Ask Tazi! America's FAVORITE Advice Giving Cat: Tazi's Corner #49

Dear Readers:

Have you ever noticed how the people on the People of Walmart site are mostly white? My hypothesis on this (can’t call it a theory because it isn’t proven) is that white people have just stopped caring.

This week, while perusing the PeopleofWalmart.com website for a mood lift, here are a few of the pictures I found:

Is that poop?

???

Why, God, why?

"Willie the Pimp" is always stylin' with the ladies!

With the exception of Willie the Pimp, all of these people are white. I know it’s just Walmart, and yes I know it is close to 100 degrees outside, but you could at least act like you care about your appearance! This past week, my dear Mommie went to the salon and she wore a lounger – what her brother calls a “Mrs. Roper dress”, although in her defense it was one solid color and she had matching shoes.

Uh-oh....maybe she did look like Helen Roper!

I thought she looked cute, and she looked white person cute, but once she got to the salon she realized that no woman of color (black or brown) would have been caught beyond the pool in a lounger. She realized, with a deep sense of humility, that she has gotten lazy about her appearance. Lucky for her, she was at the salon and surrounded by people with the training to help her!

Another great place to people-watch is a state fair. I think Jeff Foxworthy covered this one when he described the people you will see at a state fair:

"If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty."

What he did not mention is that most of these people are white; it’s like I said, it seems that white people have just stopped caring.

Back in the 1960’s people of all colors protested what they felt was wrong with our government and our society. Where now is the outrage when our government criticized the citizens of Egypt for rising up against their oppressors? Have Americans forgotten that we were once a country that overthrew our own government? No, I am not talking about the American Revolution; I am talking about the War Between the States (aka The Civil War or the War of Northern Aggression, depending on which side of the Mason-Dixon Line you live).

I hear a lot of complaining about how middle class Americans (which, according to sociologists, are primarily white) are bearing the brunt of the country’s tax burden; how the poor cannot afford to pay taxes for the social benefits they receive and how the über-wealthy manage to find loopholes and offshore accounts in order to pay less and less in taxes. What I do not see or hear are organized protests against all that is unfair! Has the middle class grown too comfortable for their own good?

So why am I addressing this and not the elephant in the room that everyone else is discussing elsewhere? I will not get into the details of what has been on my mind following the verdict of the Trevon Martin/George Zimmerman case because I refuse to fan the flames of the issue, but one thing I will comment on is the fact that I keep seeing a Facebook posting about a white child who was killed by a black teenager, with the caption “Where is the outrage?” I think that is a question that white people need to answer; the Black community does not seem to have an issue with expressing their displeasure when they feel that their rights have been trampled. (Incidentally, there was national coverage for this story when it first occurred; it just seems that people have forgotten).

After Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing Trevon Martin, on the basis of self-defense, protests erupted across the county. I have watched the news…I have read the papers…I have seen pictures online…and there are very few white faces seen participating in these protests. Where is the outrage, white people ask? Perhaps it is they who can answer their own question. But first, they really should take a look in the mirror and make sure that they look like a person that people are going to take seriously. Pants on the Ground is not just an anthem for Black youth anymore.