Why I Don't Talk About Race With White People

Bob I edit myself allatime, oft to no avail, while confusion reigns 'cause I'm too lazy to use the edit facility, get a half-dozen responses 'for I'm done

BOBSAL! This is actually kind of good. Very thoughtful. I do not agree with what you were saying, but i do see that you put some thought into what you are saying.

Here is my perspective.

Lets start with the actual definition of racism, which is

"the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior." That is what racism is. I don't understand why this is so confusing.

That does not mean you have to be oppressed in order to be a victim of racism. The actual definition does not include anything about oppression, so to answer your statement "Or even worse, we’re told that we are being racist. (Does any intelligent person actually believe a systematically oppressed demographic has the ability to oppress those in power?)" No, they just think you are being a racist. You can be a racist without oppressing anyone, you just have to have the belief that your race is superior, or that all members of a race possess characteristics specific to that race. "When I was younger, I thought it was because all white people are racist." . This statement would make you a racist, at least where younger. You were making the assumption that all members of a race possessed characteristics specific to that race, or white people are racist.

Now, that being said the same works with the way that you talk about black people thinking in terms of black people. THIS is racist. The idea that black people thinking in terms of black people is assuming that all black people are thinking the same way, which is making the assumption that all members of a race possess a characteristic specific to that race.

The reason I have disgust towards this type of thinking is it removes accountability. I am one of those people who does think as an individual and look at people as individuals. That is exactly what we are. It isn't that racism doesn't exist, or that I don't see it. It is that I am not racist, and it is not my problem. I do not see why I have to share the accountability for peoples actions or thoughts because I share their skin color.

The reason you are getting frustrated with your talks with other people is that you use terms like black and white as if everybody was linked and connected in some way by the color of their skin. This is simply not true, and it is the mentality that actually encourages racism.

Your complaint with an oppressive system or black people not being in movies is also false. The political system is all inclusive, there are black people in our police force, our white house, and in every job in the US, and in movies. Just because one movie doesn't have a black guy in the role you think a black guy should be in, doesn't mean hollywood is racist.

I don't complain that Morgan Freeman gets a role in a movie, or that Eddie Murphy got to play multiple roles in the same movie as a black, or that the president was black, or that a black officer gave me a ticket. I just accept that those were the best people for those roles and move on with life. I think that a lot of people have that mentality, and I don't think it is "racist" or "white", I just see that as a sane mentality to have.

It's all about perspective. I saw you were using big words that you don't understand and then redefining English to try to make yourself sound intelligent. I think that was stupid. I was simply explaining to you what the term racism actually means in the English language, and why you are a racist. You seemed confused why people would think that about you.

I don't mind explaining the definition of big words like "racism" or "oppression" to you but please do not call me stupid when I do.

It's like trying to teach a child 2+2+4 and then having them make funny faces at you.

I understand you also use fancy words to try to sound smart. No. You don't have to explain any words. I know how to use a dictionary. You two should try it sometime before spitting out words like racist, and oppression.

In the dictionary, Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior, ergo believing that all white people possess a characteristic such as being racist, is indeed racist.

Sadly you don't. I don't need 'fancy' words, I don't use 'fancy words' I use the vocabulary I was blessed with during my childhood and the nuns of the order of notre dame da Namur.

Let me explain something else to you kiddo, I'm much younger than Dtrump, and I remember racist signs, I recognize dog whistles when I hear them, you junior are flailing against much brighter and more experienced individuals, please excuse us while we chuckle "Hahahahahahahh, hahahahahahahahah ah oh crap ha hahahahahahahahah, sweet mother of god, doesn't anybody read any more, ahahahahahahahaha, I shouldn't be too happy, who are these dumb shits acting as if they can reason?????

I guess that's about it. Well unless you print something else so profoundly dumb, another member might choose to respond. If you respond in the same ridiculous fashion, as you have so far, we will make you a paragon of foolishness. It won't sting too much, unless you check your dictionary to figure out what it means to be a fool. You won't, you haven't ever referred to a dictionary, because it all old and arcane stuff for you boyo-sap.

And yet you go out of your way to demonstrate how PoC and Muslims are different from everybody else. How does that not make one a racist?

The little bugger wants to shut this thread down because he can't keep up! He's trying to troll you!

When i was educated, 2+2+4 makes eight. I suspect bright boy there won't even understand what that refers to.

Maybe English is not his native language.

White Supremacist America: Trump and the “Return” of Right-Wing Hate Culture

September 16, 2016
by Anthony DiMaggio

Many of my friends from college and fellow academics in the last year are focusing their anxieties on the Donald Trump campaign. A common frustration voiced among intellectuals is the disbelief that a candidate as bigoted, pig-headed, and willfully ignorant as “the Donald” could be running neck and neck with a seasoned political veteran like Hillary Clinton. This piece is not about Hillary Clinton, however. Rather, it’s about promoting a much needed discussion of what Trump’s rise really tells us. I don’t believe we have a “Donald Trump” problem in this country. The problem is much worse than that. More ominously, we have an American public problem that cuts to the very core of the quality of our democracy. Demagogues rise to power on the backs of workers, citizens, and your average “Joe” or “Jane.” They do not owe their success to their actions alone.

If Donald Trump is enjoying electoral success, it’s because the public – passively or actively – allowed it to happen. While Pew Research Center surveys do find considerable ignorance among Trump supporters – the most commonly cited reasons for supporting him have nothing to do with policy, but everything to do with personality characteristics – this trend was observed across all the front-runners, including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Ted Cruz supporters. What makes Trump’s case more disturbing than the norm of across-the-board voter ignorance is that such a large contingent of Americans know full-well about his bigotry, and embrace it. The ascendance of Donald Trump tells us much about the quality of American character – particularly about our enduring and toxic legacy of hate, ignorance, bigotry, and white-supremacy.

Hillary Clinton caught a lot of flak for referring to half of Trump Supporters as “the deplorables.” She was being far too generous. Public opinion surveys over the last year or so suggest that the white supremacist contingent of Trump voters is even larger. When I say white supremacist, I’m not referring to the old-style, KKK, white robe donning and lynchings of America’s past. Rather, the contemporary form of white supremacy is more of a “hate-lite” – if such a thing exists – in terms of its supporters embracing horrible, racist stereotypes, while claiming to reject racism. Call this “color-blind” racism, dog whistle racism, coded racism – or whatever you like, but it’s clear that white supremacy never disappeared from America’s political culture.

Consider recent surveys, if you want to ascertain the size of the problem. Polls of Trump supporters and Republicans more generally from 2015 and 2016 find clear and indisputable evidence of racism and prejudice against non-white, non-Christian Americans. I review these findings below.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/16/white-supremacist-america-trump-and-the-return-of-right-wing-hate-culture/

To The Man Who Accosted Me For Wearing A Black Lives Matter Shirt

This issue is bigger than a t-shirt.
07/18/2016 11:03 am ET | Updated Jul 18, 2016
1.7k

Chelsey Engel Writer, advocate, superhero

There are a lot of things I expect to happen when I walk through an airport: hearing babies cry, having my toe run over by a rolling suitcase, paying $7 for a bottle of water…

One thing I do not expect is to be harassed.

While heading to my gate yesterday in the St. Louis airport, I was accosted by an old white man who was staring at my Black Lives Matter shirt. He stopped me and asked me in a condescending fashion if I had heard about the horrific shooting of three police officers in Baton Rouge earlier that day, and I responded solemnly that I indeed had heard.

The man then pointed at my chest and said firmly, “I don’t like your shirt.”

I wanted to very much respond by telling him I didn’t like his shirt either (it was a hideous, Hawaiian-print bowling shirt), but instead I simply stated, “That is your opinion.”

As I walked away, I couldn’t help feeling enraged.

I was particularly upset because I had just spent three beautiful days with a swarm of beautiful activists in beautiful St. Louis, where around 1,000 progressive organizers and communicators gathered to brainstorm, to inspire, and to educate at a conference called Netroots Nation.

I never go up to a priest wearing his clerical collar and tell him I don’t like it and assume he is a child molester.

Many of those who attended the three-day event were members of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Their presence was humbling and enlightening. During their panel sessions and workshops, the message was clear: The killing of innocent people is unacceptable and it is criminal.

I’ve heard from far too many of my (unfortunately) fellow white people say that they believe BLM is a racist movement. I usually cannot respond with anything other than laughter.

You’re telling me that by demanding equality of the races and by promoting accountability within law enforcement and by condemning the killing of innocent people, including unarmed black men as well as police officers, BLM activists are committing and endorsing racism?

(And last time I checked, we’ve got a racist movement here in the United States called the KKK. You can Google it if you’re unfamiliar.)

Perhaps this issue cuts a little too close to the bone for me because although I am not a person of color, I am queer. My community was told for years that by us demanding marriage equality, we were asking for “special rights” as if we, in all of our infinite queerness, were attempting to overrun or erase their straightness.

I can be proud to be gay and recognize the discrimination that comes along with that while also respecting straight people around me and realizing that far-right homophobic “Christians” do not represent the whole of Christianity.

I never go up to a person wearing a cross necklace and tell them I don’t like it and assume they are bigoted and want me to go to hell. I never go up to a priest wearing his clerical collar and tell him I don’t like it and assume he is a child molester.

Just like anti-BLM folks say not all cops are bad and we shouldn’t paint all of them with a murderous brush (I totally agree), these people, like the man accosting me at the airport, need to realize the same truth applies to cop killers like Gavin Long.

They do not in any way represent the cause of Black Lives Matter. They speak for no one.

How dare you actually think that a group of people who have to fight to live every day would seriously condone the killing of cops?

The murder of a police officer is a disgusting criminal offense. End of story. No questions asked.

The murder of a black man with his empty hands in the air is also a disgusting criminal offense. End of story. No questions asked.

You see what I did there? You see how I can recognize two travesties at the same time?

So when I wear a t-shirt announcing my support of a community that has been marginalized for decades, how dare you jump to the false conclusion that I and my fellow BLM activists are disrespectful of police? How dare you actually think that a group of people who have to fight to live every day would seriously condone the killing of cops?

The truth is, the little bit of discomfort and anger I experienced during this airport encounter is absolutely nothing compared to what people of color go through every single day.

This issue is bigger than a t-shirt. So educate yourself. Have real conversations with people who look different from you.

Hug a cop. Hug a person of color. Do something.

But do not criticize my fashion choices. And do not criticize a movement you know nothing about.
Also on HuffPost

Oh get over yourself. The only actual reasoning I have seen either you or bobsal do is "your dumb" or a cut and copy article. If someone disagrees with you you just call them an idiot. How is that reasoning? You don't even make valid points, at all. You don't even make points period.

The following is what the movement is all about, it is not about killing cops or just being obnoxious, but is about tying to change certain types of cops thinking they have to the right to murder because they wear a badge.

Video shows Tulsa man had hands up before police shooting



I already know the replies and how this is going to go down. It is so depressing but it must be devastating to be a black man in the US right now.

We've got our own problems, fortunately our police aren't routinely armed but stuff like this still happens.





http://news.sky.com/story/investigation-after-cop-was-filmed-smashing-car-windscreen-10583003

Bob I'm impressed by your ability and determination

Stop me if I'm being repetitious but I was disappointed not to find a profile while I'm sure some of us--very few evidently-- would like to learn about you, esp what drew you to a2k

Bobsal is an early a2k person, many years. If he wanted to make a profile statement, he would have.

You are being a pest.

The officer acted properly. The offender was resisting the police officer and his responsible for his own death. Regardless the fact that he had his hands up he was still not complying with the officers commands and was attempting to reach into his vehicle. Regardless if no weapon was found the police officer is not required to be clairvoyant and has the right to go home alive at the end of her shift.

Your characterization of murder is bullshit.

Either this guy was retarded or it was suicide by cop... Either way the cop is not responsible for his death.

How you can fail to see, time and time again, how this likely would have ended differently if he were a white man is beyond my ability to understand.

Do you really think, despite studies going back decades, that simply having black skin doesn't put you in a more life-threatening situation if you're confronted by a police officer? Or that simply having black skin doesn't make you more likely to be pulled over by a cop.

Do you think having black skin makes you more likely to be a criminal?

The fact of the matter is police shoot more white people by far than black people. The only difference is the media and the race-baiters do not focus on those shootings.

I've said it before and I'll say it again if you do not want to be shot by a police officer I don't care what color your skin is... Comply with the officers commands and if the officer is wrong you will live to sue the police department and win the lotto that will be that settlement.