Posted on 02/09/2021 1:44:37 PM PST by econjack
I don't know about you, but i feel like I've had a boatload of blaming whites for everything's that's wrong with the world. A fraternity brother mine wrote the following paragraphs to a bunch of us. It was prompted by one of those nostalgic slide shows from the 1950's. My response follows:
At the risk of seeming like Debby Downer, I feel a need to write something in response to the video. So here goes…
I guess it’s OK to look back with nostalgia at images from the 50s; the video certainly reminded me of my childhood and youth. In 2021 I feel it’s also necessary and crucial to become more aware of a parallel universe that existed then and much of which still exists today. Did you notice that there was not a single person of color in any of that video?—just us privileged white folks. Yes, I am deeply grateful for my safe and happy childhood, my access to a quality education—and so much more. We had it good in lots of ways, but throughout the history of our beloved country, our privilege has been at the expense of people of color. It is time that we white people go deeper and learn more about what Jim Wallis (of Sojourners) calls America’s original sin—racism. It is not comfortable to examine that history, but we can’t change what we don’t look at, acknowledge, and repent of. For a start I can recommend Ibrim Kendi’s books (enter that name in Amazon) and Robin DiAngelos’s White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism.
Stay well, all, and get vaccinated!
========== My response =========================
Sorry, but blanket statements like this just don't cut it. I was raised in a small farm community that, at the time, had about 5000 people. We had very few blacks in town, but Charlie was one and probably my best friend. At age 11, he and I studied together to learn Morse code and electronics to get our amateur radio licenses. We both got our licenses and spend many hours together building stuff and then studying for our advanced licenses. At age 12, we took the bus to the FCC offices in Cleveland and sat for the General Class exam and passed. In high school, Charlie played offensive tackle and I was an offensive end. We used Morse code to call on/off cross blocks at the line during games. (We had one guy who played for another school who just killed us during the game. He was a little smaller than my garage. After the game, he introduced himself and told us he, too, was a ham radio operator.)
I know Charlie experienced racism during his time in school, and we talked about it. He pointed out that he never felt that way in school, but did so elsewhere, like when he went to Cleveland or Akron. I think it's worse today than it was when I was growing up, but one asks why. After all, racism is a learned behavior and there are other non-white people in the US that experience significantly less racism. Why is that?
The 800lb gorilla in the room is that racism is a two-way street, but no one every wants to talk about both sides of it, yet we need to. In my mind, the crime statistics we see for different demographic groups all seem to have a common source: the deterioration of the family unit in the US. To me, it is programs like the War on Poverty where benefits are greater if the home is a single-parent unit. I think this makes it financially easier to become divorced or otherwise split the family unit. It's been well-demonstrated that the absence of one parent causes all kinds of problems for the kids. We need programs that encourage both parents to raise their children, not push them away. The WoP is not a solution. It's a hand out rather than a hand up designed to help solve the problem...the current system perpetuates the problem and keep the poor dependent on the gov't. Even accounting for definitional and population changes, poverty is worse now than it was back in 1967. The solution to this and related problems is finding programs that repair the family unit in the US, not tear it apart. It also points out that the ultimate solution starts within the groups affected, not from outside forces. That's been tried and it simply doesn't work.
Saying that racism is a white problem is a deflection of the necessary discussion because it detracts from the fact that all parties involved engaged in racism. Rather than push the entire problem on white shoulders, the discussion needs to incorporate racism on both sides. Once that honesty sees the light of day, then perhaps we can work together to bring meaningful solutions to problem that work to end it, rather than program designed to perpetuate it.
Sorry, Bill, but it's bullshit to shove the entire burden of racism on whites. Doing so simply postpones the honest discussion necessary to find solutions to the problem.
Yeah.
It means there is nothing to discuss.
It’s all fake, a creation made for exploitation.
Chinee cook dog in Wok, so tasty very tender.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
C.S. Lewis
“I’m tired of woke, meaningless, discussions about race.”
According to the “woke generation” aka “Clueless Generation” that’s racist.
There’s a Nazi base in the South Pole where the Earth is hollow.
I read it on the internet, so...
Anyone who recommends Ibram Kendi and “White Fragility” IS the racist.
No law is going to change the way a person feels. No government is going to get rid of racism.
Well that’s just disinformation to distract you from finding the real Nazi base on the dark side of the moon.
Good points!
I’ve been sharing that quote a lot.
There’s a handful of stories it could be posted onto every single day.
A Reptilian conspiracy?
They wokesplain to you your crimes, and you may be afforded an opportunity to confess.
Define "racism".
I do not think you can define it in any way that leads to the conclusion that it is a learned behavior.
For example: Would you rather live in Oslo or Kinshasa?
Who taught you that? How long did it take you to learn that?
If you had been taught differently (but had still experienced both) would your choice change?
I am reminded of Eric Holder accusing whites of being cowards when it comes to talking about race, knowing full well that anything a white person says on the subject will be branded as racist, and that having such a conversation does nothing to improve the lives of any Americans or to foster more harmony between the races. If I remember correctly he is the son of immigrants.
No law is going to change the way a person feels. No government is going to get rid of racism.
——————————————-
My sentiments exactly!
A lot of people are tired of open and sanctioned racism against white people.
Hasn’t human history demonstrated that all people groups war against one another because of differences (real and imagined), and the only agent that successfully binds people groups like an adhesive is the person of Jesus Christ?
Accordingly, peoples who reject the Lordship of Christ will war against each other. That appears to be the testimony of history.
I was raised completely devoid of any racism.
I had a Japanese best friend.
I wound up going to high school in Wilmington DE. I “learned” to be racist. Mostly because they hated me, were violent, and behaved like animals.
There are people you know, and people you don't know. In a small town, everyone knows everyone else, and whether they are good people.
In a big town, when you meet a stranger who you don't know, you operate off of probabilities, using observable characteristics to make a guess as to what kind of person he is.
A black guy whose dress, grooming, and mannerisms identify him as having grown up middle class will result in a more positive view of him, than a white person who looks like a thug will get.
Thomas Sowell, a brilliant guy who happens to be black, in his book "Knowledge and Decisions", points out that gaining knowledge about whether a person is good or not, is not a cost-free process. Thus we learn to operate off of patterns and indicators.
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