The mechanism of denial
The mechanism of denial
The last quoted paragraph says it all.
No it doesn't. This does. White people are the most race consious people in the USofA. White people go ballistic when you say that any white person is or did anything racist. It's a personal affront.
"The community doesn't want to get maligned." So you deny. That will get you maligned immediately, don't you see that? Or are you scared your neighbors will say you're "acting black?"
Bias-Crime Claim Puzzles Beach Enclave in QueensBy PATRICK HEALY
n the gated Queens community of Breezy Point, the summer chatter often revolves around beach parties, a musical performance at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church or even such trivial matters as a parakeet that has flown the coop.
But over the weekend, a 41-year-old Breezy Point woman was accused of assaulting a 12-year-old Hispanic girl in this overwhelmingly white community, and prosecutors charged the woman with committing a hate crime. They said the woman, Donna Harding, shoved a plastic wagon into the girl's legs and told the girl and her mother that blacks and Hispanics did not belong in the neighborhood.
Yesterday, several residents of this 4,300-person community in the Rockaways said they were skeptical of the charges. While acknowledging that they had not witnessed the exchange, the roughly a dozen people interviewed insisted such an assault did not — and could not — happen in Breezy Point.
"I'm here 22 years, and I've never heard of or seen anything to compare to that," said Msgr. Michael Connelly, a pastor at St. Thomas More Church. "In my mind, I don't believe that is true."
Elizabeth Leib, who has lived in Breezy Point for 25 years, said: "It's a beautiful Christian community. It would be bothersome to think we could be labeled so quickly. The community doesn't want to get maligned."
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/29/2003 08:40:52 AM |
Posted by P6 at July 29, 2003 08:40 AM
| Trackback URL: http://www.prometheus6.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1393
