Posted on 09/06/2014 4:49:31 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Michael Brown would have been starting college this week. That fact has been weighing on my mind as I watch the Rutgers buses crowd again, as people elbow their way on and off of in a frenzy to get to that very important first class of the semester on time. You have to make a good impression. But as Ferguson seems to disappear in the flurry of the fresh Fall semester, I think its important to remember and to propel the conversation forward: the conversation on race and whiteness.
I grew up in a community and culture that actively socialized me to fear black people — specifically, poor and urban black people. I can remember specific events within my family and neighborhoods that taught me this caution and fear. But I know that it is not isolated to my individual experience, because no matter where I was, the news and media helped reinforce this caution and fear. I think looking back, most white people are educated and socialized with this conundrum: colorblindness (“I don’t see race or judge people by it”), yet still holding values and beliefs about what it means to be black in America. We’re formally taught to love people regardless of skin color, that we’re all human. At the same time, we’re taught to fear black people by family, friends and the media culture.
We might not consciously experience this as fear. Often, we experience it as ridicule, the rendering of what we fear as inadequate or laughable. It’s a common defense mechanism to take what we fear and mold it to something digestible and palatable. We make racial jokes and stereotypes, we appropriate black culture for white consumption (twerking, hip-hop), we keep them in certain jobs and we put them in prison. All of this in an attempt to mock what we fear — to soothe and ease the fear.
Time Magazine recently coined this “negrophobia” as a psychological disorder in some people. It is actually just called good ole’ “racism” and white supremacy, a system that privileges whiteness through various economic, socio-cultural sanctions. Ferguson highlighted this privilege of white Americans: the privilege to exercise the First Amendment and to be free from state-sanctioned violence.
Garner. Trayvon. Emmett. Byrd. The deaths of these men became so much more than their individual stories. They became symbols, symbols of what is so hard to express. They help a community articulate and evidence this deep place of raw emotion, of fear. The response white America sees is not just one case, but a collective experience. Black feminist bell hooks accurately synthesizes this collective experience of whiteness as terrorism, whether you are discussing the Birmingham Bombing or demanding the president’s birth certificate. She argues that whiteness is not formed on the basis of stereotypes, but “as a response to the traumatic pain and anguish … a psychic state that informs and shaped the way black folks ‘see’ whiteness.” What other conclusion is there when we celebrate the death of a black man or make him into a Halloween costume?
I thought Michael Brown and Ferguson would be different, because it couldn’t be explained away as some rogue, isolated incident. Ferguson was a very visible manifestation of this terrorism. The militarized response was evidence enough that black people experience America in a very different way. I thought this would be it, the spark, the change. The event that would shift white American consciousness.
I was wrong — depressingly wrong — and the muted response was deafening.
As the weeks dredge on and as Michael Brown fades in the collective media consciousness and #Ferguson disappears from Twitter and Facebook, the terror remains. The fear of a white, colorblind America and very clear picture of what you can and cannot do as a black person in America.
How do white people cull the fear and start to unlearn it? Instead of reacting with humor, with violence or with demonstrations of power, we could listen and practice empathy. A baseline requirement is actively trusting the experiences of black and brown people and the realization that although we might consider racism a thing of the past, those affected it most by it might be a better vantage point to articulate the experience. Listen. What is being said? Is this just about Michael Brown? What is the collective experience? What are the fears?
Yes, something to do with HVAC repair work. I can see that guy working in blistering hot attics and tight crawl spaces. Not.
It reads like satire.
Blacks had best be happy we are colored blind. Blacks always demanded that we be color blind, that, and if white people woke up and saw just how terrible blacks have been behaving to whites, blacks wouldn’t like the result.
“If this is what our universities are producing, the Islamic State is going to win easily.”
Yep, feeble minds are easy prey. Tell these undisciplined children they can do what they want if they do it in the name of islam and these kids will do all kinds of evil. They have no moral compass.
This is another reason why every one in this country should be well armed, where ever they go. Not only will they be prepared to protect themselves and their companions, they would be doing this country a favor by eliminating all these unwanted garbage from our streets. Now, I do have a question: Why has no one found out about the “RAP SHEET” of this “HUGGY BEAR”. I’m willing to bet that he has a rap sheet.
Supposedly he was going to go to technical school to learn to service hvacs. The school had no record of him even applying. They had never heard of him.
That boy eat up with the dumb@ss!!
He should be forced to march his homo ass through the streets of Oakland after dark.
He'll surely get over his fear of blacks that way:)
The school said they do not give out that info.
SAVING FACE BY STOKING THE FIRE OF CIVIL UNREST
All this repeating of inflamatory lying assertions in the reporting of confrontations between black youths and authority confirms the purpose is ruthlessly designed to keeping the black segment of Obama’s political support riled up so that any thought of instituting a richly deserved impeachment proceeding goes nowhere.
It is called survival instinct.
I thought that the whole point was for everyone to be colorblind. But apparently, Jeremy here believes that people should be judged by the color of their skin rather than by the content of their character.
Vatterott statement:
http://fox2now.com/2014/08/15/was-michael-brown-enrolled-in-college/
Statement from Vatterott:
“Vatterott College has been part of the Ferguson community since the 1970s and we share in the community’s grief over this young man’s death and the circumstances surrounding it. As a matter of policy, we do not disclose the enrollment status of current students or those who may have plans to attend Vatterott College. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Michael Brown’s family and the Ferguson community during this difficult time.”
– Pamela Bell, CEO & President
Vatterott Educational Centers, Inc.
“You can’t beat something with nothing.”
According to what evidence in this case that has been made public so far, Michael Brown robbed a convenience store and assaulted the clerk just minutes before he got into another altercation with the policeman Wilson. This was no innocent, gentle giant as described by the black race baiters in the media. He was known for his attitude of “I’m out here to take what’s mine[s]” as evidenced by his Instagram posting. He was also known to be photographed numerous times flashing gangs signs and the bird into the camera lens. He didn’t deserve to die for merely being black and being a less than upstanding citizen of the Ferguson community. But he may have sealed his own fate and death by attacking the police officer in his cruiser and accelerating the incident in the street by turning around to bum rush the officer to attack him like he had done the store clerk moments earlier. “My Hands My Ammunition” is how he referred to himself on Instagram. Pot was been detected in his system. All in all, this guy was not just some innocent, gentle giant readying himself to start college. This kid was not college material. He was a thug and thought he could get away with attacking the police officer. This has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with criminal behavior.
Indeed.
When we gave up the values of our founders and fathers we lost any tangible belief system.
The Marxist have been very successful in driving us to deracination and universalism.
Terrorism?? Give me a friggin break. How about addressing the so called "knockout game" the feral youts are playing in America. That is called terrorism in my books. Sneaking up on some unsuspecting white person and trying to kill them with a blow to the head. Takes a lot of guts to do that.
Guess we should have picked our own d*** cotton. FU lbj and your great society. That crap has worked out great alright. For the dims and the 'gibsmedat' voters. It has also screwed the America I knew growing up. The average 'gibsmedat' voter has been on the government tit since birth. How do you intend to change that Jeremy?
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