re: #429 Learned Mother of Zion

Books tend to get published by people who have connections in the book-publishing industry. Poor people who have written books (in their spare time when they’re not working their 3 jobs) can’t find a literary agent who will give them the time of day.

I think it kind of sucks when somebody who is not a member of a certain class, pretends to be one and then claims to speak in the name of that class.

Yes, but a person not of that class knows what is different. If the only color you really know is green, you might not notice what things shouldn’t be green.

In other words, I know what it is like to walk in to a department store as a white person, and I get treated as a white person. If I were to (and I’m not contemplating this) put on makeup and go in as a Latina, I could tell you how Latinas are treated differently, and how they are not treated differently. Is one watched more? Is one offered more help? Is one steered towards these items, and the other is steered towards those items? Are we both sprayed down with perfume we don’t actually want?

For example, if you rent a car, they will try to sell you lots of add-ons regardless of your color. There may be some other sales situation in which they do or don’t offer items based on color. You’d need to send in two people of different races to know.