XKCD lesson. It was NOT the fact that I talked to a black woman. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and am fluent in Spanish, so talking to people who look different than I do isn’t anything worth blogging about for me.

As for the title, that’s where the engineering came in. I wrote the title so that it would get attention (because it mentioned a Blackberry and race). I feel slightly bad for that, but not really.

As for not including her comments, that wasn’t the point. Again, it wasn’t about “talking to a black woman”. It was about being willing to talk to a stranger — especially one when there exists a strong social barrier to doing so. For your information, though, we did actually discuss a few things. She asked if we were doing a research project for a graduate program. I told her we just enjoy discussing such things. She also mentioned the popular belief that we’re not seeing anything different than any other immigration surge, which I also addressed.

She contributed many times, although most of the conversation was me asking her what she thought of the conversation that my friend and I were having. I wanted to see what she thought about it. But again, the only interesting part about that was taking the step of asking her opinion — which most people would never do (see comic).

The bottom line is that those of you who see racism in this post have issues. You’ve been hyper-sensitized by your upbringing and the media to overreact to anything that even mentions race. I’d ask you to consider things more closely before leveling accusations at people you don’t know. Especially when the true point of the article is right in front of your face and you chose to ignore it due to excitement over the chance to be righteous.

the fact that this is SUCH a big deal…4 DECADES later is a disgrace to the MLK’s mission and the whole civil rights movement

so he had a frickin’ conversation with someone whose skin color is different from his, whoop-de -fucking-DOO! I randomly interact with caucasians all the time. you don’t see me blogging about it! or going into extensive descriptions about how skater/punk/hick/surfer/insert descriptive stereotype here they were.

It’s not hate/criticism. I’m just tired of bullshit grandiose generosity. All I’m doing is pointing out the fact that when a caucasian does certain things, it’s seen as absolutely groundbreaking, goodhearted and noble, and when minorities do the very same it is expected/goes entirely unrecognized

forgive us all for trying to place it all on equal ground.

Gilman, he did not start anything do not give honor where it is not due. This wasn’t exactly the birth of rocket science.

like i said before…kudos to him, he did something different. but let’s put it in perspective…it was just a conversation. not walking on water.

I didn’t think that “congratulations for talking to someone outside your normal circle” would ever be a specifically praiseworthy event but in this world where people like bouncethis live, your risk of criticism for the simplest act makes it praiseable.

That’s pretty damn profound in our highly mediated and partioned culture and I’m not even talking about seats on the bus being a historical symbol of segregation in the USA.

I would encourage anyone who is stuck on the phrase “black woman” to go read or listen to MLK’s “I have a dream” speech, please (yes, again). Then think about what in multiculturalism serves equality. And then read Dan’s post again.

Let me save you the google search. Transcript: http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/38.htm Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1732754907698549493

3) ) I think he was only trying to give an example of how the comic inspired him, but I also sense a slight hint of self congratulation in this post, while his actions were commendable, THEY WEREN’T exactly earth shattering.

1)In MY opinion It’s OK for him to have specified the woman’s color, to distinguish his intentions, if he just said woman his asking her would have been irrelevant. What I get annoyed at, is the focus being on my skin color and not my humanity. He was merely describing the person he spoke to. the description of her hair, or what she was wearing was rather superfluous. I guess he only wanted to emphasize how ethnically different/ black she was.

2) I’m grateful that he asked her opinion, rather than use her as a spokesperson, I can’t even begin to imagine the number of times some random person found it appropriate to single me out and use me as spokesperson for a whole group.

3) I think he was only trying to give an example of how the comic inspired him, but I also sense a slight hint of self congratulation in this post, while his actions were commendable, It wasn’t exactly earth shattering.

Quoting the writer {the melting pot was meant to create a homogeneous liquid, …the progression toward “many countries” within America is a near guarantee of disaster.} While I agree with the latter statement, I strongly disagree that we need to be a homogeneous group that would require some people entirely give up their identity to assimilate into the dominant.

Quite frankly forced assimilation is the current state of affairs, and it apparently isn’t working. We all just need to understand that we are all human. That should be common ground enough for us all.

(now the question: is that an odd or even power of irony?)

it’s too bad other mike thinks opening dialog with strangers is a worldview constraining activity. perhaps other mike would do some research on what mental masturbation has done for the brilliant and not-so-brilliant people in this world. some call it ‘philosophy.’ some may call it ‘imagination.’ i call it ‘necessary.’

Introspection, pah! Give me that ol’ time 3-second ADD-perpetuating microbite of Feel Good™. and I’ll be back on my blithe way.

In summary, thumbs up on the conversation; thumbs way down on not having thought of this before you saw it in a comic. Think for yourself; it’s fun!

Everybody chill the eff out.