Racists say the darndest things: “In the end it is an historical fact that if you mess with white people too much, they will destroy you.”

Because this quote came from a “friends-only” post on LiveJournal – excerpted from the reposting of an email sent to the LiveJournaler in question – I won’t name the offender other than to say that he’s a published author of genre fiction and not known to me personally.

While his quote is ironically true – to a degree, as we know that, historically-speaking, white people haven’t usually waited to be messed with before destroying someone - it’s the context that was particularly disturbing as he was berating someone he apparently considered to be a guilty white liberal intellectual. His email opens with: “I read your journal sometimes to see what else you can blame on white people.”

Just a friendly reminder for all those well-meaning poets I know that complain about poems about racism and slavery or have the nerve to take pride in one’s identity. Check your privilege, it’s an ugly world we live in and we don’t all enjoy the luxury of simply being funny or contemplating the beauty of nature.