Like many of us, I have been living with what I call "peach hate" most of my life. It is out there--all around and often quite silent. And it is not every peach person, mind you. Of course not. It may even be limited to a significant minority of peach folks. But it is enough to be felt.
See here.
Peach people I have spoken with about this all know the scene--that uncomfortable silence when the monkey jokes begin, but nobody intervenes to stop them--they just shake their heads and return to their desks feeling embarrassment and disgust. Or, at the very least, disappointment toward their friend for saying something so vulgar out loud. It is a very strong peer pressure thing when everyone around is a lighter shade of peach. When peach hate rears its familiar head, well, the song remains the same as Led Zeppelin astutely pointed out years ago.
I really want that song to change, man. It is going to have to start with all young folks, including all shades of peach and brown, and that is what makes this story sad for lack of a better term. It is just so sad that this is where the conversation goes as often as it does, especially in as diverse a region as this one, and especially in 2014 as gay marriage becomes accepted and potheads are finally normalized.
So youth, what's up with the sustained hate?
This post is coming to you from Westchester County, New York--a rather diverse county in many ways, but a weird one, too. Westchester County is home to lots of wealth--think Scarsdale, Bronxville, and Rye. But Westchester County is also home to a surprising array of successful folks who were not raised in Rye. For example: Actors, artists, and entertainers from places like Yonkers and Mount Vernon--think Denzel Washington, Dick Clark (believe it or not, he is a total Mount Vernon native), Heavy D, Diddy, Jon Voigt (he is a dick, but he was born in Yonkers), and Steven Tyler (moved to Yonkers at age 12) to name just a few of the more recognizable ones. Places like Peekskill and Yonkers tend to be heavily brown, while places like Mahopac and Katonah tend to house significantly peacher demographics. And there is plenty of mixing in between.
As the linked article above demonstrates, yet another example of sustained peach hate has arisen. I want to share this with you because it is such a bummer to see this in 2014--especially since it comes from our youth! The Mahopac High School basketball team and the Mount Vernon one had some issues the other day. Sure enough, the hate came flying out when the largely peach side lost, even though the Mahopac High School basketball coach is brown.
How the confederate flag became relevant to a Westchester County basketball game is simply beyond me, especially up in these parts. I mean, the New York Yankees reside in the Bronx for goodness sake, and the Bronx border touches Mount Vernon's. They are called the "Yankees" for a reason, and it is not out of loyalty to the confederate flag.
So a few Mahopac kids (three were suspended for their racist tweets, and none, thankfully, were basketball players) somehow think flying the confederate flag on Facebook is a good way to respond to a basketball game loss when the other team is primarily comprised of brown players.
Saying things about "monkeys" and being able to talk to "our fathers" (a jab at single mothers in Mount Vernon) is mean spirited, to be sure, but what is worse is that this is the default mode for these young peach folks when they get mad, despite it being 2014. I have seen this before. If all else fails, the thinking goes, peach superiority still prevails.
The only way to end this is to reset our default social views. Young people understand changing default settings in a very concrete way thanks to the digital age. That needs to happen, so let's help them find the correct "F" key. And to the young folks out there who are on the fence regarding whether to go full racist, regardless of your shade, please realize now, while you are young and growing: HATE IS NOT NUTRITIOUS.