Rhythmically chanted by a middle-aged woman standing on the corner in my Caribbean neighborhood, apropos of…nothing, as far as I could tell.
Me hate lesbian
An’ me hate batty-boy
Leave me alone!
Repeated, for as long as it took me to pick out a couple of ears of sweet corn at the produce market, wait in line, pay, wait for the light to change, cross the street and walk down the block to my building.
I’ve seen that lady too! She was on the corner by the West Indian mini-mall last weekend. I rolled my white-devil eyes at her and kept going.
I learned about how homophobic certain parts of the Caribbean (specifically Jamaica, which judging by the slang it seems like this woman is Jamaican) are when I helped a gay Jamaican man secure asylum in the States. It’s insane. Like, mobs of people murdering people suspected of being gay on the street insane.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1182991,00.html
@Yvan: Yes, it’s a very ugly aspect of Jamaican culture. In my building—which is about a block and a half from Dork’s—there are a few gay male couples and they definitely keep a lower profile (no PDA) than they would in other NY neighborhoods.
It’s terrific that you got asylum for that man.
I think my partner was on the train with that lady recently. Maybe it’s a popular song? I know there’s a subset of dancehall that has a lot of homophobic taunts.
My partner has a thicker skin than I do and was more bemused than creeped out.
I wondered that too, Imogen. I’d heard about the terrible crimes in Jamaica, and knew some of the pop music was really hateful. It was surprising to see it here; I’d hoped that New York’s diversity and tolerance had ameliorated such nastiness. There’s no shortage of street-corner hollering here (usually about Jesus, sometimes about political leaders), but baseless gay-bashing? I just learned that my step-sister likes the ladies, too, so it was strange timing for me.
@PH.Dork: is she a crazy person or just a gay-basher? How did people react to her?
Here in the ‘Burgh people would only sing in the street about the Steelers, I imagine.
I’ve got to think there’s a level of crazy to holler in the streets like that, mm, but primarily a gay-basher. I was in a shop for much of the time, so I couldn’t see her, but there were definitely people looking around like “whaaaa?” That may have been because they, like me, had to take a few moments to decipher what she said, and then take a few more to think “is she really saying what I think she’s saying?”
Was this the woman in question?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0iz1RdjJ8
@Satirius – if this is the woman in question that PhDork and Becky are referring to, I’m gobsmacked..
Just wow (and not in a good way).
If it is the same woman in the plural youtube videos then it seems very likely that she has mental health/communication issues – especially from the “stop following me around” part when there is no-one near her.
Yea, and I don’t think this is an actual pop song or anything, since googling the lyrics seems to bring up nothing *but* this woman.
yvanehtnioj: I think overt homophobia is pretty rampant through the Caribbean, as Imogen said, esp. in dancehall music. I was astonished at the level of homophobia I encountered on vacation in Trinidad. At local bars there were always at least one or two very dressed up/out gay men who were being abused and mocked by the other men. I have no idea why this was always the case: why did the gay men go the abusive bars? How was this kind of assault so tolerated?
Holy cow, Satirius, that is her. Obviously she’s gotten around the city quite a bit.
@Satirius: Yes! That’s her. Wow, there are multiple videos of her on YouTube.
@SkipToMyLou: Just a guess, but perhaps some people just get sick of hiding who they are, or moving only in very small, safe circles to avoid the harassment. Maybe it’s akin to a form of social protest, a way to try to claim their rightful space in a society that doesn’t want to give it to them? As to why that kind of assault is tolerated, if the society is largely saturated by homophobia, it’s not really too surprising that nothing is done about it. Many of the asylum cases my old firm did on a pro bono basis were on behalf of gay and lesbian men and women from a variety of places who felt that their sexuality endangered their lives in their home countries. It’s not that uncommon, unfortunately.
Tall, I was trying to phrase my wonderment in a way that didn’t sound like “hey gay dudes, just stay out of the abusers’ way and you’ll be fine!” or “gay dudes should only hang at their own gay bar” or something. I’m sure it does get old being only in the same places. Perhaps there aren’t even any gay bars in Port of Spain. It doesn’t matter really *why* they were there, just that when they were, they were abused.I never stayed at these places long. It was very, very discomforting.
holy jesus. quite apart from how fucking ANNOYING it would be to hear someone chanting that on the subway… i just. i can’t believe it. it never ceases to horrify me that people are so full of hate, even though i see it every day.
of course i can’t believe the youtube comments either. for example: “lol love this lady, I agree with her! hate how things are becoming…more accepting of gays, they deserve no rights. how can u explain them to ur kids?? when its fucking wrong. gays are making it harder to raise decents kids nowadays.” what the hell?
the hate and ignorance is just… wow. i guess youtube has become the most wretched hive of scum and villainy on the internet, though, so i shouldn’t really be surprised.
Jeeze. This just makes me all the more nervous of coming out to my dad and step-mom (who is Jamaican, albeit she has been here for about 15 years).
So this woman would be happy with people coming up to her and singing their favorite racist ditty, right?
Does anyone else feel sympathy for the woman? She’s an individual obviously spending a lot of time out in the street and on the subway, on her own, and as I said upthread, pretty clearly with mental health issues. I’m not sure that reacting with ‘what a horrid homophobe going around shouting abuse in public’ is the most useful, or constructive, response.
To me this more prompts thoughts of the higher percentage of mental health problems for Black people than it does of homophobic Jamaica. Perhaps because I’m used to homophobic abuse and somewhat inured to it!
I agree with you, eleanargh. She certainly seems to need some sort of therapy and/or medication. I don’t think that directing outrage toward her is a meaningful or useful endeavor.
That said, what does gross me out is the hate in the comments on YouTube. Do these commenters not notice that she is not 100% there? That they are choosing a less-than-sound woman as their spokesperson? It is just sad that they are willing to grasp at practically every straw waved in front of them. “See, even the crazy lady on my corner understands the problem with teh gayz!” Flawless logic!
@eleanargh: You’re right, of course, although I have a harder time finding sympathy for someone mentally ill who’s engaging in hate speech. Because yes, while she might be sick, hate speech is upsetting to those around her.
There’s a guy at the Madison/53rd St. station in Manhattan who rants constantly about women (women are liars, bitches, claim they were raped but just trying to put a man in jail, ugly, smelly, etc). and while I know he’s mentally ill and just ranting, it gets my blood pressure up every time I am forced to listen to him, which is at least a couple times a week. Maybe I should be a more empathetic person…but it’s hard when the hate’s being flung at you.
I tend to agree with eleanargh; this woman appears to have a severe mental illness, possibly paranoid schizophrenia, though I’m not an expert. If that is the case, we should consider the possibility that she simply can’t control her behavior. Yes, she was probably homophobic before she was sick, but there is a certain ableism inherent in wishing she would just shut up and get over it.
I agreed with eleanargh, and I completely agree with Brennan. There is enough to be legitimately enraged about without getting lathered up over the rantings of the severely mentally ill. I think my energy is better focused on changing the thoughts and behaviors of those who can control them.
Okay, I hear y’all. But to be fair, I didn’t attack the woman herself, just the poison she was spreading. Granted, I shouldn’t have used “crazy” so flippantly, that was ableist and shitty of me, but from my exposure to her–on my street–she was yelling abuse, and her mental health was not in question (as I said, people yell a lot on the street corners in my neighborhood, and not because they’re ill).
It’s entirely possible that she can’t help herself, and that’s really terrible. That she hasn’t or can’t get help is more terrible. But I can’t go so far as so say “oh well that’s okay then.” Maybe she can’t be held accountable for her words and actions, but those words and actions are still vile.