Another Reason Not to Go Holiday Shopping?

In the midst of a new season of holiday shopping madness that often includes parking lot brawls, screaming children avoiding Santa’s lap, and the occasional sucker punch between old ladies vying for the same offensive sweater on sale, I receive this bit of holiday cheer in my personal e-mail box. It was forwarded to me by someone I went to graduate school with in Chicago some years ago. I hear from her rarely, but unfortunately when I do it is with some kind of warning or angel blessing. It is disappointing because I do admire her typically – she is intelligent and funny in person; not to mention brave enough to participate in real no-holds-barred discussions on class and race in what is often a very PC world.

However, given this recent correspondence, I am now left to try and figure out how to respond to this e-mail. I do think it warrants some sort of response just given its absurdity. This absurdity has nothing to do with whether such claims could possibly even be true, but rather it has to do with why such messages are even being circulated in the first place. Such messages make me stop and wonder how and why race is still used as a catalyst to instigate fear and perpetuate further misunderstanding between people.

This message is especially funny to me because while I am female, I am not black. And while I am not in a gang, I am half Mexican. So not sure what she was thinking when she selected my name in her e-mail address book. But since I am not one to get particularly bent out of shape for such a social faux pas, I can just read this and laugh at the multi-level ignorance of it.

The e-mail reads like this (presented here with all of its warts of grammatical and spelling errors):

TO ANYONE WHO SHOPS WAL-MART or TARGET
There is a new gang out called The MG. They are a Mexican gang. They go to Target and Wal-Mart to look for black females, young or old They get into the gang by killing a black female They are currently in Arundel County, Prince George & Washington D.C.

There is no telling when they will be in this area Therefore, please be aware of your surroundings when going to these locations Whenever possible take a male or another female with you

This gang is dangerous, they do not hold out, they will not hesitate to take your life or the life of your loved ones

PASS THIS ON TO ALL BLACK FEMALES (AND MALES) THIS IS NOT A GAME - PLEASE BE CAREFUL

On to the holiday season!