April del Fuego’s Blog

I was reading the blog, Stuff White People Do, and in a comment I saw a reference to an event that happened in my hometown of Austin, Texas.  Not just Austin, but specifically the Lake Travis area on the west side of Austin, where I grew up.

So I googled it, and found the local television news station’s website with their description of the events.  It brought back a flood of memories of hearing this kind of shit.  Growing up in a “liberal” household, I learned to stand up to people who said the n-word, but I wasn’t really taught to pick apart the constant barrage of subtle (as well as blatant) racist stories in the news.  Now that I have a few more skills in this area, I can’t seem to shut up about the racism I see all around me.

Another thing missing from my experience growing up was the chance to hear diverse perspectives on news stories.  I was in an all-white bubble, surrounded by people who, like me, had the unearned privilege of not hearing newscasts chock-full of negative stereotypes about us, and who had the choice of staying oblivious to the realities of the racism around and within us.

I remember having moments of awareness, thinking things like, “Geez, every time they show a sketch of someone wanted by the police, its a black guy…surely that’s not right!”  But those moments were just blips on the radar.  Most of the time I lived in oblivion, like all the other white people around me.

So, back to the news story.  Basically its about a young black athlete, Cedric Benson, who was boating on Lake Travis and got hassled by the police.  Here’s part of the story from the news station’s web site (www.kvue.com), as well as local people’s comments quoted in the story.  In italics are my interpretations of the underlying racist message.

“A former UT football player is arrested on Lake Travis. Police say Cedric Benson, 25, was boating with about a dozen people Saturday night when police pulled his boat over for a random safety inspection.” (Random safety inspection means they pulled over the black guy because he didn’t belong ’round there, and you can’t trust a boat full of  n*#*s having fun.)

“Officers say Benson, who is now a running back for the Chicago Bears, was behind the wheel and had been drinking.” (The cops ignored all the drunk white boaters and took the opportunity to teach a lesson to the uppity negro in the nice boat.)

‘He’s a celebrity, thought he could get away with everything I guess. I mean, sometimes they believe they’re above the law,’ (Just because he’s famous, that don’t mean we want him ’round here, and that don’t mean we cain’t still string up n*#*s that break the law!) said Lake Travis boater, Tom Concienne.

‘Just another spoiled athlete he believes he’s above the law. Unfortunately they are subject to laws and they have to follow them as well. If they’re not, they should get arrested,’ (Even though white folks do what he was doing all the time without getting hassled, that spoiled n*#* needs to remember his place!) said Lake Travis boater, Tom Rajan.

After reinterpreting this news item, I took advantage of the internet, and looked around to find some different perspectives on this event.  At http://sportsonmymind.com, I found this blog-post, as well as 2 comments on the post:

“Lake Travis is a sanguine body of water in the tony section of Austin, Texas. Each weekend the lake is filled with boaters of all ages. As night drops over Texas’ capital city the manses on the hills above the lake shimmer. The likes of actress Sandra Bullock and tennis star Andy Roddick reside in the hills and often party on the lake.

Inevitably on those Friday and Saturday nights young, mostly white revelers can be heard out; the high-pitched laughs and screams of women and the primal frat boy drunken yells to no one in particular abound. As their crafts glide by older partiers they wave but the hip-hop and rap music remains clearly audible even from 60 feet above the shore. The young yell their hellos a little too inebriated while the slightly more sober older folk cordially wave and smile.

I have seen this scene perhaps 50 times on Lake Travis. I have seen people on party boats diving into spotlighted water late, late into the evening. I have heard the boom of the bass of rock or rap music as if a speaker was next to my ear.

But I have never, ever seen a Lower Colorado River Authority officer do anything other than float by and ask the white partiers if everything is all right.

Now if you’re a young, black and wealthy NFL running back, and ex University of Texas star named Cedric Benson and you own a 30-foot party boat and you’re on Lake Travis with your boys and some women and the same music is playing that was heard on the by white partiers just five minutes before – well, you’re getting busted. And if you say a word, you’re getting sprayed”

Because I have periodic bouts of sleep deprivation due to the baby factor, I’m having some new insight about class oppression.

Sleep deprivation makes it harder to do everything: its harder to get tasks done, stay focused, learn, get along with others, have dreams and goals (beyond getting more sleep!), assert yourself in a calm way when something goes wrong, think critically about important issues, or take on extra tasks beyond survival-level work.

Lots of folks who are in the lower socio-economic class in our culture are subjected to sleep deprivation on a regular basis. I’ve known lots of struggling families where at least one, if not both, of the parents are working more than one job as well as taking care of home and family responsibilities, which leaves them with very short hours for sleeping. People who are homeless often get poor sleep due to lack of safety, exposure to the elements, noise, being harassed, etc. People who are struggling with poverty, classism, racism, homophobia, immigration issues, mental health issues, etc are often subjected to stressful day-to-day situations that can rob them of peaceful sleep.

If all of these people got lots of good sleep, would they have the energy, focus and where-with-all to advocate for social reforms that would change their lives for the better? Of course they would! Would they have more energy for self-advancement through education, job training, etc? Absolutely! So here is the chicken and the egg, the catch 22, the snafu–as I see it:

Class oppression can lead to sleep deprivation, and sleep deprivation contributes to continued class oppression by keeping people too tired to do something to change things.

Even though my sleep deprivation is not due to the effects of class oppression, when I get better sleep, it is noticeable how much more effective I am in the world. And this makes me wonder what our world would look like if everyone had the privilege of good and plenty sleep.