I read this and my heart stopped a little. I spent most of my life in CA; the Bay Area to be exact. When I think about it, it won’t just be the photos of friends and family that will betray me, it will also be artwork from Japanese and Mexican artists, a collection of vases from the Quechan, from Mali, and Guatemala, Fiesta medals, political posters, and much, much more that are signifiers of the fact that I belong to a world larger than a three block radius of my home.
I’ve lived in Texas for the last nine years. Nobody understands this place. My husband and I have lived for the bulk of those years in Austin, and for almost a year in San Antonio. These places are not Trump territory. Even here, even though we are 65% Hispanic/Latino, I worry about this. We had a friend who is trans had people coming into her home to remodel her kitchen. She said there was a lot of ‘n-word this, n-word that’ being used. I was shocked. She was not. She grew up in Houston.
Racism is definitely alive in the Bay Area in CA, it just isn’t overt. You don’t hear that kind of language out in the open. I asked her what she did. She said she did nothing. I said I would have fired their asses. She agreed, but said ultimately would hire more people who would do the exact same thing.
I’m always angry or crying or screaming these days.
