So do you remember how last month, while the rest of us were somewhere between stunned and horrified at the savages who killed cartoonists in Paris, half of my colleagues went all sanctimonious and shrieked (I’m informed that’s a sexist word. Good. Ladies, if the harpy feathers fit, wear them) all over face book that the REAL issue — the REAL issue — was this bombing of an NAACP office in the springs which not only hadn’t killed anyone, but had barely caused any damage.
The offices are about a mile from the house we were living in at the time, and I THINK I heard the explosion, showing it’s more sound than fury.
At the time I sought out the report, complete with NAACP spokescritter screaming that it was clear it was all about race and wha wha wha poor little us, give us money to atone for your racial sins.
At the time too, if you remember, I said I would bet cash money it had nothing to do with NAACP. (Granted, I didn’t guess the real motive. I thought it was personal and directed at the hairdresser that shares the building. That’s because the real motive was crazycakes.)
The reason is not that I think no one is racist, (impossible, since racism is the default mode of “human”. Or at least tribalism is.) It’s not that I think no one would ever have a reason to bomb A NAACP office. No, the reason I said “unlikely, bordering on the impossible” is that I LIVE in Colorado Springs.
If a bombing of an NAACP office were reported, say, in Detroit or Chicago, I’d sigh and go “Well—”
But Colorado Springs is so white you could pick the few of us who can tan from orbit.
Okay, that’s not exactly true. Like most places out west, the Springs has a lot of Hispanics. If the bombing had been in La Raza headquarters, I’d have gone “I can see that.”
What it doesn’t have is many people of African descent. Half of the ones it has seem to be from Cape Verde and have come here escaping communism which makes them not the natural constituency for the NAACP. In fact that community is two streets from my old house, and they are more “Portuguese” than African. In fact, their kids used to come and drag younger son away to play soccer, which is why all the Portuguese he knows are soccer terms.
A significant portion of the other half are in the military. Which means, again, they’re less “people of African descent” than “American servicemen/women.”
The demonstrations over the Ferguson thing were pathetic white, privileged college kids (Colorado College. Liberal arts college. Google the tuition and stagger) shrieking (yeah, that word again. If the screech fits, wear it) over “black lives” like they knew their *ss from their elbow, or had ever had less than a comfortable moment in their lives.
In those circumstances, the only way someone could have targeted the NAACP offices would have been if the person doing the targeting had just arrived here from Detroit. Not that this is impossible, given we import homeless by the busload, due to great “services” BUT you’ll agree highly unlikely.