The Freeper Stare

[blueseas]

Last edited Sun Aug 15, 2021, 08:20 PM - Edit history (2)

I don't know what to call this - so I will call it the freeper stare.

I am light skin and lately, when I go in to less blue areas. I feel the stare from a white male. A hostile stare. One was wearing khakis and a white shirt and had shades. I stared back, and he brought his glasses down to show me a look of hate. We left the bar.

In a restaurant, I saw the stare of another woman of color. Same thing, just stare without a smile.

Today we are out having a few beers. Another hard stare. Narrow eyes staring at me, not a smile anywhere. He sat with four other women, and they were oblivious to his behavior. We ready to leave and we did not linger.



Anyone else seen or experienced this behavior?

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Were you wearing a f*ck Trump shirt?

[blueseas]

4. No I was wearing jeans and top

I had on shades, not dark shades. My companion was not wearing any political items either.

[Hoyt]

2. There is a great book and subsequent film called, "Black Like Me."

One of the things I remember vividly is the description of what author called the “hate stare.”

[blueseas]

5. UGH - they seem to be out and about.

[multigraincracker]

25. Read that book in school a very long time ago.

It should be required reading.

[blueseas]

7. Thanks

They want to intimidate, I think

[blueseas]

10. Thanks

[secondwind]

24. Those hands are pretty big, don't mess with him, lol

[multigraincracker]

26. +1

Thanks

[greenjar_01]

17. People aren't supposed to go out?

What kind of cowardly shit is this?

Yield them the space?

Fuck's sake.

[greenjar_01]

20. Fuck should I know

I don't know you at all. Maybe you're a goddamn hero.

I do know that refusing to live your life because some dipshit might stare or say something is cowardly, though.

[greenjar_01]

22. Take care

Good luck hiding.

[malaise]

27. IF he but knew

[malaise]

36. Just the truth my friend

[blueseas]

29. Indeed

Ignore -

[Iggo]

35. That's about enough out of you.

[greenjar_01]

37. Buh bye

[GulfCoast66]

6. Directed at me? Of course not. I'm Casper white with blue eyes and what comes with it.

But I must say will say when I’m breweries and other places I’ve been more on the look out for that I ever was Ok. Until the last several bbbnjnyears never even thought about it. And I’ve now noticed it. In Breweries! Where beer lovers go!

But I’ll tell you this. If it happens in Lake County Florida, if it happens and goes beyond a stare, if a good sized white guy, who looks like a redneck, stands up to take your side, don’t be shocked.

The only reason it could happen before is because white people who disagreed stayed silent. Or maybe there were not enough of them and the ones that did felt it was a wasted effort.

In the last 3 years I’ve called out and challenged the statements a several people at the brewery bar. They back down coming from someone like me. Someone they see as their own. I can’t imagine what I would do if I saw someone take it beyond a stare.

I’m done with that shit. I was raised in the Deep South in the 70’s and early 80’s. There was not nearly the level of overt racism as I see now.

I’m fucking done with it. Our class president in an overwhelming white school was a cool black guy.

The south has regressed on racial relations.

I’m over it

[blueseas]

8. I appreciate you.

take care

[GulfCoast66]

11. Sorry for the miss-spelling and poor grammar.

Bourbon.

But the meaning remains.

My dad, born in 34 fled the rural south because he could not stand the oppression of the society and knew as an 18 year old he could not change it. Went to the State University to study Journalism against his father’s wishes. His dad refused to pay for his educational although had dad followed his father’s wishes he would have. Of course, once dad became successful and had a PhD his dad was super proud of him!

Dad was no modern idea of a progressive. But felt strongly that blacks were to be treated no different than whites by society. Granted, while his idealism might not be considered progressive by today’s standards, he did his best. And he allowed room for his kids to imagine a truly diverse society. Which my sister and I both do.

Dad lived in a world on the south where a person had to leave or keep their mouth shut if they were opposed to legally mandated racial discrimination. I don’t. I won’t be silent nor passive.

And I’m not alone.

[malaise]

28. What a great post

[blueseas]

30. Yes

[Progressive Jones]

12. A Yankee here, but I've made many trips to visit relatives in the South since childhood.

My Mother's family is predominantly white, and stretches across the entire South. I've been visiting them since the late 60's.

My Mom's people are all somewhere from Center to Left, with no racists among them. Huge FDR fans among the generation before me (I'm in my early 60s).

There have been interracial marriages in recent decades, and there were "secret" similar relationships, I've been told, going back to the 1920's. I have folks on my Mom's side who are white, black, and Native American.

I saw some minor racist behavior now and then, but not like it seems to be now.
White nationalists have been pushing for trouble for a long time now. I hope it ends very, very badly for them.

[GulfCoast66]

14. It's dependent and which south. It's not all the same.

And how old you are.

But in East Texas, Western Louisiana and south Arkansas it still very racist. That’s where my family is from.

And very rural.

In any city or even suburb of the south using racial epithets will get you fired. But in the real rural areas, especially with a more white population it still happens.

Don’t think for a second there are not enough of them in some states to reinstate Jim Crow. They are trying now.

Jim Crow was all about removing the political power of black folks. That has not changed.

We white Southerners have an obligation to make sure it does not happen. Or do our best, anyway.

[Progressive Jones]

15. Well, my Mom's people are mostly from big towns. I know that makes a difference.

Roanoke, VA, Birmingham and Mobile, AL, and Memphis, TN / North MS.

The clan in Texas are all centered around Dallas/Ft. Worth.

[traitorsgalore]

13. Yes, I know that stare

I'm a white guy in my 60s and I've seen that stare from bigots my entire life. I don't know why but I "look smart" and am usually well-dressed as well. Those 2 things have always irritated right-wingers, especially the further away from a city I get.

[Progressive Jones]

16. I'm white. My "look" says Big City Yankee, and the right wing rednecks can spot me a mile away.

I now live in an "exurban" area 50 miles from Chicago. I get the "stare" now and then out here. Always from a man, or woman, almost always in a giveaway Cabellas camo baseball cap. Generally, sweat stained.

I'm not going to pretend to know the feelings of a POC when they get the "stare", but I know when I'm getting it, and I don't like it a bit.

[blueseas]

33. Yes that stare

Humans know when someone 'stares' in a good way. But that unwavering look/ stare of hate is something.

[blueseas]

31. The woman in the restaurant

She was very well-dressed. The stare is filled with hate.

I should have said the stare is unwavering. At least they try. And they are quite the actors, turning a smiling face to their dining companions.

[ExTex]

18. In the early 1960s my family befriended an Afghan college exchange student.

He decided to "see America" and drove through the deep south, alone and unprepared. In a small town he was thrown out of a bar for being too dark. So he went to a "negroe bar" and was promptly thrown out for being too light.

He was an Afghan prince; but told us not to get excited because he was a prince only in his tribe-- and Afghanistan was a nation of tribes: there was no functioning national government. His words came back to haunt me when the U.S. began its Afghanistan misadventure. A rival tribe tried to kidnap him while he was in the U.S. He was taken to the Detroit Airport (Willow Run at the time) for fight back to Afghanistan. Ignoring his captors' orders to remain silent he loudly proclaimed to everyone within earshot that he was being kidnapped. His captors, frightened, ran away.

I've always wondered how he fared first under the Russians and then under he U.S. when we came to rescue him and his country.

[blueseas]

32. What an interesting story.

I hope it turned out well.