DEAR WHITE FOLKS: You Don't Know How Easy You Have It (Über hurl warning)

Ebony Magazine ^ | April 6, 2012 | Professor David J. Leonard

[2ndDivisionVet]

David Leonard has spent years fighting racism and White privilege--and he's ready for his Caucasian brethren to get on board and see just how wrong things still are in this country.

Dear White folks:

Between the racist comments, the constant use of the race denial card (this country's most frequently used "race card") and the absurd claims of White victimhood, you have really grated my last nerve.

Sure, we got teary during The Blind Side and Antoine Fisher; we maybe even gave money to KONY2012 and after Hurricane Katrina; we maybe even donned a hoodie to protest the murder of Trayvon Martin. I don’t even doubt there are individuals out there who are genuinely concerned about racism and injustice; I don’t doubt that there are many Whites that marched with Dr. King and whose “best friends” might be Black. None of this matters if African Americans continue to die at the hands of guns held by security guards and police officers all without justice.

I have heard that “we are all Trayvon Martin” over the last few weeks, yet we are not Trayvon Martin – and we never could be. White America is never suspicious. White America can walk to the store without fear of being hunted down. White America can count on justice and a nation grieving at the loss of White life. We aren't Trayvon Martin, we are George Zimmerman: presumed innocent until proven innocent.

I want you to close your eyes for a second, and imagine that your son or daughter, sister or brother, granddaughter or grandson, ventured to the corner store for some Skittles and tea but never returned? Can you imagine if Peter or Jan were gunned down right around the corner from your house and the police didn’t notify you right away? Can you imagine if little Sydney or Bobby sat in the morgue for days as you searched to find out what happened them? Can you even imagine the police letting the perpetrator go or the news media remaining silent? Can you even fathom learning about background and drug tests on your child? Can you imagine the news media demonizing your child, blaming your child for his own death?

Can you imagine the outcry if seven White youths had been gunned down by police and security guards in a matter of months? Can you imagine the extensive political interest, the media stories that would saturate the airwaves? Can you imagine Fox News or any number of newspapers reporting about a school suspension for one of the victims or doctoring pictures in an attempt to make these victims less sympathetic? Can you imagine a person holding up a sign calling these victims “thugs” and “hoodlums.”Just think about the media frenzy, the concern from politicians, and the national horror every time a school shooting happens in Suburbia or every time a White woman goes missing...can you imagine if women routinely went missing from your community and the news and police department simply couldn't be bothered?

No, you can't. And you don't have to.

Yet, from Florida to Los Angeles, from Atlanta to Wisconsin, from Chicago to Ohio, Black families are burying the innocent and the future. Doesn’t that make you sad; doesn’t that make your angry? Our silence is telling. We can barely say their names much less acknowledge the epidemic in our midst: Stephon Watts. Trayvon Martin. Ramarley Graham. Wendell Allen. Dante Price. Bo Morrison. Rekia Boyd. Kendrec McDade.

All have lost their lives; and we don’t even say their names. All have died under similarly disturbing circumstances. All should have prompted national outrage and action; or at the least for us to say their names.

I don’t care if you cried during The Help and if the 'feel good' movie of the year featuring chicken-frying maids and affluent White women made you feel all post-racial tingly on the inside. Did you cry at the report of yet another lost Black life? If so, what have those tears done – have they led you to join a rally, to demand justice? I don’t care if you voted for President Obama; have you demanded dramatic changes to our criminal (in)justice system? It is time for us to check ourselves, to listen and demand a better America starting with ourselves. It is time to stop denying racism and defending White privilege, distracting and deflecting with “what ifs” and excuses. It is time to demand justice for the Trayvons and the Rekias, not because it could have been one of our sons and daughters--it couldn't--but because it is simply the right thing to do.

Sincerely

A member of White America

[okie01]

David J. Leonard obviously has nothing but pity for black people. And nothing but contempt for "white folks"", like himself.

And he respects nobody. Not even himself.

A pretty pathetic man, when you get right down to it.

[kcvl]

master’s and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, he has dedicated his career to interdisciplinary scholarship, transformative teaching, and research that underscores the continued significance of race within popular culture, the structures of politics, and society at large

******

In other words, he is a worthless piece of crap...

[Alt Right]

Yet, from Florida to Los Angeles, from Atlanta to Wisconsin, from Chicago to Ohio, Black families are burying the innocent and the future. Doesn’t that make you sad; doesn’t that make your angry? Our silence is telling.

It is sad. They're all killing each other. The silence from Jesse Sharpton is telling.

[unkus]

I have to drive by a “Cracker Barrel” ad sign every day. How do you think that makes me feel?

---

Makes me hungry.

No white guilt here.

[JohnKinAK]

the good professor's web page

[Vigilanteman]

Out here in real America, I stand behind people in the checkout line who buy food I cannot afford with an EBT card and drive away in a car I cannot afford either. No EBT card for me, but I’ve got to pay for theirs. Why is that?

[Vendome]

Dear unimportant author of this article:
The only people who care about race are those people who look at themselves in mirror, while shaving, and declare they need an advantage based on race alone and constantly view themselves as victims.

Take your Title IX mentality and pound sand.

We decide on our relationships based on mutual interests and likability.

Your stoopit race doesn’t really factor into our decision to be a friend, hire you or do business with you.

[yarddog]

He is lying and he knows he is lying.

He keeps playing the race card because it keeps getting him stuff.

I sometimes wonder if Blacks can ever play the race card too much. It doesn’t appear they can.

There is one good thing about this whole affair.

I had gotten very complacent about being wary of attack. I just changed my car gun from a CZ-52 and one spare mag to a Browning Hi-Power and two spare mags.

I am also more vigilant tho living in a rural area, the Blacks are not quite as likely to attack you.

[I see my hands]

To: Professor DJL

"I want you to close your eyes for a second, and imagine that your son or daughter, sister or brother, granddaughter or grandson, ventured to the corner store for some Skittles and tea but never returned?"

Should I imagine my son or daughter, sister or brother, granddaughter or grandson was pounding someones skull on concrete pavement too?

PS: Why is there a question mark at the end of your suggestion?

[WilliamofCarmichael]

White America can walk to the store without fear of being hunted down.

Wow! This guy says that whites should try to imagine that our kids, et al are being killed .. is he nuts? Imagine? We do not have to imagine!

The author is an employee of a university and he is not aware of the crime stats of black-on-white violence?

Talk about logomachy.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/logomachy

lo·gom·a·chy   [loh-gom-uh-kee]
noun, plural -chies.
1. a dispute about or concerning words.
2. an argument or debate marked by the reckless or incorrect use of words; meaningless battle of words.
3. a game played with cards, each bearing one letter, with which words are formed.

The guy sounds like Barack Logoma whose statements are all marked by the reckless or incorrect use of words.

[cdcdawg]

If you think Professor Leonard is an idiot, I really don’t recommend the comments section on that site. Wow.

[Mortrey]

Professor David J. Leonard —”Professor”...major clue; INDOCTRINATED, probable Communist, Bath-House Barry voter.

Hey Prof...what are your thoughts on the Christian/Newsom mutilation?
Or, the Bob and Nancy Strait murder?

“An 85-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and battered to death by a home invader who also shot her 90-year-old husband in the face with a BB gun.

Nancy and Bob Strait, who had celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in December, were discovered by their daughter at their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Both the pensioners were rushed to hospital where Mrs Strait, who was nearly blind, died from her injuries.”

Screw you, “professor”. You’re an obamabot. A “useful idiot”.

[Frank_2001]

“David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman.”

There’s one reason college is so friggin’ expensive-this schnook has to be paid and his “academic” department funded...multiply this example by thousands, across the nation....

[crazydad]

Please one congressmen have a hearing and have boards with all the whites killed by Blacks and the statistics on Black on white crime and make a show of it. The kid in Kansas City who was burnt. Or the couple killed and burnt. Or the guy in Baltimore or the guy near Sanford beaten with a hammer? Need I keep naming more and more. Wish one Congressmen had the balls to do it. Certain things are more important then getting elected again. IMHO And this guy is a freaking biaaatch!

[ConorMacNessa]

Unlike my parents, who grew up in the Great Depression, I had it easy as a child - they had punishingly hard childhoods. By virtue of their hard work, I had an easy childhood in the 1950's and early 60's. They had it easier in their later years - I've been working solid for fifty years and have nothing to show for it but a few possessions - my house - no pension - and the will to go forward. I'm 64 years old and I can't retire anytime in the foreseeable future - still have three children at home. Get a small disability pension from the VA, it helps make the mortgage payment and keep the wolf from the door, but that's it. And if you think that makes me some kind of taker - I paid for it with my blood on the field of battle.

Do I expect a government agency to emerge from the clouds like some Deus ex Machina and take care of me? Hell no! I'm still kicking and as long as I am, I'll make my own way through life. Take my lumps and I'm damn proud of them.

These creatures of entitlement need to have their grip wrested from our economy and future before it's too late. We need to take back the Nation for those who have built it and fought for it! That's my say, and I stand by it.



Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[CodeToad]

If blacks have it bad then they are doing it to themselves by voting Democrat, acting liberal, abd being stupid. Whites don't have it easy, we just try not to make it any harder for ourselves.

[wac3rd]

http://libarts.wsu.edu/ccgrs/faculty/leonard.asp

He’s from Berkeley, PhD in hating himself.

[cherry]

gees..not WSU...too close for comfort...

WSU is located in a very white area, among wheatfields and its surprising that this idiot makes his living there, among the great unwashed....

poor guy though...works so hard he doesn't read...doesn't know that black men are responsible for killing off their own kind and attacking whites at an extremely high rate...that whites rarely attack blacks....

maybe he didn't read about the 13 yro set afire for being "white" by two black guys...or the beatings recently of a single white guy by several of the tribal members?....poor tough life to be a professor and not get to read the real news...

Mr.Professor has no worries ...the crime rate in Pullman is very low, there are no flash mobs of black yutes attacking gas stations, or black motorcycle gangs stabbing white people....

no he is perfectly safe there....

so I invite him to really enliven his life and move to downtown Philly....teach at temple during the evening hours....go ahead....make my day...

[umgud]

Can you imagine the outcry if seven White youths had been gunned down by police and security guards in a matter of months?

When I was young, I had a father, and he esplained to me certain risky behaviors that I probably should avoid so as not to have a misunderstanding that resulted in my getting my ass shot.

[Alt Right]

I have never had it easy. I don’t know what the hell they are talking about.

It's the arrogant mindset of a White limousine liberal to assume we've all lived privileged patrician lives for which we have to purge ourselves. Actually, if you grew up poor and from the South like me, you don't count anyway. You're automatically a dumb racist clinging bitterly to your guns and religion.