During a speech this month at a black empowerment workshop, Councilwoman Kathy Cole charged that Latinos, Asian-Americans and homosexuals enjoy preferential treatment at San Jose City Hall

On Tuesday, the City Council weighed in, voting 10-0 after an emotional four-hour hearing to condemn Cole for remarks that Mayor Susan Hammer called deplorable. The formal condemnation was said to be unprecedented in San Jose history.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-27-mn-40493-story.html

Robert, the issue is that people who have not experienced racism have a simplistic view of racism, that it’s some binary “did you use the word you’re not allows to use or not” kind of deal. We all separate people into groups, whether we admit it or not — you clearly just did. Look up implicit bias. Often the people demanding color blindness are the ones who are in fact making excuses for system inequality. I’m not making any excuses for anyone, but I can recognize that the cultural evolution of this word is a lot more complex than you or others want to treat it, and there’s a difference between someone using it with hateful and racist intent and someone who has actually experienced racism re-purposing it. I would never use that word, because I have not experienced racism and I did not grow up on a context where I heard that word regularly outside of music, but I can understand that for people who have actually faced racism and who have grown up in contexts where that word is used totally differently it would be absurd for me to talk about how there’s a double standard between me and them. The double standard is the unbelievable racial inequality that exists just in this valley between a largely white west side and a largely Hispanic east side born out of redlining, but instead of talking about that we’re going after the East side’s representatives over a lack of decorum in their private speech. And YOU’RE talking about distractions!

It was an attempt to be witty and highlight the self-given name for their chat group. I apologize as my intentions are not to ever promote any kind of racism. Separating people into groups on any level is counterproductive to equality. I do find it peculiar that you have repeatedly excused these public leaders use of racial slurs and inflammatory remarks while quickly calling me out for a flip remark. Good thing I’m not on the council or you would be calling for my resignation. Some of the Councilmembers flowery remarks at this press conference are pandering and just strange. Seems more like you (and they) are trying to ‘distract’ from their inappropriate behavior. We need transparency so release the text threads (all related communications) and let people make their own decisions.

I have to say, comments like this are exactly what is wrong with the discourse on race here. You think that you can apply a disparaging name based on someone’s ethnicity and it’s okay as long as it doesn’t involve any slurs, all while calling out the people who actually have something at stake when it comes to racism. Add that to Nicholas Moriah’s comment accusing me of racism against whites, and you can clearly see that this is way beyond any genuine concern for the plight of non-white victims of racism — you are using hypothetical people of color as a political prop to attack actual people of color.

“Jefe Tweed”?? Dude, are you calling out racism or perpetuating it?

All of the members of this chat were Latin or Black, and we don’t even know the context in which the word was used, but you are ready to rush to judge to the judgement that SJPD has pushed you towards because you don’t want to take the time to consider how people of a different socioeconomic background use words differently, even when the NAACP is on their side!

The public has a right to know whether individuals with racist views are serving on the City Council, and to what extent councilmembers were aware of Mr. Torres’ deeply disturbing actions. Trust in our local government depends on full disclosure.

Stand firm!!! Racism is only ok as long as you are ok with it!