When You Condemn One Black Man as a ‘Thug’ You Condemn Us All

Time ^ | 12-5-2014 | Victor Luckerson

[Citizen Zed]

A divergence in African American culture has made it easy for people to categorize "good" and "bad" blacks separately—and that's a huge problem

My parents sent me to an all-white elementary school when I was 4. I speak and think differently than them because of it. This is a small, common tragedy of black life that we don’t talk about: the best way for me to find success in my own country was to be immersed in a culture entirely different from my parents’ and adopt it as my own. But that experience taught me lessons that I now find intuitive–how to find common ground with different people, how to come off as non-threatening to others, how to chalk up racist statements to a misunderstanding. You could probably label me clean and articulate, like my President.

There are a lot of black people like me now who grew up straddling two different racial worlds. Blackish, the only comedy on broadcast TV featuring a prominent African American cast, is centered on this increasingly prevalent concept of black identity. I don’t want to paint my experience as some painful upbringing. I had a big, loving family and, eventually, great friends of all races. But I fear some people are learning the wrong lessons when they meet black people like me–that I am somehow more acceptable or less problematic than other black folks. That Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin should have behaved exactly like me to avoid being killed.

[Mastador1]

Well I’m very skeptical about hyphenated Americans, if you feel the need to put something first you’re doing it wrong.

[50sDad]

Sir: I condemn the 290 lb "young man" for threatening a shopkeeper, for rushing a cop, for going for that cops gun with an intent to kill. I condemn his idiot parents for not teaching him to respect himself and others to the extent that he would steal and threaten people. I condemn his entire community for such vapid disinterest in common manners that they never told the parents they were lousy parents. I condemn their entire violence-based, victim-mentality, handout-relying, work-the-system, applied helplessness culture for believing that everything they get should be provided by the government, which should thank THEM for doing nothing with their lives, and for the fact that by ACTING LIKE THUGS, LOOTING, AND BURNING, they guarantee ANOTHER generation of white racists who say "look, I told you so!" And yes, it is so-called "black culture" that ensures that they will forever be poor, controlled by Democrats, and helpless in a nation where anybody, ANYBODY can go out and make themselves rich. I don't CARE about their race...it is their CULTURE that is broken, because making something of yourself, getting rich through hard work, loving your married wife and providing for your kids through your own work is considered somehow "not black". And if that is the case, you have a crappy view of what it is to be black, a view so twisted that yes, I, a white man, understand MORE about "being black" than YOU do.

And yes...the MAN (not boy) was a bully, a thief, and a thug. And stupid as well, because my kids, at the age of two, knew you don't mess with a man with a gun, and especially not a cop, who is trained to be ready to kill when the situation requires it. His PARENTS should apologize to him for teaching him that being a bully and a thief is fine, and for not teaching him you don't threaten a cop.

[publius911]

When You Condemn One Black Man as a ‘Thug’ You Condemn Us All

Well D'OH!!!

Generalizations, Based on reality and human nature (Diogenes, started searching in 500 B.C., and is still searching) is one of the most valuable abilities of what makes us human, as opposed to koranimals and certain subcultures in the U.S.

So sue the homo sapiens, See how that works out.

[BubbaBasher]

Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin should have behaved exactly like me to avoid being killed.

I agree with the author 100% on this point.

[Salamander]

You gotta watch these guys.

“White Zombies” and “Les Mis”.

Just found them recently.

[publius911]

So, you should NOT judge a person by the content of their character? I’m confused.

Martin Luther King now can safely be referred to as Spinner King... He had a dream, and things got worse.

I stopped trying to figure out why that dream turned out to be a nightmare.
I don't dare say more.

[MeshugeMikey]

You could probably label me clean and articulate, like my President.

ahahahaha OKAY ,,,,IF youre READY!!

[Bidimus1]

you missed Gun Owners.. ;)

[Steve_Seattle]

"I speak and think differently than them because of it. This is a small, common tragedy of black life that we don’t talk about: the best way for me to find success in my own country was to be immersed in a culture entirely different from my parents’ and adopt it as my own."

1. What "culture" are you talking about? West-African culture or "rap culture"?

2. Is it a "tragedy" to speak proper English?

3. Is it a "tragedy" when college professors and the media try to separate young people from the culture of their conservative, Christian parents? If not, why not?

This idiot could not stand five minutes of honest debate.

[mulligan]

Truth to many means nothing. Hard to discuss anything with a fool.

[Swordmaker]

Only in the mind of a Liberal who has group victimization politics as a meme. We conservatives treat people as individuals and judge people according to how each person acts, not how any other person acts.

[Steve_Seattle]

This IS a tragedy. The author is a complete, brainwashed, destroyed-by-liberalism Uncle Tom.

[HotHunt]

[Steve_Seattle]

It is appalling how such utter drivel can be presented as rational thought.

[Jewbacca]

Putin’s a thug. Does that make all Russians thugs?

Charles “Lucky” Luciano was a thug. Are all Italians thugs?

President Johnson was a thug. I guess all Texans are thugs.

Or are black people special in this regard?

[hondact200]

So the individual is gone and now it is the collective! Gee thus sounds like something real foreign to the understanding of mankind. Collectivism is just another word for socialism, fascism. Forget a thug is a thug. Obama is a thug, so all blacks are thugs too if we take that reasoning in effect. Thanks for letting me know that the collective is in place a all thugs are black

[Steve_Seattle]

"You could probably label me clean and articulate, like my President."

Obama is not particularly articulate; he is a yammering, lying, bored, empty suit.

[Responsibility2nd]

Yeah. Poor kid. He is suffering from white guilt. And he’s not even white.

lolol

[Steve_Seattle]

"When you condemn one young black man as a "thug" you condemn us all."

That has to be one of the most moronic, illogical statements I've heard in my life.

[shibumi]

Know of them for some time.

This one still brings me to tears -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss