So says Wisconsin superintendent candidate Deborah Kerr, quoted in "State superintendent candidate Deborah Kerr apologizes for racially insensitive tweet" (Wisconsin State Journal).
This woman apologized and deleted herself from Twitter just because she was criticized for an inept contribution to a discussion about race. I think the state school superintendent needs a lot more gumption than that.
Her tweet was dumb. Someone on Twitter had put up the question "When was the first time someone called you the n-word. I was 18." And Kerr, who is white, wrote: "I was 16 in high school and white — my lips were bigger than most and that was the reference given to me."
The person who had asked the question said: "When I read [Kerr's] statement, I was livid. There are communities where we are the only person of color in that community, so Twitter and social media have become spaces of healing. [Kerr’s statement)] is insensitive. She was not able to read the room, or understand the technology and how people understand these spaces as sacred, even though it is a public medium."
And somebody else tweeted: "As someone who has been bullied relentlessly and called a monkey and a (N-word) for having big lips — this is just not the level of Karen I wanted to see the day after your primary win."
A Madison School Board member tweeted: "This makes me profoundly sad and angry tho. Perfect example of white educators profound failures to understand the isolation, alienation, and disenfranchisement our Black & Brown students experience in our education system — public & private. Microaggressions from staff and peers."
Fine. Kerr was right to take down the tweet and apologize. But to delete herself from Twitter? How is that consistent with leadership? The big issue in the campaign for superintendent has been the school choice program, and Kerr advanced in the primary because she supports it. Her opponent does not. It takes courage in the face of accusations of racism to support school choice.
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230 comments:
1 – 200 of 230 Newer› Newest»If she lacks the courage of her convictions, she lacks the courage of her convictions.
Anyone willing to let someone else take their place in the line to the gulag is as bad as the gulag organizers.
You can't mention things about black people that black people themselves notice, is the general rule.
Substitute white and it's not only fine but the material of essays and stand-up skits.
Her tweet was dumb.
Sure, if you're running for office.
If you're quarantined and snowed-in and looking for human connection, tweets like that come naturally and are to be expected.
I suggest that this has all been brought to light by Kerr's opponent in the April election, an opponent who is joined at the hip to the Teachers' Unions in the state. Note that the timing was right after the Primary (where Kerr came in 2nd).
I discount immediately anyone who says something made them livid, by the way. Ugh, really? Thin skin much? Don't ask the question vaguely if you don't want to hear the answer.
My brother was called the same thing (back in the 60's, early 70's)...funny thing though, we grew up in a REALLY diverse neighborhood for the time, and everybody called him that...no matter what color they were. My mother was LIVID though. She hated it and would tell anybody she heard say it to stop. They were different times, and I can't even imagine anybody saying anything like that today.
For some ppl, and I include myself, social media produces addictive behaviors. We'll say (tweet) something against our character and our interests for the twitter rush. If she recognizes this in herself, then she should delete her account. Good for her.
She should change her name, though. Is it Kur or Kar?
But she was treated hurtfully by someone. She was shamed about a part of her body by someone using racist language.
Do you think she was less hurt than someone called the n-word at 18?
The first (and experimental) consciousness raising session, in the 60s, had a black person complaining that the culture doesn't recognize black beauty. "My nose is too wide..." So she was noticing that.
I'd assume in Africa it doesn't come up.
"How is that consistent with leadership?
Perfectly. Since leadership now means following prog dogma.
Looks like chances for school choice in Wisconsin have diminished.
People on the right side of this issue have to keep their hands off the third rail. This person is now, for all political purposes, as good as dead. For a tweet.
Is there a lesson here? This hill is already lost. The edublob wins, and children suffer.
The real question to me is what possessed her to want to tweet on the subject at all. It is like Global Thermonuclear War, and we all know the only way to win that game is to walk away.
"Payton's Place" is a modern day soap opera.
So says Wisconsin superintendent candidate Deborah Kerr
Let me be the first to offer her tea and sympathy and say, "When you speak of this in future years -- and you will -- be kind"
The best way to deal with racial issues is DON’T TALK ABOUT RACE. Exceptions may apply for government-approved minorities (but NOT Asians).
I was always called hardon in school. Tough crowd.
All lips matter.
Wait a minute.
The question was "When was the first time you were called the n-word," a white woman was called the n-word, but that fact, which may contribute to her sensitivity to racial issues can't be honestly mentioned in good faith?
She doesn't owe anyone an apology, let alone the removal of her account. Her critics need to drop the competitive grievance stance if they want allies, as opposed to a clique.
Kerr was provoked by young man named Payton who thinks that Twitter is private space for POC.
Why should she apologize and delete the tweet for giving an honest answer about a question directed to her - about her own experience? Who else can answer that question? If someone doesn't want the full spectrum of the use of the word, he or she shouldn't ask the question of a general audience.
Everything is offensive. My white skin and math skills are offensive. Dark hued rocks in Madison are offensive. Statues of Norwegian anti-slavery activists from Wisconsin are offensive.
Give it a fucking rest assholes.
That "While not intending..." clause don't sound like good English.
The real Deborah Kerr had the good sense to read her lines from the script and let someone else do her singing.
She was being honest, you cant have that look at cadaver your governor
Loose lips sink ships.
Luckily we sent all those nasty factories to China. The repartee would curl missys hair.
You have to anticipate every possible emotion of every other person who might possibly see your tweet, otherwise you’re racist garbage.
That won’t get in the way of actual communication at all.
I am up to my eyeballs with people who declare themselves to be "profoundly sad and angry". Really? This makes you profoundly sad and angry? Well then, the history of the world must make you want to dig a deep hole and bury yourself in it.
What a weak minded bunch we've turned out. Just pathetic.
"How is that consistent with leadership?"
What does leadership have to do with education? Haven't you heard? Betsy Devos was the worst Secretary of Education in history because she thought there should be some rudimentary due process in campus disciplinary proceedings related to allegations of unconsented sexual relations.
That was leadership. And with that and four bucks you can get a coffee at Starbucks.
magic mystical power to make men fear:
"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."
Althouse does us no favor in this controversy by referring to the provocateur as "somebody on Twitter." In fact, this person has a name and an identity, unlike the person who murdered Ashlii Babbit.
How is that consistent with leadership?
How many people in here tell themselves they are brave leaders?
Just curious.
So instead you have cardona who will instutionalize 1619 narrative martin who will do worse.
"...and how people understand these spaces as sacred, even though it is a public medium."
When you come to believe that Twitterland is a sacred place you have chosen your house of worship poorly.
I am Laslo.
Blaming the victim. Her description of how and why she was bullied, including the use of the n-word, is fine. It's just the weapon at hand for Dane County Progressives to attack the more conservative Dem in the 2-Dem race for State Superintendent of Schools.
Her lips aren't that big. I was expecting duckface.
Yet another example of the utter absurdity of Twitter as a means of effective communication. As Kate implies, Twitter is actually for those addicted to contextless emotional rushes (sorry, Mr. Limbaugh) that can only result, as in this instance, in an escalation of stupid exchanges with no other purpose than to up the excitement level. And this is how our chattering classes keep the bread and circuses flowing. The good news is, nobody makes anybody "tweet," so you get what you deserve.
Yet another example of the utter absurdity of Twitter as a means of effective communication. As Kate implies, Twitter is actually for those addicted to contextless emotional rushes (sorry, Mr. Limbaugh) that can only result, as in this instance, in an escalation of stupid exchanges with no other purpose than to up the excitement level. And this is how our chattering classes keep the bread and circuses flowing. The good news is, nobody makes anybody "tweet," so you get what you deserve.
It was chilling in the Eighties or Nineties when people started saying "politics is war by other means" or "politics is war without blood," but it was still only a fringe opinion. Today, millions are in combat and Twitter is the battlefield.
With that attitude, she'll never be "President of the United States of Love".
And the minitrue bulletin is better, now just more full of gunk.
Tweeting about race after a couple old fashioneds while watching return comes in ... never a great way to advance your political career. Not a lot of good judgment being shown.
Deleting your own social media account after posting something dumb? I bet most high school kids in her district could have told her how well that works.
Profoundly terrible judgment on election night. It does not take a rocket scientist to know as a middle aged white woman not to wade in on Twitter posts about being called the n word. Stupid.
I don't think Ann really understands how dangerous it is out here right now for people who do not obey the fascists.
Ann never had to keep her head down.
This woman tried to show empathy and understanding.
Conservatives are not allowed to show empathy and understanding.
That was her error.
Actually considering the general uselessness of Twitter, deleting oneself from Twitter is a sign of good judgment.
Kerr was right to take down the tweet and apologize.
She did nothing to apologize to apologize for.
"The person who had asked the question" seemed to think that (s)he had a "gotcha" question for the Nice White Lady, and expected a different answer ("I was never called a Nword") than the one she got, which was kinda funny.
It's best to leave the comments about race to the experts.
It was a dumb tweet. Obviously, they questioner was interested in the experiences of black people and her "my lips were big" tweet is just this side of trolling. But the reaction is laughable--not just her's, but also the people hurt, crying, probably, about the intrusion into their(1) "sacred space." Piss off, it's not their space and it's not sacred. It's twitter.
When you come to believe that Twitterland is a sacred place you have chosen your house of worship poorly.
lol Laslo! House of Self-worship is more like it. Narcissist Central.
Achilles said...
This woman tried to show empathy and understanding.
No she didn't. She tried to self-aggrandize by showing what a woke person she was. And she should have known better because the conversation was intended to provoke someone into doing just that with the ultimate goal being that those who started the conversation could get an endorphin hit from mobbing up and berating her.
Funny that the Left always claims we need to "have a conversation about race", but then never actually allows a conversation about race without taking advantage of it to destroy whomever they disagree with ...
Like henry rodgers aka ibrahim kendi.
Suddenly Blacks don't have bigger lips? Who knew?
Twitter and social media have become spaces of healing
these spaces as sacred
Yeesh. Twitter and social media seem to have become a cess pits to me. They seem to be places where conformity is enforced on pain of career runination by witless, merciless, puritanical psychopaths drunk on power. Sacred indeed.
Blogger Ice Nine said...
Suddenly Blacks don't have bigger lips? Who knew?
And who cares?
Was a time when working with a TRULY diverse group in a warehouse, Blacks called everyone the most horrifying and certain to bring about eternal fires of hell, n-word. No big deal. Had a fellow there who was freckled and light skinned who also had a couple years of college behind him. We used to talk when there was no one else around. He'd lose whatever cred he had with the street people if spotted. He spoke queen's English, set him apart quickly. Good guy, but had a tough road with the blacks, got on well with everybody else. Re-think/re-calibrate your diversity.
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
Achilles said...
This woman tried to show empathy and understanding.
No she didn't. She tried to self-aggrandize by showing what a woke person she was. And she should have known better because the conversation was intended to provoke someone into doing just that with the ultimate goal being that those who started the conversation could get an endorphin hit from mobbing up and berating her.
I forgot.
The best way to end racism is to assume bad and selfish motives from everyone who isn't black.
Thanks for that correction.
"She was not able to read the room, or understand the technology and how people understand these spaces as sacred..."
Please stop with the 'sacred' bullshit. Social media is not sacred.
The Capitol Building is not sacred. In fact, it is exactly the opposite of sacred; a place where government apparatchiks work as minions of a State that forbids a State Religion.
How do you live in WI, AA? Is it like 'Portlandia'? Or don't you know, as you are locked down in your house?
I told you before; get out while you can...while your house is still worth something. It won't be white-flight, but maybe something like sane-flight.
Payton, who said his initial tweet was meant for people of color to share their traumatic experiences with the N-word as a way to heal,
"Heal" = Newspeak("complain about the terribleness of white people").
Whiteness is the Original Sin from the atheists. Most Peculiar Momma.
You're slipping. I expected you'd post that famous beach scene with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr 1953 ---"From Here To Eternity".
how people understand these spaces as sacred,
This isn't an aside: I hate these silly verbal formulations: "spaces" instead of "places," "bodies" instead of "people," "understand" instead of "deem," "sad" instead of "pissy" or straight-up "angry." What is the point?
Ans.: The point is to sound as if you have thought deeply (sorry, that's one too - "thought deeply" instead of just "thought") about a subject, deconstructed it in proper po-mo fashion, and are presenting a distilled and purified essence of an argument. When in fact all you're doing is sounding like a twinky-voiced tool.
Why explore this particular question on Twitter in the first place? Sure, sure, shared experiences. (Sorry, I mean "lived experiences in common" - unlike those experiences you only imagined, I suppose.) But why this shared experience? Could there be any reason for it besides to work people up - to emphasize to black people that they have suffered an insult in their past related only to their appearance, and to emphasize to white people that their appearance inextricably binds them to cretins who insult people based on their appearance? To offer so-inclined black people one more forum to express a universal grievance that should properly be directed at one individual who insulted them? To thumb noses at white people who have to sit silently in this public place that has been somehow consecrated for the exclusive use of black and brown bodies? (Er, at least their fingers?)
Profoundly terrible judgment on election night. It does not take a rocket scientist to know as a middle aged white woman not to wade in on Twitter posts about being called the n word. Stupid.
Profound indeed.
Not her 'terrible' judgement, but the world liberals have created in America. Some may not give this statement a second thought. I urge them to, as some say, think deeply as to what this remark implies.
Its about cultivating the hive
https://mobile.twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1362405917929705478
Yeah, she did have something to apologize for. It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them. It was dumb to chime in like it was a question for white people who've had their full lips or dark tan or well-shaped ass exclaimed over. It's like something a fool in a sit-com would do.
What bothers me is that after making the mistake, she overpunished herself and shrank away from conflict. I wouldn't expect her to fight for school choice, which is her big issue in the campaign. She racked up $ and votes because of that position. But the position will be called racist, so I would expect her to shrink from the conflict and bend over backward to appease critics (who now know she's super-vulnerable to this line of attack).
Oh, I forgot "conversation" instead of "harangue."
Well she has to get elected first, so i grant her reticence to be honest in expression gets you cancelled see mcneil, carano.
Racists everywhere. From Chicago Sun Times:
"The news follows the launch of the Chicago Monuments Project’s advisory committee, tasked with conducting “a comprehensive review of more than 500 Chicago statues and monuments, with an eye toward identifying those that were offensive, problematic or not representative of city’s values of equity and justice.”
Armstrong and Getty are now broadcasting from the newly named George Washington Broadcast Center.
It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them.
It depends on the conversation you want to have. It might be an excellent move.
Ann Althouse said...
Yeah, she did have something to apologize for. It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them. It was dumb to chime in like it was a question for white people who've had their full lips or dark tan or well-shaped ass exclaimed over. It's like something a fool in a sit-com would do.
Socially awkward people get no shortage of reminders that they are socially awkward.
What bothers me is that after making the mistake, she overpunished herself and shrank away from conflict. I wouldn't expect her to fight for school choice, which is her big issue in the campaign. She racked up $ and votes because of that position. But the position will be called racist, so I would expect her to shrink from the conflict and bend over backward to appease critics (who now know she's super-vulnerable to this line of attack).
Have you ever been in a position where people in power over your life and livelihood:
a. Disagree with your politics
b. Routinely destroy the lives of people that they disagree with? Does she have kids she provides for?
It is really strange to me to watch people just feed on this persons mistakes. Was what she was trying to do evil? Was it bad? Did she hurt anyone?
Nobody more than me wants people to stand up and fight these fascist shitheads. But she is actually fighting the fascist shitheads in her own inept way.
Are you?
"What a weak minded bunch we've turned out. Just pathetic."
The Chinese are laughing their asses off.
If it came down to a shooting war, we'd all be learning Mandarin within 6 months.
This country has had its balls taken away by the left.
Diversity [dogma], not limited to racism, breeds adversity. Lose your Pro-Choice religion. #BabyLivesMatter(BLM)
rhhardin,
"I'd assume in Africa it doesn't come up."
In South Sudan was transcribing a story as part of our linguistic research. I came across a word I had never encountered before: mbimbiyango. So I asked the person I was working with about it.
"Oh", he replied, "it means long and pointed, like a bird's beak -- or a white person's nose."
A little historical aside:
Babe Ruth's nickname in the Baltimore reformatory (where he spent most of his youth) was "N***** Lips". He was often taunted in the Major Leagues with similar epithets, that being the custom of the day.
It was commonly assumed among the black community in the 20's that Ruth was passing.
Twitter and social media sites are platforms for spreading social contagion, including diversity, sexism, genderism, and misinformation. The steering engines contribute to their rank and perception of authoritative standing. It's a Hutu/Tutsi cycle in progress. Post-apartheid South African lynch mobs looking for ideological differences to justify cancel culture.
" It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them."
So now white people have to be invited to join a conversation in an open forum?
That's not how it works.
Sensitive POC need to form members-only groups if they can't handle open debate. Sound familiar? No white folk at this lunch counter.
It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them.
How dare those white people do the same things that non-white people do.
The only racism exhibited in this incident was from Madison Payton (and later by "Madison School Board member Savion Castro"), who didn't want white people to answer his question, and now from you, AA, who, for some mysterious reason, seem to agree with him and support his racism.
What sort of questions do you think it's inappropriate for black people to answer? How about Asians? What sort of questions should they avoid answering?
So I guess I shouldn't be holding my breath to see 'White Shadow' re-runs on TVLAND?
While not intending the post to be interpreted as racist..."
What an interesting phrasing! "Not intending to be interpreted as..." how many layers of weasel are we looking at here?
And "while" is a qualifier that serves as an admission--but what is she admitting to? Is she admitting to the interpretation that her tweet was racist? That the interpretation exists? or that it is accurate? What was she intending? She doesn't say. Apparently that doesn't matter. Not even to her.
What takes courage is to reject false claims of racism.
We'll know we're making real racial advancement when we look to get along rather than crush each other.
Did she wear I dunce cap while recanting her tweet?
She did nothing wrong, should not have apologized, removed her tweet, or cancelled her account. We've become a nation of cowards, folding to the first attack by incompetents.
That our elected leadership is setting these kinds of examples is extremely disturbing. When someone attacks you, whether it is symbolic or physical, it is entirely appropriate to defend yourself by attacking back. Aggressors like this are bullies, pure and simple, and bullies only understand one or two simple things, because they are behavioral simpletons: Domination and punishment for being aggressive in the first place is the only remedy.
mbimbiyango. So I asked the person I was working with about it.
"Oh", he replied, "it means long and pointed, like a bird's beak -- or a white person's nose."
A low information attribute, in lieu of a name. From colored people (i.e. attribute) to people of color (i.e. bloc, identity defined by skin color), dversity breeds exclusion and adversity.
Joe Smith said...So now white people have to be invited to join a conversation in an open forum?
That's not how it works.
Can we assume you are familiar with the "don't be a dick" rule? The question was clearly seeking responses from black people. And the questioner has a right to seek that response.
We'll know we're making real racial advancement when we look to get along rather than crush each other.
Most people do, and always have. Diversity [dogma] is antithetical to American principles. Democrats of yesteryear and affiliated organizations (e.g. some, select lives matter) were the exception and still are.
it might’ve been PBS, about human sexuality. Women’s lips swell up to signal males. What does that mean for women like Pat Benetar, Segorney Weaver and Catherine Middleton? Is that why I may perceive them as unapproachable, unfriendly and probably lesbians?
#StuffICantTweet
Wisconsin is a state that ardently believes black children should be much less well educated than those of other races. Their measured black-white achievement gap led the nation prior to the most recent gubernatorial election, which made Wisconsinites celebrated by elevating Tony Evers from Superintendent of Public Instruction to the governorship. In his first year as Governor the gap appears to have widened.
If women like this who try to make a difference in the political process are driven out and destroyed and the political process is for all intents and purposes destroyed what happens next?
Should we jump on this woman who is socially awkward but trying and make it scary for anyone to stick their head up?
I feel like there is a need to start trying to help these people. I wonder how I could contact them and offer support. She is probably feeling pretty alone right now.
Her tweet was dumb.
But it was not racist.
Whites who suggest common experience with blacks are almost always looking to bond with blacks.
The counter-intuitive disastrous dynamic is created by the race hustlers who would convince us that whites and blacks are not human in the same way, and thus cannot possibly have common experiences.
Yeah, it's dumb to not look where you're going. Sometimes real dumb. We all do that, and learn.
"This woman apologized and deleted herself from Twitter just because she was criticized for an inept contribution to a discussion about race."
A discussion of race on twitter? What could possibly go wrong?
Note to self: British schoolchildren walked to school during the daily Nazi bombing raids of 1940-41. Eight months.
We are supposed to care if some nobody on Twitter is profoundly sad and angry? How did we get to this stupid and awful place, and how do we get out?
Temujin, 8:58:
"I am up to my eyeballs with people who declare themselves to be 'profoundly sad and angry'. Really? This makes you profoundly sad and angry?"
When you inculcate fragility and create incentives for fragility, you get more fragility.
I read something fatuous or insulting, I get briefly and mildly annoyed, and I go on about my life. This gets me no attention whatsoever. Ah, but if I were profoundly sad and angry, maybe it'd be different....
How much do you want to bet that her school district is encouraging honest conversations about race?
The company I worked for had been for years and insofar as I know, no one I knew who wasn't black engaged in such a conversation. Perhaps like me, they didn't see any upside and certainly didn't want a complaint made to HR, and the subsequent investigation that would have occurred.
It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them.
I would simplify this to just being stupid to responding to every question on the internet.
Is there anybody here who disagrees with this set of statements?
1) Her tweet was dumb.
2) The reaction to her tweet was dumb.
3) Her reaction to the reaction to her tweet was dumb.
Really? I have the opposite reaction. Why is she on Twitter? What does that have to do with her job? Nothing. Oh, is she going to "Tweet" some pearl of wisdom that will make everyone stand up and notice?
WHy is she, a white woman, intruding into a discussion of the N-word and racism? So, everyone can see how NOBLE and ANTI_RACIST she is? oh, my. well, she learned differently. Just another Karen who got schooled.
Twitter uses a text prediction algorithm and my experience with it is not that good. It has been taught terribly by the people who commented on the tweet at hand.
Is there anybody here who disagrees with this set of statements?
Which race(s) are allowed to answer?
Howard said...It's best to leave the comments about race to the experts.
I agree.
Uh, wait a minute!
Who are the experts?
what is it about you old boomers and your obsession with the N-word. You, like this dumb broad, just can't stop talking about it. Oh, for those magical days when we could all say the N-word. Oh, those were the days. Let it go. Its just a damn word, and if you're not black there is ZERO reason to say it, or care about it.
There’s this weird thing (that seems to have started with social media) where people who post things believe only the people they wish to hear from are allowed to comment.
That’s stupid and authoritarian. But it’s the norm on social media.
There are magnificent monuments to Abraham Lincoln, US Grant, Gen. Phil Sheridan, and Gen. John Logan within my daily rounds in Chicago. The movement to remove them is not earning my respect.
I used to think the N-word was OK, and then I found Jesus, and I told racist Grandma to not say it. And i've been trying to relive that moral high for the last 50 years.
/s/ Old boomer.
As Instapundit sometimes says, “Leftist autophagy.” Pass the popcorn. None of these crybullies could survive in the wild.
"so Twitter and social media have become spaces of healing."
Twitter and social media is a cesspool of hate. The only winning move is not to play.
Maybe it's my analytical nature. But silencing people destroys any attempt at open dialogue.
If thats the goal.
It is impossible to make progress on difficult tasks if some language, topics, statements are understood to be forbidden. While the statement was off base, it does reveal a breakdown in communication.
I cant remember all the times in a discussion, a person goes off on some tangent. I let them talk it all the way out, and then restate my position using different words. They look at me funny, and then they realize they did not hear what I said.
I have done it the other way. Misunderstood the point being made.
Here, what was the context of the question. What purpose was being advanced? I think the question is way off base.
In short, the two sides need to expand the conversation, not cancel it. If the goal is progress.
Or is constant conflict the real goal?
White people ruin everything. Why should Twitter be any different?
Temujin's 8:58
I cannot improve on that.
And Today....women in Hollyweird pay for lips like that!!!
Livid lips
I (a white) was having a casual conversation a few years ago with a black co-worker about pickup basketball. I matter-of-factly mentioned that as a young man I had routinely been challenged and roughed up by black players in these games, who assumed I was "soft" and would not respond. They learned otherwise, and it stopped.
He seemed astounded that I would attribute this to racism. But it was, in my view, in the sense that a new or unknown black player to the game did not get this treatment. I came to expect it, and was not made "livid". You just dealt with the reality of the situation.
I suppose if I shared this on Twitter, I would be attacked and cancelled. Whatever.
Francisco D said...
Howard said...It's best to leave the comments about race to the experts.
I agree.
Uh, wait a minute!
Who are the experts?
It is a salient point.
Nothing good comes from focusing on race in this way.
That is why some people want to force it to be an issue. The best way to solve this problem is to destroy the racists and take away their power.
What this post highlights is that most people like this woman do not understand how to interact with racists or the goal of the racists.
WHy is she, a white woman, intruding into a discussion of the N-word and racism?
Why are you intruding into this discussion of the Nword and racism?
A more interesting question is why would "a Madison School Board member" complain about "isolation" of "black & brown students" when a white person reduced their isolation by contributing her experiences to their discussion?
Francisco D: "who are expert?" that's an exercise left to the student.
“How is that consistent with leadership?”
The SJW Woke Mob is our de facto leadership now.
No one gives a shit about white feelings pain or struggling. Maintenance the stiff upper lip, say nothing and go about your white privilege day.
Jeff B has surrendered. Read Longstreet and tactical retreat.
Closing the twitter account and apologizing is clearly not enough. I think Althouse is wrong here- it took a modest amount of courage to do that, and there are more steps Kerr can and should take.
(1) Withdraw from the coming election and endorse her opponent
(2) Donate all her wealth to the poorest person of color she knows, or to the Democratic Party
(3) Kill herself
The world needs role models, and history is calling on Kerr as I write this- will she have the courage to act?
It's good she deleted her account. That's one more person not putting money in the pockets of the Gestapo.
"Can we assume you are familiar with the "don't be a dick" rule? The question was clearly seeking responses from black people. And the questioner has a right to seek that response."
"Someone on Twitter had put up the question "When was the first time someone called you the n-word. I was 18." And Kerr, who is white, wrote: "I was 16 in high school and white — my lips were bigger than most and that was the reference given to me."
Is it clear? Really? Did the questioner specifically ask the question to black people only? Yes, it is implied but it is not a gating item for a response.
Perhaps the questioner needs to learn how to phrase a question.
I could argue that the response was appropriate...she had been called that word...
Quit coddling minorities...the soft bigotry of low expectations...
"What a weak minded bunch we've turned out. Just pathetic."
We need an alien invasion or real world war to get people back to reality.
Howard said...
"No one gives a shit about white feelings pain or struggling. Maintenance the stiff upper lip, say nothing and go about your white privilege day. "
No one here gives a shit about your racist posturing.
Joe, you're being deliberately obtuse while playing word games to pretend your position makes sense. Not even you believe what you are saying.
The question was clearly seeking responses from black people.
There's your racist statement.
An irony here is that Kerr's school district is said to be "one of Wisconsin’s most diverse 4K-12th grade districts," so she may know or be expected to know more about dealing with people of different backgrounds.
Kerr does spend much time posing for pictures touching and being touched by people of different ethnicities - a requirement in the age of Biden, I guess. She could get a tan and dye her hair -- or more likely, stop dyeing her hair -- to fit in better.
Triggering Rusty. Not my intention, but the poor little Elmer Fudd can't help hisself.
Social media spaces are not sacred. Thinking so may be part of how we get so much online outrage. It's dangerous for people to think this - dangerous to themselves.
"Why are you intruding into this discussion of the Nword and racism?"
Because this is NOT a discussion of the NWORD and racism. Or its impact on BLACK PEOPLE. Its a discussion about a dummy getting off twitter because she was racially insensitive and thought she should tell black people her noble - and completely unsought for - opinions.
Any other comments, dummy? BTW, half the people on twitter couldn't do their little "superiority dances" if they could actually read in context, or think. which includes YOU.
Maintaining a stiff upper lip is white supremacy and should no longer be tolerated.
Saying nothing enforces white supremacy. Remember, "silence is violence".
I could do this all day.
It just goes to show that it's not a good idea to answer a rhetorical question.
Speaking of race. when did Black History Week become Black History Month, and why? "Liberals" being notoriously the stupidest people on Earth, I'm sure White Liberal Guilt played a big role in the transition; but were Black people chafing and feeling unfairly restrained by having a mere week to indulge their tribalism, instead of a whole month? Youth wants to know.
Didn't John Lennon and Yoko Ono write a song about women and that word that is forbidden? As a woman, didn't Kerr have a basis for believing she has a stake in it?
Enough with this business that 'it's okay to call any white woman a Karen.' It's a derogatory term used with impunity by black people - now the most sensitive, radar-equipped humans on the planet. If blacks don't like disparagement they ought to refrain from it. And while we're at it, they should stop beating up Asian seniors and having news outlets say it's because a year ago Trump called covid the China virus. Basta.
White people need to learn that it is a bad idea to make eye contact with Negroes.
Howard said...
Howard said...
No one gives a shit about white feelings pain or struggling. Maintenance the stiff upper lip, say nothing and go about your white privilege day.
Triggering Rusty. Not my intention, but the poor little Elmer Fudd can't help hisself.
You are a racist.
You push racism to gain political power.
You push racism to silence your political opponents.
You may or may not be smart enough to know you are a racist. But you are smart enough to know you are a piece of shit.
"Joe, you're being deliberately obtuse while playing word games to pretend your position makes sense. Not even you believe what you are saying."
I'm sick to death of 'well-meaning' white people treating minorities like children.
POC don't get to make their own special rules. Democrats did that in the South for years and it didn't work out too well.
Get on board with being an American and get out of your little self-pity bubble.
I don't give two fucks what color you are. Contribute to society and be a good person, and don't look to blame others for your problems.
If this keeps up, we are totally fucked as a nation.
Just let them have the fucking schools. What do you want public schools for, anyway? To teach your children to hate you?
"POC don't get to make their own special rules."
Oh, yes, they do!
"But to delete herself from Twitter? How is that consistent with leadership?"
Twitter's a cesspit, so I can hope that at least a few people will follow her lead out of it.
Joe Smith said...I'm sick to death of 'well-meaning' white people treating minorities like children.
Only racists treat Black people like children.
Only racists fail to understand the sensitivities that Black people and their woke allies have to micro aggressions.
"pickup basketball"
My pickup partner, 6'3", 250 and Irish white, was called "Pillsbury."
Forget about leadership, Kerr shows a complete lack of intelligence and sense, common or otherwise, in her original remark and her subsequent actions. I wouldn't want her anywhere near the reins of power in my kid's school system.
Jupiter said...
"POC don't get to make their own special rules."
Oh, yes, they do!
Rich white people are still making the rules.
They are the same rich people that used slavery and jim crow and affirmative action and critical race theory and reparations.
The POC do not benefit from anything the Democrat Regime is doing "for them."
They did better under Trump in every measurable way.
You all need to stop letting the race thing get in the way. This is a class issue not a race issue. If you let them make it a race issue the racists win.
This is a class issue not a race issue. If you let them make it a race issue the racists win.
Truth.
Perfect example of white educators profound failures to understand the isolation, alienation, and disenfranchisement our Black & Brown students experience in our education system — public & private. Microaggressions from staff and peers."
Mature Black individuals look upon this incident as White people acting stupid, but not for the reasons you might think.
White women are the worst
From the article: “When I read her statement, I was livid,” Payton said.
Livid. (Insert eye-roll emoji here)
Whitest of white girls here, but I was teased in elementary about my big lips, and yes, that word was used..by the black girls who bullied me, calling me n***er lips. Children, particularly girls, are vicious little critters who run in packs.
this is just not the level of Karen I wanted to see the day after your primary win
That's pretty damn funny...
>>Ann Althouse said...
"or well-shaped ass exclaimed over."<<
Now there is an amusingly ridiculous euphemism.
Use of the n-word as a personal insult is an unforgivable offense. However, if that insult is used against a white person and that white person takes offense, then the aforementioned white person has also committed an offense.....The nuances here are hard to get a handle on, but the guiding principle seems to be that white people have no right to take offense at misdirected racial insults. For that matter, only white people can make offensive racial insults and, to some extent, their very existence is a kind of offensive racial insult.
Lurker @ 8:49 AM:
Golf clap. That name seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't remember why.
"It was stupid and tone deaf to read the question as an invitation to white people to say that they've had the word hurled at them."
I think that the blogger must lack life experience here. I grew up with a white "n-lips." I never had the word put to me, but I was called "whitey" in a hostile way...by a pasty white guy. These words are used as flexibly as any others in the language, by whoever wants to use them.
Lets be clear.
If you post on twitter, you WANT to be offended.
Nonsense (the reaction). This is all about woke white Progressives feeling entitled to behave like ******** because they can frame their behavior as "anti-racist." And don't think that they are not weaponizing this against their opponents, or that they are not enjoying it.
Several comments here have suggested that if you reward a behavior you get more of that behavior. That appears to be true on both sides of this incident.
In ancient Rome, generals and emperors had a slave standing behind them whispering in their ear, "Remember that you are mortal."
In the future, politicians will have Siri or Alexa in their earpiece whispering, "Remember that you have more important fish to fry."
This could get awkward if a politician goes to a cook-out or has the habit of repeating everything that the earpiece says out loud.
Thanks to diversity targets and the NEA there are many urban areas in this country where the average IQ of public school employees is subnormal, which includes teachers. This absurd kerfuffle stems from stupid people exercising authority.
Public education is a failure. Home school or emigrate.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said, "The best way to deal with racial issues is DON’T TALK ABOUT RACE."
Yes! And Chief Justice Roberts wrote something similar years ago. "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
Only applies to white folks though. Others demand constant extension of their fifteen minutes of fame.
There is an old saying about wrestling with pigs that applies perfectly to this situation.
My take is it wouldn't matter what answer she gave, or no answer, she would be attacked for insensitivity. The question was the witch hunt looking for a witch to burn.
"They are the same rich people that used slavery and jim crow and affirmative action and critical race theory and reparations."
So, democrats...
Howard said...
"Triggering Rusty. Not my intention, but the poor little Elmer Fudd can't help hisself."
That's what is so refreshing about you Howard. We're never in any danger of you and reason ever meeting up.
Keep up the good work!
"I think the state school superintendent needs a lot more gumption than that."
I think the taxpayers need better employees.
“She was not able to read the room, or understand the technology and how people understand these spaces as sacred, even though it is a public medium."”
That reminds me of a tweet I thought to make while driving someone to their Manhattan NYC destination. I came across this majestic ionic columns building that is now a CVS pharmacy. I thought that’s why I don’t want Goat Brady to apologize for tossing the stupid hunk of metal to his receiver on the other boat. The idea that something is sacred is ridiculous.
A Madison School Board member tweeted: "This makes me profoundly sad and angry tho.
The struggle is real. The injustice is making me livid. Suddenly I'm overcome with a feeling of profound self-righteousness.
Use of the n-word as a personal insult is an unforgivable offense.
Sometimes it's appropriate. It has a cluster of connotations and they might be perfect. Consider the case. The right word is the right word.
Bob I think that was Thomas I appropriated.
Someone should tell these racekarens that excluding white voices will cut down on the actual diversity in most of these “conversations” they claim to be encouraging.
At some point in my life I have been called every crude or rude name imaginable. As a very young child I remember hearing “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Lesson learned, because while I may not have appreciated being called something derogatory, it never hurt or upset me.
Name calling is bad manners and should not be considered acceptable, but good grief running to “mommy” crying because somone called you a “bad name” or mentioned a “bad word” is childish. Grow up and ignore the boors. Words and names lose their power when there’s no reaction to their use.
It’s also ridiculous for certain words or experiences to be limited for use or discussion by certain people. If you don’t want to include everyone in a discussion about the “n word” don’t bring it up on social media. Problem solved. But that’s not what this nonsense is about, it’s about stirring the pot and causing a problem.
She was not able to read the room, or understand the technology and how people understand these spaces as sacred, even though it is a public medium.
Sacred. Also, what does understanding the technology have to do with anything? What technological mistake did she make? I think the person who doesn't understand the technology is the one who asked a question in a public medium without addressing it specifically to any one group.
If you want a private conversation, move it to Discord.
I am slightly amused when people think they are part of a group and then find out the group is smaller and more exclusive than they thought.
She, nor any other rational person, should be on Twitter in the first place. It's a toxic product and if people will cut that cord, we'll get back some of our civility.
Twitter's a cesspit
A veritable black hole... whore h/t NAACP
This is a class issue not a race issue.
This is a diversity issue, and its a progressive condition. These people are exercising liberal license to indulge color judgments, including matters of class, race, sex, gender, etc. Most people do not, have not, and will not make that mistake.
Wisconsin is a state that ardently believes black children should be much less well educated
Democrats in Atlanta, Georgia had a policy of Every Child Left Behind. I suppose that the perspective from the Twilight Fringe would be perceived as social progress: one step forward, two steps backward.
Remember when Wisconsin was about the Packers and Lombardi, the Braves, cheese, sausage and hunting?
Now it’s about election “irregularities,” crooked DAs, fat lips and twitter. Go progressives!
I absolutely love the offended woman's comment that Twitter is a "sacred" space and a space for "healing." Hilarious! And also the implication that Twitter should be segregated by skin color. You can't make these people up...
A.A.: "It takes courage in the face of accusations of racism to support school choice."
Huh? There is something racist about Government allowing or not allowing parents a measure of choice in how their confiscated tax dollars are spent?
What takes courage is self-cancelling one's Twitter account. Would that everyone did so!
This country would be way better off if people took social media for what it really is and with a grain of salt. Any idiot can write crap on social media (including me!). It is just one person's opinion. That's all. People are WAY too sensitive.
I'm surprised no one seems to have mentioned what I think is the salient point:
Many black Americans like to wallow in self-pity, and assume that bad things happen to them because they're black, unaware that the same things happen all the damned time to whites. Three examples:
1. This one. Getting called the N-word. New to me, but I'm not surprised.
2. Having someone give you the finger while driving. I've seen Tweets in which blacks assume that some white guy gave them the finger because they're black and he's racist. Maybe, but it's far more likely that he did it because (a) he's an asshole who does that to everyone, or (b) your driving is so bad you fully deserved it. I have strict standards for giving the finger while driving: you have to be doing something that's illegal, stupid, and very rude, not just one or two of the three. Nevertheless, I probably average one finger per hour of driving time. There are an awful lot of criminal moronic assholes on the road, and some of them are black. I don't look at the color of the driver to decide whether a finger is deserved, just the behavior. I also probably get more fingers than I give, often from the very same criminal moronic assholes who are (e.g.) forcing me to slam on my brakes so my groceries all slide onto the floor as they run stop signs without even slowing down.
3. I've also seen tweets from black men complaining about how they can't walk around town without women crossing the street, or speeding up, or slowing down, to avoid getting close to them. Many of them seem to think this happens because they're black. In fact, race is not the primary, secondary, or even tertiary factor, though it may be a quaternary factor. I was a skinny lad when I was young, no tattoos or leather jacket or wild hair, totally non-threatening except that I liked to wear moving-company T-shirts, blue jeans with holes in the knees, and those orange hiking boots with the yellow rubber soles when going to work. (I was a computer programmer who never met the paying customers.) Nevertheless, I've had women cross the street, or speed up, or slow down, to avoid me at least 100 times in my life, maybe even 200. It is really unpleasant to be treated as a rapist or mugger when you're not, but you don't have to be black to be treated that way.
The fact is that being male is the primary factor: I'm quite sure white men get treated this way far more than black women. The secondary factor is age: young white men (as I was) surely get treated this way far more than old black men. (It hasn't happened to me in 20-30 years. Most of the women on the street know they can probably outfight me and definitely outrun me.*) The third (and maybe fourth) factor is appearance: height, weight, muscularity, hair-style, tattoos, clothing. I'm pretty sure some totally white guy who looked and dressed like Dog the Bounty Hunter, or Hulk Hogan in his prime, would scare far more women than someone who looked like Spike Lee in a 3-piece suit with a briefcase.
I don't doubt that race has some effect, and that of two men of equal size, shape, age, and accoutrements - Spike Lee and Pee Wee Herman in identical suits? - women would be more likely to pick the white-guy side of the street, but race is way down the list of factors, fourth or fifth at the highest. And I suspect that dreadlocks, cornrows, and giant Kaepernick afros are scarier than they ought to be. Still not the primary factor, though.
- - - - - - - - -
*It mostly happened to me when I worked in San Francisco and lived there or in Berkeley 40 years ago. I now live in Virginia, where concealed-carry is legal, so I know that any given woman may be 'packing' and they know that I know, which probably helps them feel safe. Then again, it's also a small town, so most of the women probably know the old guy with fedora and cane who takes long walks every day is harmless.
Politics Is Seeping Into Our Daily Life and Ruining Everything.
As a person of pallor with no lips whatsoever, I feel...ah, forget it!
Pure idiocy.
This is why we can’t have nice things...
And why you just don’t engage these people.
They need to “out victim” everyone. And they need their Emmanuel Goldstein so they can perform their “2 minutes hate” everyday.
my lips were bigger than most and that was the reference given to me
I suddenly recalled Ted Danson's 1993 Friar's Club skit.
No sensible white person would ever participate in a discussion about race. If forced to, you can nod your head while others talk; if forced to talk, speak vaguely about the sad history of race in the US.
I like these deplorable pity parties expressing nostalgia for the good old days when their racism wasn't confronted. The overreaction part of the cure is worst than the sickness to you people. Understandable, but would be more tolerable if you just learnt to code.
“A Madison School Board member tweeted: "This makes me profoundly sad and angry tho. Perfect example of white educators profound failures to understand the isolation, alienation, and disenfranchisement our Black & Brown students experience in our education system — public & private. Microaggressions from staff and peers."
All the while these same kids are being damaged beyond repair after a year of not being in school. For what? No sense of priorities..at all
Howard said...
I like these deplorable pity parties expressing nostalgia for the good old days when their racism wasn't confronted. The overreaction part of the cure is worst than the sickness to you people. Understandable, but would be more tolerable if you just learnt to code.
The racists then were democrats. The racists today are democrats. The racists are scum weasels like you. You have nothing to add to this conversation. Trump made things better for minorities in every measure compared to the Regime.
You can't deal with the fact that we want things to be better for everyone and you just want power for yourself.
We are better people than you Howard.
You are a piece of racist shit.
Blogger hombre said...
Remember when Wisconsin was about the Packers and Lombardi, the Braves, cheese, sausage and hunting?
Now it’s about election “irregularities,” crooked DAs, fat lips and twitter. Go progressives!
No Shit!! Waukesha County is still sane. Washington County too. Ozaukee County is turning left. Especially the hoity-toity in Cedarburg. Most of the state is sane, except the college towns of course. Milwaukee is heading downhill quickly. It's sad. Madison brings everyone down with them.
La Crosse used to be a lot of fun. Great bar and restaurant scene by the river. Best Oktoberfest in the state. But they drank the COVID Kook-aid there. They used to get 100K people out for the Oktoberfest parade. It's a blast. Cancelled in 2020, and I doubt the woke will allow it in 2021.
Perhaps it was a humblebrag. I bet that Angelina Jolie got some comments about her lips when she was 16.
Who do I make out my reparations check to?
Not being addicted to Twitter is a good thing
not being willing to tell the Left to "F off" is a bad thing.
She should have talked about her "lived experience", and told them to FOAD
@Howard,
I like these deplorable pity parties expressing nostalgia for the good old days when their racism wasn't confronted.
Unconfronted racism? You mean, like this?
Howard, if you honestly, right now, don't know the story of Yakub, you need to take a big, long drink of STFUA on the "unconfronted racism" bullshit. There's enough racism on all sides to go around, including more recent groups like BLM.
"As a person of pallor with no lips whatsoever, I feel...ah, forget it!"
This talk of having no lips has triggered birds everywhere...
NCMoss said "With that attitude, she'll never be "President of the United States of Love".
They'd never be able to do a revival of "Hair" today, that's for sure.
"I suddenly recalled Ted Danson's 1993 Friar's Club skit."
Or the governor of Virginia...Mammy!
Fall down and lay prostrate before the Cult of the N-words. Beg for your unobtainable absolution. Oh, and give them all of your shit.
"The racists then were democrats. The racists today are democrats. The racists are scum weasels like you. You have nothing to add to this conversation. Trump made things better for minorities in every measure compared to the Regime."
Yep.
Back in the day the KKK was the military wing of the Democrat Party.
Now it's BLM (racists) and Antifa (racists).
The only difference now is the targets are white...
But give the Dems credit for making the necessary adjustments since Republicans pretty much cleaned up the KKK.
"Is there anybody here who disagrees with this set of statements?
1) Her tweet was dumb.
2) The reaction to her tweet was dumb.
3) Her reaction to the reaction to her tweet was dumb."
I think her comment was naive, which I guess could be a subset of "dumb". She mistakenly thought she was engaging with people interested in a good-faith discussion.
I am not sure I agree with AA. The Twitter response to her tweet shows the futility of being on Twitter. Leadership isn’t bravado, it’s also knowing which battles are worth fighting. Deciding to leave Twitter might make it easier to be effective in pushing school choice.
Sure seems from the linked article that supporters of the other candidate (Shandowlyon Hendricks-Williams, who Kerr had tried to get removed from the ballot) were out to get her. Faux outrage and thin skins go a long way these days.
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