My wife's family reunion was this weekend - it was wonderful to see folks that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was the 75th annual reunion for my wife's family, and we hosted the gathering of about 170 people here in Atlanta.
One of my wife's cousins brought a bootlegged copy of Fatass' Fahrenheit 9/11 with him. We sat down in the den at my In-Laws' to watch, the disgust evident on my face as I settled down in the back of the room.
My sister-in-law, who is convinced that each and every white person on the face of the planet is out to get her, sat off to my right on the other side of my father-in-law, lapping every lie that spewed out of Fatass' mouth.
I began to doze about fifteen minutes in, and got up at some point awhile later when my own snoring woke me up.
She-who-must-obeyed found me about a half-hour later in one of the bedrooms where I had retired with a book off of the living room, where the kids all enjoyed Spongebob or Recess or some other cartoon -- it certainly sounded better as background noise than Michael Moore's constant lies and exoriations of the Bush Administration.
"I woke myself up snoring," I told her. "Plus my butt went to sleep."
She rolled her eyes. "Boring," she said.
"Yeah, and full of innuendo," I replied.
"Yeah! Just full of it! I don't blame you for getting up. I was a little bit more comfortable in the chair I was in -- I could sleep a little better," she said. "I don't understand how people could go see that crap."
"I do," I replied. "Back to that hatred thing again. Although, if I paid money to see that thing -- as if -- I'd be highly pissed."
The less my wife and I say about our conservatism to some of our family members, the better. Besides, I got the last laugh. A number of folks came up to me over the weekend and asked me about my television appearances on behalf of Project 21 for MSNBC and Fox News Channel.
If I get even one person to stop and think for a moment about what I am saying in my writings and in my television apparances, then I think I've done my job well. Given the e-mails and personal communications I receive on the positive side? I'm doing OK -- hate-mail notwithstanding.
Posted by mhking at July 11, 2004 11:55 PMSounds like you're doing great! Thanks for sharing that story.
Posted by: Tom Galvin at July 12, 2004 01:15 AMSounds like maybe you should give Blacks more credit then?
Posted by: DarkStar at July 12, 2004 09:00 AMAs if I don't in the first place?
Posted by: mhking at July 12, 2004 09:15 AM"My sister-in-law, who is convinced that each and every white person on the face of the planet is out to get her..."
That is a pretty rough attitude to get past. If someone is nice to her, then they are obviously scheming or perhaps they just feel bad for being so racist. If someone is rude to her, then they don't feel bad for being so racist. If someone doesn't notice her, then obviously they are pretending she doesn't exist.
It is amazing how we can manufacture our own reality to live in.
Posted by: King of Fools at July 12, 2004 10:10 AMAs if I don't in the first place?
By withholding your opinion, you are saying that your family can't handle it. Maybe some can't. Maybe some can.
Give them credit by giving them positive benefit of the doubt.
Posted by: DarkStar at July 12, 2004 09:46 PMBeen there, done that.
I've had my share of family arguements over my politics. Everyone knows how I feel politically. I make no secrets about it.
My father-in-law and mother-in-law know our politics, and can discuss them rationally with us, even though they both differ with us. The aforementioned sister-in-law goes out of her way to try to pick fights with Rachel and I.
I was not about to ruin a warm, happy weekend by allowing anyone to pick a fight with me over my politics.
In some cases, discretion is the better part of valor.
Posted by: mhking at July 13, 2004 12:32 AMMichael, tell your sister in law I am not out to get her, but I am only mostly white. Got a good bit of native American ancestry as well. So I guess I might not count after all. Oh well.
Posted by: spacemonkey at July 13, 2004 07:18 PM