Door-to-Door Racist
A knock came at my door this evening and I found a pair of young adults selling magazine subscriptions. This was not a fundraiser for a local group like the Boy Scouts or youth soccer. No, this was one of those traveling sales crews that take kids from poor neighborhoods, pack them into a van, and criss-cross the country selling magazines door-to-door at outrageous prices.
I guess it's time to put up my "NO SOLICITATION" sign. I really don't appreciate people trying to sell things to me at my front door, no matter what the cause. There are better ways to raise money.
Anyway, what made tonight a little different was the approach of this African-American pair. The man began his rapid-fire delivery about "raising myself up," "earning work experience," "helping me become a better person" blah blah blah. And then he played the race card.
With comments like "Now I know you don't want to see a bunch of people like me in your neighborhood working on their tans" and "What do I have to do to get you to buy a magazine? Put on a monkey suit? I'll do a dance. I know white people love to see the black man dance."
Is this the new tactic for selling magazine subscriptions? Appeal to white guilt? His comments made me sad, that he would presume there to be a pervasive racist attitude here in North Idaho and would then play to it like a modern Steppin Fetchit.
What's even more depressing is that these door-to-door peddlers are either ripping you off or being terribly exploited by their employers, or both. I never buy things from salesmen who show up uninvited at my door. It's the only way this kind of thing will come to a stop.
I guess it's time to put up my "NO SOLICITATION" sign. I really don't appreciate people trying to sell things to me at my front door, no matter what the cause. There are better ways to raise money.
Anyway, what made tonight a little different was the approach of this African-American pair. The man began his rapid-fire delivery about "raising myself up," "earning work experience," "helping me become a better person" blah blah blah. And then he played the race card.
With comments like "Now I know you don't want to see a bunch of people like me in your neighborhood working on their tans" and "What do I have to do to get you to buy a magazine? Put on a monkey suit? I'll do a dance. I know white people love to see the black man dance."
Is this the new tactic for selling magazine subscriptions? Appeal to white guilt? His comments made me sad, that he would presume there to be a pervasive racist attitude here in North Idaho and would then play to it like a modern Steppin Fetchit.
What's even more depressing is that these door-to-door peddlers are either ripping you off or being terribly exploited by their employers, or both. I never buy things from salesmen who show up uninvited at my door. It's the only way this kind of thing will come to a stop.
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