.....i met this guy who reminded me first hand that there is indeed racism on a individual level, not just the institutional level racism i see everywhere else in my life.....

he is a flight attendant and was talking about a flight he was on which had "lots of black people" but instead of calling them something obvious, he says they referred to "those people" as canadians.....yes...canadians...that way, he says, they can go on to talk shit, be racist and it is okay. I've been beating myself up for the last few weeks for not saying anything to him, i was just so stunned. as i'm getting more involved with stuff at school as far as the institutional racism at places like berkeley (in addition to causing trouble for my racist coworkers at alta bates of course), i'm learning waaaaaaaay more than i could have ever imagined, coming out of suburbia just three years ago.

i knew it existed in places like louisiana and the castro, but i was quite surprised in oakland...grr