3.12.2005
i'm only slighly sore from running the st. patty's day 5K...i ran into a t'mac regular (andrea's friend kristen) and her fiance and their friend so i ran with the 2 guys for a while. i ran an oh-so-impressive time of 35:00 on the nose. this is not anywhere near my high school cross-country times but i did walk about 3/4 of a mile of the race and i've only run 3 times in the last month and a half. however, i liked doing this and plan on running more 5K's.
i need to hop in the shower now. and then head out to memphis and jana's for the "three-way" agnes scott alum bday party. yee-haw! and then i get to meet bob for dinner and drinks..hopefully i actually get to see him when i'm not falling asleep tired like the last few days...it's been hard this week.
2 Comments:
i don't feel that a realization that people are never safe is a result of white privelege - neither is operating in the world with a sense of safety.
i think that people assume they are safe in specific places - a courthouse being one of them, whatever their race may be. and this entire case (as media-overloaded as it may have been) was so close to home (less than a mile from where i was working when it happened) that it served to awaken realizations in me.
i find that i always return to a state of optimism even after something has occurred to shake my safe feeling in the world (i.e. being followed and having someone try to run me off the road at 4 a.m., etc.) - i think this return to a somewhat false sense of perfect security is more a way to get through the days without fearing every shadow and corner, than a race-related issue.
no offense taken at all.
when i opened the post in my e-mail about the grady homes, i thought to reply about people in general - of course those who have been victimized in any way would never have this perception of reality, or non-reality. those who have suffered as a result of societal constructions fall into the same group as well. race is obviously a moderating variable, but that does not make white privelege a mitigating factor. just because racism is a component does not directly implicate white privelege in this "safe reality construct."
does that make sense?
i should have phrased better the "specific places" comment. people who do not fall into the "victim of xxx" category tend to have places in which they feel safe. as a doctor who performs abortions, you may not feel safe at work, but there are places where you would feel safe and an act of violence in that space could shatter your perception of safety. on the other hand, other people can feel safe in their place of work, but not at home -- the point i was trying to make is that people have places they consider safe - most people in a courthouse probably feel safe there (with the exception of the victims of the perpetrated crimes and some of those who are accused) -- the presence of armed guards should, i think, in general increase one's perception of safety (though the fact that armed guards are required may also decrease the perception to an extent as well).
i did not make that comment as seeing myself as "not in the jumpsuit" but from the perspective of the majority of people in a location such as a courthouse - only a very few are those who are in the system or who have been in the system and been fucked by it. in addition, by safety i mean not having to fear that you will be subject to bodily/emotional harm. yes, the decisions rendered in courts can send someone to a system which can hurt them and debilitate them, but a random act of violence in a courthouse is probably equally unexpected in their minds as in the minds of others present.
sorry for the ramble - tried to clarify to a greater extent.
