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Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

bbc.com

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Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#41

Post by hairofadog »

AzzieElbab wrote: post #17
InitialLastName wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of them said, 'We don't cover black murders because those are cheap deaths,' If anyone ever wondered what attitude triggered the slogan "Black Lives Matter"...

google Chicago shootings and then ask yourself why none of it made national headlines. Here is my first search result https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/8/21/22636162/chicag...

I don't understand what point you're making, but I have noticed that "google Chicago shootings" has become something of a racist dog whistle, so if that's not your intent there may be better phrasing with which to make it.

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#42

Post by throwaway0a5e »

hairofadog wrote: post #41
AzzieElbab wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google Chicago shootings and then ask yourself why none of it made national headlines. Here is my first search result https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/8/21/22636162/chicag...

I don't understand what point you're making, but I have noticed that "google Chicago shootings" has become something of a racist dog whistle, so if that's not your intent there may be better phrasing with which to make it.

The point he's making is that despite lip service by the media little has changed.

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#43

Post by OJFord »

cirrus-clouds wrote: post #29
noisy_boy wrote: post #6

> When Dorothy Butler Gilliam arrived at a wealthy Washington woman's 100th birthday party the doorman told her she couldn't enter via the front door. "The maid's entrance is around the back," he explained. Just reading it boils my blood.

Some examples from the UK: A few years ago (2016), a black MP (Member of Parliament) entered a members-only lift in the parliament building (House of Commons). Another MP (unamed) in the same lift told her: "This lift really isn't for cleaners." [1] More recently (September 2020), a black barrister (type of lawyer) was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day. Her experience was widely reported in the press. […

> A few years ago (2016), a black MP (Member of Parliament) entered a members-only lift in the parliament building (House of Commons). Another MP (unamed) in the same lift told her: "This lift really isn't for cleaners." [1]

That surely can't have been a mistake, I don't know if the cleaners there are uniformed, but even if not I assume she would've been dressed more like an MP (the MP that she was) than a cleaner, especially a cleaner - as opposed to just non-member aide or whatever - must've been a deliberately racist comment? [*]

(HoC dress code is a lounge suit for male, and unspecified but typically an equivalent appropriate suit/dress for female members. I'd have thought any member, whatever gender/colour/race/etc., that swapped clothes with a cleaner would be kicked out of the chamber before long.)

[*] Assuming it's true - I must admit this sort of unnamed perpetrator, unverifiable story does strike me as a bit suspect. But I think that's fine anyway even if so, the specifics aren't really important, it can be a parable for how she feels generally on other (real) occasions.

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#44

Post by shrikant »

reacharavindh wrote: post #37
nceqs3 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denmark just passed a law that limits the number of non-white people in a neighborhood.

I'd be shocked if it were true. Where did you see such a law?

It sounded rubbish, so I looked it up and it's a thing! :-O

https://www.dw.com/en/why-denmark-is-clamping-down-on-non-we...

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#45

Post by eplanit »

hairofadog wrote: post #41
AzzieElbab wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google Chicago shootings and then ask yourself why none of it made national headlines. Here is my first search result https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/8/21/22636162/chicag...

I don't understand what point you're making, but I have noticed that "google Chicago shootings" has become something of a racist dog whistle, so if that's not your intent there may be better phrasing with which to make it.

The point is black lives seem to matter only if taken by a white police officer. The BLM movement is quite silent regarding other black deaths.

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#46

Post by blueflow »

hairofadog wrote: post #41
AzzieElbab wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google Chicago shootings and then ask yourself why none of it made national headlines. Here is my first search result https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/8/21/22636162/chicag...

I don't understand what point you're making, but I have noticed that "google Chicago shootings" has become something of a racist dog whistle, so if that's not your intent there may be better phrasing with which to make it.

Isn't "dog whistle" in this case just mental gymnastics to insinuate someone did somehow secretly say things even when neither meant to nor literally said it? Excuse my childish question, was that any different from purposefully misunderstanding your parent?

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#47

Post by dominotw »

reacharavindh wrote: post #38
NateEag wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US public school system is "no additional charge" - you have to pay taxes to help fund it regardless of whether you use it, but you do not have to pay anything beyond those taxes for your children to attend. It may not be much good , but that's a different question.

True, there is a public school system in the US. I missed to recognise it. As you say, whether or not it is sufficient is another debate. When I wrote my comment, my thoughts were around higher education though - not primary, middle and high schools. The ones like college education and higher education where people pay through the roof and rack up debts that stay with them for decades.

There are state schools, I got my bachelors and masters from university of alabama and funded it by working at a gas station. In state tuition was ~1200/semester back in 2005. I graduated with ~5k student loan that i paid off in 2 yrs post graduation.

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#48

Post by [deleted] »

nceqs3 wrote: post #33
reacharavindh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is precisely why Education should not be treated as a business. If Education was free for every citizen, it does a lot to bring equality of opportunity (it does not fix all of the damages from discrimination, but aids significantly in recovery). So is healthcare. Having experienced education and healthcare in USA and Denmark, I cannot believe such extremes exist in the same world. It blows my mind that the wealt…

Denmark just passed a law that limits the number of non-white people in a neighborhood.

[deleted]

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#49

Post by throw_m239339 »

mnw21cam wrote: post #23
DrNosferatu wrote: post #12

"Inside the newsroom some of them would say hello or nod or even speak to me but if they saw me outside the building they would pretend they didn't know me". When you experience this as an immigrant (so the ignoring party knows you have a different nationality) is it generally racism? - What do you think?

Sounds like fear to me.

Well it's the very definition of xenophobia, for racist reasons.

Re: Dorothy Butler Gilliam: ‘I am not a maid, I am a reporter’

#50

Post by leephillips »

Things change slowly. This reminded me of a fascinating book I read years ago, Volunteer Slavery, by Jill Nelson, the first black reporter hired for the Post’s new Sunday magazine in the ‘80s. Although the restaurants in the neighborhood may no longer have been segregated, some of the newsroom attitudes hadn’t changed much. The book also happens to be quite funny.

https://amzn.to/2XFSa68

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