Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

slimyprincelimey t1_j9jjjz5 wrote

Reply to comment by cardzmr in Portsmouth pushes back on overnight wave of hateful graffiti targeting Temple, businesses by twosunsyzygy

Watch it be some 18 year old progressive UNH student trying to prove a point or "provoke dialogue".

−24

ThunderySleep t1_j9lvmyf wrote

I'm betting on troubled zoomer edgelord. Not that there aren't actual nazi groups in the area.

4

Intru t1_j9p0s42 wrote

NSC-131 (a active neo-nazi/white nationalist organization) has had active demonstrations in the last two year around the Seacoast. Last year there put banner along I-95, had a protest with a dozen or more people at the Repertoire in Portsmouth and one at the Kittery Trading Post, they also distributed pamphlets and left racist papers over minority own business and homes. So, there is very much an active neo-nazi group in the area and it has a pretty good handle of where minorities work and live in our communities. The majority of people might choose to ignore or dismiss this, but as a member of a racial minority (I'm hispanic) we tend to be very vigilant and aware of these types of incidents. To most it just doesn't register but to us is a day-to-day aggression and moments like these is when the rest of our community gets to see what we deal with. Not to say they aren't a bunch of edgelords playing brown coats, but these actions can escalate and have real consequences.

3

ThunderySleep t1_j9qijhg wrote

Yeah, I've seen the stories, they're out there.

This just looks like an edgy kid in the footage. Skinny pants, those kind of sneakers with khakis, something about his build says 22 at the oldest IMO. While I picture the official groups looking a little more "chud"-like. Also, I imagine the official groups would be more careful about blatant vandalism vs the protests in broad daylight that piss everyone off because people can't easily stop them legally.

Not saying it definitely is a teenage edgelord, but if I had to put money on it, that's where my bet would be.

2

Intru t1_j9r2ht6 wrote

Well in the meanwhile lets treat them as a serious threats because, again, to the hispanic community, to the jewish community, to the african american community, to the indonesian community, and all the other minority communities the difference between a kid screwing around and a organized hate group is very very thin because for us, having the benefit or more aptly, the misfortune, of decades of experience dealing with bigots the jump from a bunch of swastikas on walls or getting called names by some punk to getting beat up or a person shooting up a community center is not that big.

I get it that people want to show that its not a big deal, that this are a minority of people doing this, that we shouldn't give them the time of day and that's a valid reaction. It's still hard for me not to take it with some level of fear, it just hits different. I think the most applicable way I can illustrate this is by comparing reactions I got when I told people. When I told friends from here about it they were supportive, furious, or apologetic to my feelings. When I told my mom back on the island her reaction was a sigh of resignation and just two words "Ten cuidado" "Be careful".

2

ThunderySleep t1_j9rk0uo wrote

Or you could just grow up.

> It's still hard for me not to take it with some level of fear, it just hits different.

I don't believe you for one second.

−1

cardzmr t1_j9rvx1s wrote

The person that did this, did it at 3am and purposely chose places/businesses connected to people of color and Jews…

“Grow up for a second” is a pretty ignorant answer. If you’re a target of hate, and someone runs around town at 3am, while the rest of us are asleep, it’s not illogical to wonder if they’ll follow you home and harm you in some way. Whether it be vandalizing your personal property or potentially harming you.

Pretty shitty hot take bro dude.

1

ThunderySleep t1_j9s69v7 wrote

It's not ignorant.

I'm just not a melodramatic child. There's video. It looks like it's an edgy teenager.

If either of our takeaways are ignorant, it's the rube acting as though this is a catastrophic event and we should all panic about it. It just makes it seem like you haven't experienced much in life.. Which would actually be in line with the word "ignorant".

It's a gross thing for somebody to do. But no, I'm not going to play along and encourage panic because some rube is over excited about the first instance of racially motivated vandalism in their area.

0

Intru t1_j9scs7u wrote

It not the first, it just the first you are aware of. There is a lot of performative reaction to these type of events from the general community, sure no argument there. We are used to it, too. I don't expect any tangible shift in behavior from anyone even as a try to convince you that our realities might be different, and one does negate the other. I have to code switch on the regular to not draw attention to myself yep, it something you learn to do subconsciously. Am I scared when shit like this happens, yeah, does that stop me from trying to live? No, but it does eat at you and can be exhausting. Does that mean every day I'm getting harassed or singled out? No, it can go months before someone says something ignorant towards me, flips me off, yells at me, ask me why I am here, tells me to take that flag sticker off my car, or my favorite one someone told me ones at a party in rural NY "your one of the good ones" after going about a tirade about lazy Puerto Ricans. But I get it, when shit like this is so off most people's radar it's just sound ridiculous and sensational that any sane person could easily think is over dramatic or made up. It's not that we haven't experience much in life its' that as a collective we have experienced a little bit too much of it too fast.

2

ThunderySleep t1_j9smb86 wrote

I know you think this is some enlightening monologue, but the whole thing just makes you sound so unbelievably coddled.

> But I get it, when shit like this is so off most people's radar

Bro, what you listed would not even register as memorable for most people because most people deal with far worse (at least outside of rural new england). I find it insulting that you even used that as your big memorable example of "experiencing prejudice".

1

Intru t1_j9u0zoz wrote

I know, I got primos in Maine, New York, Texas, and Florida, and brother in California while our parents still on the island. All of us grew up together in Puerto Rico and had to leave do to the economic devastation that 200 years of colonial rule and neglect from Congress caused and the devastation from Maria and earthquake compounded. It blows that i don't get to be with my family and it hurts when we talk about the shit we have to deal with in the places we ended up. At some point all these experiences do meld together, especially the small ones, the big ones I'll keep to myself and share it with those close to me, I don't like bringing them up, and don't want to turn this into a full-on trauma porn post. Then why share at all? Because I want to, because I think it's important. So yeah, I usually prefer to shared the most absurd examples over the painful ones, it's how I cope with this shit. Sometimes it sound performative, sometime I sound entitled but I'll keep doing it, because I think there some value in doing so. Which all rounds to what I'm trying to impart, this stuff just hits different.

1

ThunderySleep t1_j9uoph3 wrote

It's not impressive. I've experienced far worse than what you're highlighting and I'm white.

Also important to point out the goalpost shift from people acting like there's some active Nazi takeover of Portsmouth to talking about micro aggressions and colonialism.

Also, if you're Puerto Rican with any Spanish ancestry, you're as much a "colonizer" as any of us. In fact, more so because your ancestors were definitively "colonizers" if you do, while a lot of us just came from struggling farmers and tradespeople and such. Not that you should be blaming people for presumed crimes of their ancestors based on their skin color (because that's what racism actually is), but it sounds like you do and it's as hypocritical as it gets.

1

petergriffin999 t1_j9ldvcj wrote

Absolutely. It always is.

The demand for racism far exceeds the supply.

−3

cardzmr t1_j9rwdru wrote

The demand exceeds the supply when they’re on the seacoast with signs that say “keep New England white”…? Huh…

The supply gets amplified by people that comment like you did downplaying the incidents and life experience of the commenter you’re replying to. Complacency will only embolden these nazi pricks to continue doing what they’re doing.

The only answer is simple…hate has no home here, and anyone that says different is part of the problem.

Not ridiculing the people that have been targets.

Jesus, smh

2

petergriffin999 t1_j9rx8z6 wrote

The majority of "hate crimes" over the last few years are fake, staged.

The few real ones, are disgusting -- there is no place for racism. Hate is a horrible thing.

But over the last few years, time after time after time, it's always someone "just trying to start a conversation".

−1