Racist in San Francisco

I knew San Francisco was racist before I got here. Every white person I ever met who had been to SF said, hey, it's great, I love it, you should go there! The only black people I met who had been had not only had a horrible time, they had managed to get beaten in a fight over a trivial argument, and they all lobbied highly in favor of never going to the city again - or ever.

Being here, it is easy to see that most Black people, African Americans, or "People of Color" are in either service jobs, or subordinate positions of some kind. The people you see going to work in an office or some such are predominantly white. With all the social activism in this city, you expect a different standard, but apparently not.

The real shame of it, I think, isn't just the white-on-black (or other), it's the Black-on-other. Or even other-on-other, whatever kind that may be.

Maybe people are inherently racist. I like to think not. But I do think that we are primed to suspect people who look different from us. And I may even be subject to it at times, too, making generalizations - some of them based on repeated experience, but nonetheless.

I have a story about this, but more later...