Update on this post.

Yesterday I posted an image that showed my husband, Sam being compared to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by his coworker on the Cheezburger website. His coworker had posted the link to Sam’s FB wall and that’s how we were made aware of this “joke.”

I posted the screencap of Sam’s FB wall to vent my frustration, anger and rage about the situation. I did not see any humor in this. I still don’t. Sam’s coworker, who he considered a workplace friend, asked him for a picture. At the time, the request seemed innocuous, and Sam and his coworker had always gotten along and interacted in a friendly and positive manner.

The posting of this photo, on the internet, and in the manner in which it was posted, alongside Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a hugely trafficked internet website is completely and utterly unacceptable. It is a violation of Sam’s privacy, his right to be free from harassment in his workplace, and his right to not be compared to an evil megalomaniac because he has a beard and brown skin. The person who posted it has no excuse. He is 27 years old. He is a college graduate. He should know better. However, all that he shown to me is that he is at best, an idiot, and at worst, a racist.

Sam had to go to work yesterday afternoon. At the time, this incident was very fresh, and he had not yet processed what he was going to do about it. Sam was worried that by complaining about the post to his HR department, he would cause someone to lose his job in this economy. He was also worried that his fellow coworkers would not understand “what the big deal” was. He was afraid that they would think he was overreacting. Sam gave more fucks about this guy’s situation than this guy deserves.

By the time Sam got to work, many more of our friends had posted responses on the FB link and the person who posted it came over to speak to him. He said, “I am sorry, dude. I didn’t think people were going to react that way." Nice fucking apology asshole. More people responded through the night, and by 11PM, the offensive FB post had been deleted by the original poster. However, the original post remains on the Cheezburger website. This is fucking unacceptable.

As of right now, Sam is still deciding what he will do. I have screencapped everything with all names visible in the event that we need them. If it were up to me, Sam’s coworker would be fucking fired.

I finish with this: I do not understand what it feels like to be a minority/have non-white skin in this country. I do not. I never will. I have a slight inkling of what it might be like because Sam is an Indian Sikh. I have watched him handle casual, overt and scary racism with dignity for the last 7 years. He has been called a terrorist more times than I can count. We have had bottles thrown at us while the throwers screamed “Al Qaeda.” Skinheads have menaced us and called me an inferior white woman. When we fly somewhere I take all of his carry-on items in my bag and he walks through in a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, and is still selected for a search 9 times out of 10. I have never been searched. People have refused open seats next to him on a crowded T train during rush hour. Just being with him has informed me of my privilege more than any article I could ever read on the internet. This latest incident has only served as a reminder of the fact that these incidents will not cease. They might be less scary in the sense that we aren’t being physically threatened, but this situation feels like more of a violation because it is on the internet, and it can’t be erased.

9:18 am • 23 October 2011 • 72 notes