Posted on 07/22/2013 6:08:33 AM PDT by shortstop
The president told us on Friday what its like to be black in America.
A couple of days before that, his attorney general said that America needs to be honest about race. Since then, any number of prominent black people have said we need to have a national discussion about race.
So lets.
Lets have a discussion about race.
Not a one-sided harangue, but a two-way discussion. Lets move beyond the politically correct Whites are racists, blacks are victims and actually talk things out.
You do that by hearing both sides.
Toward that end, in the spirit of the presidents remarks, Id like to discuss what its like to be a white man in America. And Id like to be held to the same standard as the president. His remarks were personal impressions based on generalizations, traditions, culture and folklore.
He was called brave.
Ill be called racist.Thats because our system is based on a double standard. Black criticisms of white society are insightful; white criticisms of black society are bigotry.
White people know that if they say anything that doesnt exactly toe the line of political correctness, they run the risk of losing their jobs and their public reputations. We live in a society where the accusation of racism is evidence enough; to be accused is to be guilty.
Thats what we white people think.
We also think that we pay the bills. We think that we disproportionately pay the taxes and that black people disproportionately collect the welfare. We feel like we are being ripped off and that this uneven shouldering of the burden will eventually bankrupt and kill our country.
I work in a building that houses a Social Security office. One elevator serves that office specifically. It is stunning to note the demographic difference between the elevators. Overwhelmingly, white people go up one set of elevators to work, and black people go up the other set of elevators to apply for SSI.
Young, healthy people.
All day long.
The culture of many white Americans is one of hard work and self-reliance. Our heritage teaches us that work is ennobling, and our religion teaches us that by the sweat of our brow we should eat our bread.
And we feel like we are being robbed by a socially dysfunctional urban black America where out-of-wedlock birth, educational failure, criminal conduct and other irresponsibility perversely entitle people to money we earned to support our families.We believe that races are equal, but cultures are not, and that a woefully failed black urban culture is cancerously destroying lives and communities. And we feel like we have to both foot the bill to support it and fight it, and watch out for spillover that might threaten us.
White people also believe black America has a predatory crime problem that creates a real danger for all of us.
We believe that because it happens to be an undeniable truth. Blacks are disproportionately involved in crime, and while some blacks believe thats because of a racist criminal justice system, most whites believe its because blacks are more likely to commit crime.
We all pretend not to notice the race of the mug shots on the evening news, but were only pretending. We notice, and we dont forget. We dont believe the criminal justice system is victimizing inmates, we believe the criminal justice system is protecting us from inmates. We believe people in prison deserve to be there they did the crime, they do the time.
Black violence much of it directed against other blacks has over the years since 9-11 racked up a higher body count than the war on terrorism.
White people think that is a big deal.
If black people are complaining about Stand Your Ground laws of self-defense, white people are saying that you dont have to worry about it if you dont attack anybody. The cry against Stand Your Ground is a cry in defense of people who are violently assaulting other people. Black people are disproportionately injured in all types of self-defense situations because black people are disproportionately involved in attacking other people, and pushing those people into self-defense. Thats not a problem with the law, thats a problem with peoples conduct.
White people also believe that we are disadvantaged in the workplace. We believe that quotas and diversity programs discriminate against us in hiring and promotion. This is truest in the government and corporate workplaces.
Its true for the white male hoping to get hired on the police or fire department, and its true for the mid-career white person passed over for less-qualified minority employees.
Many white people are bothered by the social conduct of some black people. Often there is a loud, obnoxious and profane behavior, and a crude sexual harassment of women in public settings.
Black apologists often speak of culture and of the need for whites to understand and respect black culture. The president on Friday said we needed sensitivity training. Many whites would like that to be a two-way street. Wed like a little courtesy extended to our sensitivities, too.
White people believe that black people have a chip on their shoulder about race. And a persecution complex. And an inability sometimes to talk or think about anything else.
We also think that black people get pulled over by the police for the same reasons anyone does for breaking the traffic law and that the cry of racism anytime anyone has contact with the police is a bunch of crud.
These are some of the things white people think.
Of course, my account is just as full of generalizations as the presidents. He made assumptions about the thinking of the very diverse group of Americans who happen to be black, and he made assumptions about the thinking of the very diverse group of Americans who happen to be white. I have done the same. He was undoubtedly part right and part wrong. I am also undoubtedly part right and part wrong.
Do you think some of my observations were hurtful and overbroad? What of the presidents implicit assertions that white women on elevators are racists, and that cops on patrol are racists, and that store employees are racists? Are his claims different or more justified?
The president, to the extent that he understands the subject, told us what its like to be a black man in America.
But what he had was not a conversation, it was a condemnation. And two can play that game.
With all this clamoring in recent days for a conversation, it is understood that what activists and politicians really want is one more denunciation of white America. The conversation is about how racist America is and how unfair it is to blacks.
And thats simply not true.
And if this is truly a conversation, then I am free to say that.
But Im not.
And thats what it means to be white in America.
While I know you didn't conclude with just the four you named, I could not leave off my number one hero in America today, Clarence Thomas.
“Lets have a discussion about race.
Not a one-sided harangue,”
But “one sided harangue” is their definition of “a discussion about race”
Bungle in the Jungle.
Or say thanks for holding the door, or wave back if you wave them through the intersection, or wave them over when they want to enter your lane...
They call those things “being friendly” and it is a derisive remark, because that’s what “soft white people do”.
Good point.
Most blacks have been taught that they do not fit the definition of “racist” because the core definition says: “A person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others”
Most blacks see themselves as inferior to just about every other race. They blame their condition on everyone (especially whites) except for themselves and use it as an excuse to misbehave. There is zero incentive for them to try to improve their lot except at the individual level - and even that is compromised by leftists.
What they refuse to accept is the secondary definition: Racial intolerance or discrimination especially on the basis of race or religion.
This is what we are seeing every day on the street and in the crime reporter. Superior/inferior considerations aside blacks in huge numbers hate white people and make no bones about it. Far more than the other way around. Whites mostly fear blacks. Leftists pander to them in the hopes that blacks will pick on someone else. Conservatives largely neither hate nor fear them, but their tolerance has limits and we’re not inclined to take any shiite from them..
Leftist leaders, both black and white, exploit the fact that blacks as a collective group are totally dysfunctional. Talk of “black culture” is a joke - it’s an oxymoron. What they left behind in Africa was stone-age savagery. They have been offered the American culture (such as it is) and have generally crapped on it. The lack of grounding leaves them ripe for exploiting and the left knows it.
Imagine if you were to protest going through the screening...
It would Atlanta version of Riverdance on your back...
Agreed. Also note that whites acquiescing and trying to show that we are not racist actually increases black attacks against whites rather than decreasing attacks.
It was after the Civil Rights Act of 1965 passed that Watts, Detroit, Newark, and numerous black urban areas exploded with violence.
It was after New York City elected its first black mayor, David Dinkins, that riots against Jewish and white communities picked-up.
It was after America elected its first black President that black mob attacks against white people became common.
What white America views as extending an olive branch to be fair and show that we're not racist, many in the black community see as a sign of weakness that the white man is losing power and it's now time to enact revenge because the black community finally has the upper hand.
I taught at an inner city school for about a year and a half. Any black kid that dressed decently or did homework, answered questions etc... was severely abused by his black classmates. Many of them kept their average just high enough to be eligible for the basketball or football team.
You won't recognize me. My name was Antonio West and I was the 13-month old child who was shot at point blank range by two African American teens who were attempting to rob my ...mother, who was also shot. A Grand Jury of my mommy's peers from Brunswick GA determined the teens who murdered me will not face the death penalty...too bad I was given a death sentence for being innocent and defenseless.
My family made the mistake of being white in a 73% non-white neighborhood, but my murder was not ruled a Hate Crime. Nor did President Obama take so much as a single moment to acknowledge my murder.
I am one of the youngest murder victims in our great Nation's history, but the media doesn't care to cover the story of my tragic demise, President Obama has no children who could possibly look like me - so he doesn't care and the media doesn't care because my story is not interesting enough to bring them ratings so they can sell commercial time slots.
There is not a white equivalent of Al Sharpton because if there was he would be declared racist, so there is no one rushing to Brunswick GA to demand justice for me. There is no White Panther party to put a bounty on the lives of those who murdered me. Did you hear Jesse Jackson crying out for my Killers? I have no voice, I have no representation and unlike those who shot me in the face while I sat innocently in my stroller - I no longer have my life.
So while you are seeking justice for Trayvon, please remember to seek justice for me too. Tell your friends about me, tell you families, get tee shirts with my face on them and make the world pay attention, just like you did for Trayvon.
The American & world Media only wants stories that will SELL papers and Magazines now is this REVERSE DISCRIMINATION OR WHAT?
I DON'T SEE ERIC HOLDER AND THE JUSTICE DEPT. INVESTIGATING IF MY CIVIL RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED!
I GUESS IF YOUR WHITE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY CIVIL RIGHTS THAT CAN BE VIOLATED??????? WHAT KIND OF JUSTICE DO YOU CALL THIS?
After my murder there was no rioting and demonstrations,and NBC, CBS and ABC didn't run my murder story!
RIP, Little Tony.
I am speechless...
Blacks kill more blacks in a weekend in Chicago than the evil, vile Ku Klux Klan idiots did in 50 years!
The denial of the black race for their crimes against each other is astounding!
Lonsberry has lost jobs twice over perceived political correctness from two very different sources. He know the risk he takes when he tells it as he sees it. Bravo, Bob!
bfl
Yep. I point the commercial thing out to my wife all the time. The white male has been cuckolded on commercials for a long time. Because if you show black people the same way in commercials you is a racis.
And they want justice for 'thugs' and 'thug wannabes'?!?!
If you are 55 and from deep south and know black race worldwide like I do immersed for decades
It means so much much much more than you can ever explain to the average poster here
And that is why we are losing
And losing badly
I am forever reminded how weak whites have become
The few decent blacks I see have twice the spine of say a Hannity or Krauthammer who have a platform from which to opine loudly
Until blacks acknowledge black racism the conversation is over.
#########
True but I’m not going to hold my breath. They have a victim mentality and embrace it fully.
Black mantra for hundreds of years: Victims of enemy villagers. Victims of Arab slave traders. Victims of “Massa” and victims of Whitey. Nothing has changed.
I’m just the typical dumb white guy in the TV commercials....have to find a smart black guy to help me muddle through buying auto insurance.
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