Am I Not Supposed To Support Trayvon Cause I'm White? (Worse than it sounds)

The Global Grind ^ | July 10, 2012 | Michael Skolnik, editor-in-chief & political dir. for Russell Simmons

[2ndDivisionVet]

It was Thanksgiving. A very cold November afternoon. I must have been 19 or 20 years old...home for the holiday from UCLA, where I was studying theater. My bube (grandmother) was still alive. My entire family sat around the dinner table, doing what the Skolniks love to do...talk politics. Of course we ate turkey. cranberry sauce. mashed potatoes. the usual. a little tofurkey for the vegetarians in the crew. The tone was light. Soft jabs. No heavy punching, since we all come from the same political cloth. But when the conversation turned to race, the tone got a little bit more serious. My memory is not good enough to remember what was said, but I remember the line that made the conversation come to an end. Stung like a bee. Definitely didn't float like a butterfly. The guy who had just married my aunt, her second marriage, looked straight at me and said "you talk like you're black."

Frederick Douglass. Gwendolyn Brooks. Colin Powell. Maya Angelou. Malcolm X. Paul Robeson. Shirley Chisolm. Martin Luther King, Jr. I didn't know who Barack was at the time...this was the late 90's. You see, I was in speech class until I was 10 years old. Couldn't say the letter r. These names. These heroes. I saw images of them. The sting was intense, but I closed my eyes in silence and remembered that as a kid, I dreamed I could talk like them. I wished I had their oratory skills. I dreamt of dreams and mountaintops, caged birds, presidential campaigns, Harlem in the 60's and the abolition of slavery. I opened my eyes and just kept eating my turkey. cranberry sauce. mashed potatoes. just kept eating in silence.

Silence. silence is an American tradition when it comes to race. A tradition as traditional as Thanksgiving. Unfortunately after I learned how to say the letter r, I wasn't too good at silence. Still not very good at it. And I'm definitely not very silent about what I have to be thankful for...on Thanksgiving or any other day of the year. But, it seems when I publicly talk about how good many of us white people have it, some of my white friends are not very good at being silent either. Many of them telling me that I shouldn't point out facts like white Americans have 22 times more wealth than blacks, while the median household net worth for whites was $110,729 in 2010 versus $4,995 for blacks. Or that today in America, there are more black people in prison, jail or on parole than there were black slaves before the Civil War. Or that breakdown of food stamp recipients is: 33% (13.4m) are white, 22% (8.9m) are black, 16.7% (6.6m) are Latino & 2.8% (1.1m) are Asian. Or that Trayvon Martin was shot while walking black.

Many of my good white friends just wish I was silent. Wish I went back to eating my turkey, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. Wish I didn't make fill up their twitter timelines or their facebook newsfeeds. Wish I agreed with them that there is no longer racism in America. Wish that I agreed with them that it is now really about economics. Wish I agreed with them that all it takes is hard work to make it in America...you can question my sources for these facts all you want. you can question why i send these tweets out. you can question why these facts make you so angry. you can even question my ethnicity and race, cause in your mind it is hard to believe i am white like you. But, just ask yourself this question, for my non-black friends..if you were black, do think your circumstances would be the same as they are now?

If you are honest with yourself, you know the answer to this question. And with this answer, you know it is not acceptable that 50% of children who are born black in middle income families today in America will fall into poverty during their lifetime versus 16% of white children. And if you are honest with yourself, then you will do everything you possible can to bridge the racial divide. I am comfortable pointing out the racial inequalities in this country, cause I am also comfortable about giving thanks for what I have and honest about what I have been given. I recognize that my hard work has contributed to the little success I have in life, but I damn well know that a lot was also handed to me, like a door prize for just showing up. And for those who don't get door prizes, I promise to fight everyday for their pursuit of happiness as much as I fight for mine. So, I will continue to show up and speak out when inequality is so blatant. Like what happened in Sanford, Florida on February 26th, 2012 when a young man was shot in the chest while holding a bag of skittles and a can of ice tea. Remember him?

Am I not suppose to support Trayvon Martin because I'm white?

Hoodies Up! Our work is not done...

[2ndDivisionVet]

The most prosperous black people on Earth live right here in this country. Period.

[Free in Texas]

Terminal case of white guilt. Too far gone.

[Chode]

the boy should move to Harlem then... feh

[Claytonbridge]

First, America has been the best country on earth for Black folks. It was here that 600,000 Black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity Blacks have ever known. Rev. Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere have done more to lift up Blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ‘60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell Grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance Black applicants over white applicants. Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated their time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for Blacks.

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?

Barack talks about new ‘ladders of opportunity’ for Blacks. Let him go to Altoona and Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for ‘de-serving’ white kids? Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African American community has hit 70 percent and the Black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?

Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the Black community itself?

As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose Black victims 3 percent of the time, Black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?

Is Barack aware that Black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that Black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?

We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena... And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of Black assaults on whites are real, and we hear nothing.

Sorry, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.

[mrsmith]

It gets results!

[happyhomemaker]

If we are honest with ourselves we realize that this is a culture issue and not a color issue. As Christians we are told to love our neighbors. Loving the black community means being honest and upfront about their lifestyle choices that lead to poverty and not making excuses. I live on the edge of Sanford Fl...and I know that most of the heartache involved in this area is due to people choosing to reject God and follow their own carnal nature.

[dfwgator]

I know people who came here from Africa (Nigeria to be exact), they think our blacks are nuts for complaining. The people from Nigeria feel like they won the lottery by being in this country.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

And the Amy Biehl award goes to?

[Pollster1]

Like what happened in Sanford, Florida on February 26th, 2012 when a young man was shot in the chest while holding a bag of skittles and a can of ice tea.

Either Trayvon Martin is one of the best fighters in history or George Zimmerman is a pathetic sissy. How else can you explain a cute little kid holding a pack of Skittles in one hand and a watermelon ice tea in the other and still severely injuring a big guy like Zimmerman: broken nose, two black eyes, multiple cuts to the head, bruises on the lip and cheek, and an injured back.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Horsesh*t!

Not shot in the chest while holding a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea.

Shot in the chest while beating the hell out of George Zimmerman.

The stupid. It burns.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Martin was a coward who died a coward for striking a man from behind as he was walking back to his car.

[itsLUCKY2B]

The longest war America has ever fought is the Dirty War, and it is not over. It has lasted more than 30 years so far and claimed more than 25 million victims. It has cost almost as many lives as the Vietnam War.
Yet the American news media do not want to talk about the Dirty
War, which remains between the lines and unreported. In fact, to
even suggest that the war exists is to be discredited and disbelieved. So let’s start suggesting, immediately. No matter how crime figures are massaged by those who want to acknowledge or dispute the existence of a Dirty War, there is nothing ambiguous about what the official statistics portray: for the past 30 years a
large segment of black America has waged a war of violent
retribution against White America. And the problem is getting worse, not better. In the past 20 years, violent crime has increased more than four times faster than the population. Young blacks (under 18) are more violent than previous generations and are 12 times more likely to be arrested for murder than young Whites.
According to the latest annual report on murder by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, most interracial murders involve black
assailants and White victims, with blacks murdering whites at 18
times the rate that Whites murder blacks.
These breathtaking disparities began to emerge in the mid-1960’s,
when there was a sharp increase in black crime against Whites, an
upsurge which, not coincidentally, corresponds exactly with the
beginning of the decline of neighborhoods.
Over time, the cumulative effect has been staggering. Justice
Department and FBI statistics indicate that between 1964 and
1994 more than 25 million violent interracial crimes were
committed, overwhelmingly involving black offenders and White
victims, and more than 45,000 people were killed in interracial
murders.
By comparisons 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam, and 34,000
were killed in the Korean war.
When nonviolent crimes (burglary, larceny, car theft and personal
theft) are included, the cumulative totals become astounding. The
Bureau of Justice Statistics says 27 million nonviolent crimes were
committed in the US in 1992, and the survey found that 31 per cent
of the robberies involved black offenders and White victims (while
only 2 per cent in the reverse). When all the crime figures are
calculated, it appears that black Americans have committed at
least 170 million crimes against white Americans in the past 30
years. It is the great defining disaster of American life and
American ideals since World War II.
All these are facts, yet by simply writing this story, I will be deemed
a racist. Because certain people prefer to maintain a paternalistic
double-standard in it’s outlook of black America. And THAT is
racist!

[Cyber Liberty]

I don't see him relating a story of being beaten down by a mob of angry Amish yutes, so there's still hope. It the libs that keep up the lies after being mugged, like Pat Brown, that astonish me. They hate themselves so much they think they actually deserve to be beaten by a mob.

[Misterioso]

What good does it do to ‘support’ a dead guy?

[Stormdog]

I’m sure that all the bro’s in da hood read this clown’s screed.

Here’s a news flash... they’re gonna kick your ass anyway.

[GladesGuru]

Regarding Skolnick, remember he is, IIRC, an American Jew of the Libtard variety.

To any who are “offended” by what I am about to type, get over it. I am offended by swill produced by such sniveling, whining Libtard Jews as Skolnick, but I see such fools as walking, talking, self made targets for my offended Conservativism.

I’ll be watching to see if the Skolnicks and such will reply/refute or scream “He demeaned me!”, “He hurted my feelings!”, or “Him damaged my self esteem”.

Smiles evilly.

;-)

Now to unload on Skolnick and company.

Skolnick has clearly been inbibing too much KikiePooh Joy Juice (apologies to the late Al Capp), and committed the sin of typing while maudelinley Liberal.

The blacks have very little because far too many of them were willing to become socialist sheeple on the government welfare farm. For about half a century, black women decided Uncle Sam would provide better than a husband. Thus, far too many black ‘families’ (term used very loosely) of ‘bachelor’s children’ whelped more generations of the same. It was de facto, Government subsidized, bastard farming, if I may borrow a legal term.

What government subsidizes it gets lots of. Works for corn, cotton, and bastards.

This is a nation with a government suitable only for a people willing and able to regulate their own behavior. Does any sane person think that the present crop of black Urban Ferals, from all those broken/disfunctional homes can regulate their own behavior? Thought not.

Thus, if unable to regulate their own behavior, the rest follows. Blacks did it to themselves, just as they have everywhere where they come to power. Haiti and Detroit come to mind.

What the wannabe “enlightened Ruling Classes like Skolnick forget is that high IQ is not necessary to success. Just stow away $10 every week, have your children do the same. Compound interest does wonderful things for the intelligent and informed.

PS DOn’t ever forget Justice Thomas came from a very poor family, but undeniably writes superb decisions and dissents as a SCOTUS Justice. Melanin is merely visual. Effort and culture are determinative.

PPS Mr. Skolnick, stop with the “With my guilt and your gelt, great things can be done.” bit, OK.

[aruanan]

The blacks have very little because far too many of them were willing to become socialist sheeple on the government welfare farm. For about half a century, black women decided Uncle Sam would provide better than a husband. Thus, far too many black ‘families’ (term used very loosely) of ‘bachelor’s children’ whelped more generations of the same. It was de facto, Government subsidized, bastard farming, if I may borrow a legal term.

Up until the mid-1960s, American blacks, as an ethnic group, were progressing economically faster than any other immigrant ethnic group in U.S. history. Certainly much faster than the Irish, which was one the slowest due to an over-reliance on government jobs. All that came to a screaming halt due to Johnson's War on Poverty and the largely successful attempt to wean the group from self-reliance and to hook them on government reliance.

[BobL]

“The most prosperous black people on Earth live right here in this country. Period. “

And the most prosperous in Africa, was in South Africa, under Apartheid.

[Rebelbase]

“So, I will continue to show up and speak out when inequality is so blatant. “

Good for him! Just like Zimmerman did for the homeless black guy the cops beat the crap out of last year.

[Rebelbase]

A lady friend from Uganda told me once that it disgusted her and her family here in the US to see grown men sitting around and not working.