Living here in the desert, we rub elbows with garden-variety racists and right-wing kooks pretty often. I don’t engage them because there’s nothing to gain from it, for either of us. But then, from time to time, you hear racist things from people you don’t expect to be racist.

Ruby and I went to the dog park today, a little later than usual, and the only people there were an older couple who we’ve met before, originally from Venice, California. They’re recent transplants, and nice enough folks. After a while, someone else showed up, also an older guy, and soon they started talking about entertainment industry things.

I suppose that’s unavoidable when you talk to someone with a shared background, but it’s always a little weird to overhear those kinds of “industry” conversations out here. Anyway, the conversation turned to “standards and practices,” the network or studio censors who can remove things from TV shows or movies based on whatever corporate or societal taboos they choose to uphold on that particular day.

The newcomer complained of a standards and practices woman who demanded that certain things be cut from an Emmy or Oscar show clip reel. He gave a couple of examples that did sound a little wrongheaded, but then said, “Well, she was a ‘hire,'” meaning a DIE hire, “She was black, you know…” Because, naturally, in the eyes of a racist, no black person is equal to any job traditionally done by white people.

Never mind the almost comical incompetence shown by the vast majority of (white) people in Hollywood. That business is insular and inbred and lousy with nepotism and cronyism. I saw that firsthand. It’s far from the only closed-off business in the world, but it’s a prime example. I could say it’s overflowing with entitled assholes as a result, but I would never be so crass! Sure. But I saw that, and experienced it, firsthand as well.

The truth is, none of them know anything about anything, but the jobs they’re doing are so unimportant that it doesn’t matter how incompetent they are. I’m not talking about the technical people or the building trades—the people who do the actual work; they have to know what they’re doing. Maybe not surprisingly, they’re also the least assholish people in Hollywood.

It’s always eye-opening, though, to hear racism from people we assume to be left-leaning. You know, entertainment types. It’s a good reminder that racism isn’t a right or left thing, it’s a white people thing. I appreciate coming across that kind of ingrained, casual racism, because, for me anyway, it’s jarring, so it makes me conscious of my own internal biases and crusty shit stuck to my shoes as a result of coming of age in the 20th century.

I didn’t engage the old, white racists (racists plural, because she repeated the inferred slur of ‘hire,’ so she seemed on board with the concept), because, again, there’s nothing to gain from it. Had they been in their 20s, yeah, you’re kind of obligated to point out backward thinking. I suppose we should point it out whenever we hear it, regardless of age, or whether we believe that pointing it out will do any good.

Who knows, the casual racist may have had the same response I’d have in that situation. The “Oh, dang, yeah, you’re right, thanks for saying that” kind of response. Or maybe not. I don’t go around correcting racist people, or “educating” them, but I did, for a long time, try to educate people who had weird, untrue ideas about trans people.

But that gets old pretty quickly, and really, it’s not my job as a trans person to educate anyone. I’m just trying to get by. The same thing applies to black people or anyone who experiences racism. The victim of your ignorance (or hatred) isn’t obligated to school you on how to be a good human.

It’s also dangerous, because not everyone takes kindly to being called out for shitty behavior, even in a friendly way. I imagine most of us don’t. But if no one tells you that you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe, how will you ever know? You’ll see it when you get home and take your shoes off, but then you’re just going to feel stupid, and probably think, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Anyway. Here we are. All that from a visit to the dog park. Go figure. And you thought dog parks were just for dogs!

WRITTEN BY A HUMAN