Adventures in Chav-land
In London this week-end my chav friend J. (22) told me that his next tattoo will read:
White and Proud
I asked him why, and which whites are included in this pride thing:
- English? Yes
- German? Yes
- Polish? Noooooooooooooo
- Hungarian? Yes
This doesn’t make sense on two counts:
- Polish people ARE white
- How can you be proud of the colour of your skin?
I told him that I’m not going to take him up to Scotland, or indeed be seen with him in public again, if he gets a White and Proud - tattoo.
I don’t mind having this one chav - friend, and I can put up with his self-definitions including violence, drinking/alcoholism, ill-education, sexism, and a general dose of chav-culture.
However, when it comes to White & Proud, my tolerance. absolutely. stops. I will not accept it and I will not be friends with him anymore.
Filed under: Culture, Daily life, Friends, London | Tagged: English, fuck off, Scotland, Friends, chavs, chav, Culture, racism, tattoo
Definitely sounds racist. Who’d get a tattoo saying Brown and proud?
a comment and a question:
1. “brown and proud” would not be racist–racism is not an attitude but a system of power, in other words racism requires a privileged position of power and potential to dominate in order to manifest itself.
2. why would sexism not be grounds for ending a friendship–is it this much less offensive than racism and are both not logically related?
sorry a quick addendum regarding racism: the point is, the critique of racism as an attitude does not get us anywhere–it is an ethical argument and as such has no political core; the critique of racism as a system of power, however, does have a politics.
After living in / near a polish community for 2 1/2 years I can totally relate to that.
You let us not be part of your community - We won’t let you be a part of ours.