A Funny thing happened at the Monterey County Fair

“A Funny thing happened at the Monterey County Fair,” unpublished, sent to the Monterey Herald—Sept. 7, 2022

As I was enjoying Sunday afternoon at the Monterey County Fair over Labor Day Weekend, a lovely day, with huge crowds, of all ages, and a diverse population representing Monterey County. I walked by the Democratic Party booth. Sitting at a table in front of a raft of political posters and campaign ads was a late middle-aged Caucasian couple.  I happened to read one of the posters on the wall. It said:

“DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY.  NEVER FORGET THE U.S. WAS FOUNDED ON GENOCIDE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICAN PEOPLES.

Then it said:

“BLACK/AFRICAN, INDIGENOUS AND OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR (BIPOC) ARE PRIMARY TARGETS OF WHITE SUPREMACY.”

Then it said:

“ABOLISH THE CURRENT POLICING AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM WHICH IS NOTHING MORE THAN A SYSTEM OF DOMINATION WHICH GIVES BENEFITS TO ANYONE PERCEIVED AS WHITE.”

So, I asked the pleasant Caucasian, older-aged couple in the booth how they felt about that poster. Are all people of color BIPOCS, even if they don’t want to be? Are all White people White Supremacists, even if they aren’t? And they replied in unison:

“We are not patriarchal oppressors or White elitists believing in White Supremacy. We have never been part of a patriarchal colonial society. Although we may look European to you, we have decided affirmatively that we identify with BIPOC people in their allegations against White people who in their cruelty and greed, have benefited from American economic and capitalistic exploitation in the name of Christianity and Western Democracy.”

I was quite impressed with their large vocabularies, and how they could recite the same message in unison without taking a single breath. And then I noticed that they didn’t breathe at all.  Then somebody arrived at the booth and unplugged the nice middle-aged couple and placed them in their holding units in the back, and brought out some middle-aged Caucasian people. They looked just like the other couple once plugged in.

–Carol Marquart, Pacific Grove