Today on NextDoor...

[Horace]

NextDoor is the social website built for neighborhoods. I think it's good to get a grassroots read on opinion. This BLM thing of recent history has people chattering, always on the BLM side of course. Maybe signalling rather than chattering is a better description. One post was called "From your black friend..." where a black woman posted advice for well meaning white people to deal with her during this extraordinary time. It is apparently important now more than ever to not mention all lives mattering or gun violence in Chicago. I am sure you all know the drill. To me, those sorts of posts are born of a recognition that certain people's opinions really matter a lot right now because skin color. I expect that feeling is a nice one, though I have no personal experience with it. The post was unanimously acclaimed by the whole neighborhood. It's not as if a single word of it could have been openly disputed anyway.

By the way, my neighborhood is majority Filipino, an ethnicity which is never discussed on that site as oppressed, and which nobody thinks about one way or the other. I imagine the Filipino folk prefer it that way.

This morning was a post by a black woman who's husband was accused, by a white man, of "following him" at the park. No further details were provided. This was racism and it wasn't debatable. The reliable virtuous white folk expressed their outrage and there was a thought to organize a BLM march down my very street. Socially distanced, you'll be relieved to know. We'll see if it happens.

You may or probably don't remember me posting a couple years ago on the old board about a guy who lives in my neighborhood who stormed out of his house as we were walking past it with our dogs. He accused me that my dog stepped onto his yard, and he wasn't having it. It was bizarre. Further investigation in that NextDoor thread this morning revealed that it was the same guy. This alleged racist who goes around bothering every person of color he meets. They needed no proof of his motivations, they just knew he was white and the guy was black. End of story, racism.

[Aqua Letifer]

It's funny you say that the NextDoor crowd is always pro-BLM. I've recently heard it described as "the social network site for Karens to complain about the blacks moving in and crapping up their neighborhood." The guy who said this is from Sacramento.

[Horace]

The "Karen" meme was used in this morning's thread, too. A few people wanted to know what the male version of a "Karen" is because the white guy was definitely that. There was some dispute about whether males can be referred to as Karen, or whether it's a Chad instead.

[Aqua Letifer]

Chad, Kyle, Trevor, Todd, take your pick.

[Horace]

A few people chimed in that they've had run-ins with this guy. A person of color, not the original poster but another who's had their own experience with this guy, added this:

So the first interaction I had with him was not at the park. It was down the street in front of the doggy waste receptacle at *** Street. He became irate, said FU and gave me the finger, because I wouldn't move my 16yo arthritic dog from around the receptacle fast enough. They all sniff around there, that's what dogs do. I ended up picking up my old guy and moving them on and crossed the street. The thing is, we went the same way along North Front (he in front of me at a distance) where he passed the 2nd doggy waste receptacle so there was no need to get all bent out of shape. I've never experienced that level of anger here before and I actually apologized to diffuse the situation. I saw him the next day; he wouldn't stop staring at me as he watched me walk past the park. I don't think all of that happens with someone white/not black. I was there and I want everyone to know that just because YOU think someone isn't rascist or even that racism doesn't happen around here is not accurate. Rascists don't tend to wear their white hoods outside; they are far more subtle. You didn't experience that level of hatred, he has been aggressive with a lot of you but did he use curse words and he wasn't in front of his house. Over a dog! I believe that there is something wrong with him but that doesn't invalidate my experiences because some of you are unconvinced that he is a rascist too. I have nothing to prove to anyone, I don't have to convince anyone. Frankly, a few of you sound like the "all lives matter" crew. You don't have to agree but you don't get the right to dismiss either. What ***'s husband went through shouldn't be dismissed either because you want to live in your bubble. I enjoy living here but I have had my share of micro-aggressions over the years and I know how those interactions go as someone who grew up in Cleveland, OH, and who also lived in Alabama during my high school years. It happens here too. I will say no more about this, nor respond. I simply wanted *** to know that I empathized with what her husband went through.

So someone that has been established to be unstable and combative with every person of every skin color, is still treating the non-white folk worse, because that's just how it is, and if you question that then you're racist.

which is not to say it's impossible or even improbable that the particular flavor of this guy's insanity is tailored to his victims, but the point is that the guy is insane. The nature of his insanity is the same no matter who he's inflicting it on.

But this is what the "open and honest" dialog in America looks like. Point, left.

[jon-nyc]

You should chime in and tell your story in a tone that totally is sympatico with all the others and give no hint as to your skin color.

Like “I know what you mean about this guy. One time a few years ago....”

[Horace]

I already related my story, didn't mention my skin color but my picture is attached to my profile and to every post. I suggested that such interactions do not necessarily have to do with race. I suppose I am among those she thinks is a micro-aggressive racist.