Hi guys !

So many troubles in our wonderful word won’t stop me being pedagogical ! Today, I am gonna tell you about this “too often used” sentence :

Today, I am gonna save you from this thought you have when you look at this picture : poetic, sense of tenderness maybe, cheesy moment for sure. …in any case, it sounds nice and noble.

When I was young, I was a in a class which was called  “Class B”. The class B was known for having an intensive and speed program, and I was a part of it. I don’t know if it was jealousy, but my friends were mocking this class, saying that we were the kind of children crying when we had a “B+” or something like that. At the beginning, I did not feel offended, but by and by, I started to be pissed of because, even if those children were not all my friends, it was disrespectful to them an to me. So, one day, I said stop, that they should stop to criticize them just because they were in this class with a kind of “prestigious aura”. And also, that I was a part of this class, so they were insulting me at the same time.

And they told me ? “For you, it’s different”.

I told thm that whatever they thought, I was a part of this group. It was the first time that I dared to speak truly to my friends. Then, they did not talk to me anymore but I knew they were wrong, because I was just asking them to be respectful and I won’t apologize for that.

Now, let’s replace “class B”, by “black group”/”hispanic group”/”homosexual group”/”women group” and every adjective you want, and you will guess what I am talking about. When you have a black/hispanic/asian or [put an adjective here] friend and you think in your narrow mind, “for you, it’s different” because (s)he is your friend and you like him/her, you pretend to give him a favor.

What’s the matter ? It means that if this person that you like sooo much was not your friend/girlfriend/boyfriend/parent/relative, you would treat him badly. It means that you based your discriminative jokes and comments on ignorance because you don’t know people you talk about; and it means that you choose a group to discriminate.

Yes, Bobby, you are [put a discriminative adjective such as “racist”, “homophobic” etc here]”.

Well, guess what : respect should not be a favor. It belongs to you to restrain your discriminative sense of humour, or your discriminative comments, when you think they are true.

No, it’s not susceptibility when your friend/relative/girl/boyfriend is offended by such comments. And no, it’s neither noble, neither a love proof, to say “For you, it’s different”. It’s not because you treat well your house, that you can disturb the house of someone else, because “it’s different”.

When I woke up, I don’t think about my colors until someone say a joke or comment about black people, or asks me about my origins. Yesterday, I went to restaurant with my family, and i heard a woman wondering why some of us were clearer than others. Uh… Are all of you white like a blank page, with blue eyes and blond hair ? So shut the fuck up.

You, as the author of these remarks, make and underline the differences when people just want to be accepted.

So now what ? Will you change your behaviour or do you need to be discriminated to understand ? 

[french version coming soon]