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What Americans Get Wrong When They Talk about Race
The Free Press ^ | 6/19/2023 | Tomiwa Owolade

Posted on 06/27/2023 11:04:31 AM PDT by Faith Presses On

...I think the reason I felt this connection with a television program [Roots] about a person and a place so far from my experience was that the Anglophone culture that dominated my early upbringing was not Britain's, the country that had colonized Nigeria, but America's, the heavyweight champion of the Anglophone world. Sure, I enjoyed British entertainment like Mr. Bean, James Bond, and the early Harry Potter films. But I adored World Wrestling Entertainment (before it became WWE) and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. American culture was thrilling and infectious and full of confidence.

But that culture is a reflection of an earlier time, when the United States still imagined itself the leader of the free world, and its movies and books and all its soft power felt like the arrow of history pointing us in the right direction. It was easy to be swept up in the optimism of it all.

Today, America seems consumed by its own fears and anxieties, and its culture and ideas increasingly feel inward-facing. It is as though the great city on a hill is oblivious to the rest of the world, too busy battling its own demons to worry about other people.

Why, then, would anyone follow America's lead when it comes to an important conversation - perhaps the most important conversation - about race? As I argue in my soon to be published book, This Is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter, it is time for my country to stop mindlessly doing whatever America does when it comes to all matters racial.

(Excerpt) Read more at thefp.com ...


TOPICS: History; Society
KEYWORDS:
Another quote: "To my mind, black should be spelled with a lowercase b because it's a racial identityó -- not an ethnic one. I fear that capitalizing it draws attention to race, or even prioritizes it. I want individuals to think of themselves and to be thought of as individuals."
1 posted on 06/27/2023 11:04:31 AM PDT by Faith Presses On
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To: Faith Presses On

I have eyes. I can see if you are black.white.so-called brown or yellow. It is when you open your mouth and speak that I see and hear the person.


2 posted on 06/27/2023 11:17:23 AM PDT by Exit148
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To: Faith Presses On

*


3 posted on 06/27/2023 11:34:04 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Faith Presses On

race is losing its sheen in America, it really isn’t that important, yet racists are trying to hold on to the segregation as long as they can.

the ignorant make it an issue, to preserve advantages administered by old bureaucrats.


4 posted on 06/27/2023 11:45:25 AM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: Faith Presses On

The entire BLM movement grew from Floyd’s death. Why? It’s not because of George himself. Given his criminal record, pictures of him holding a gun to a pregnant lady’s belly, and the presence of drugs at the TOD, George as a person is a poor choice as a posted child. No, it was because he was black and being held down by a white officer that made the difference.

Seeing an opportunity, three women created the BLM movement and cashed in on it. Unfortunately, they also created a movement of racist thugs who burned out dozens of cities across the US, augmented by the Antifa terrorists.

If this spreads to other countries, I hope they pick out a poster child of their own. George Floyd was not an innocent man, but he was arrested in a manner that should never happen. That’s the lesson here, not whether we should use ‘b’ or ‘B’ when referring to blacks.


5 posted on 06/27/2023 11:45:30 AM PDT by econjack
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To: econjack

“The entire BLM movement grew from Floyd’s death.”

BLM was in the works long before Floyd.


6 posted on 06/27/2023 11:51:36 AM PDT by CodeToad (No Arm up! They have!)
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To: Faith Presses On
The point that needs to made is simple. Identity is the substitute for the proletariat. The economic arguments of Marxism do not work. Quite clearly, capitalism has won. The notion that some government definition of poverty exists in first world nations has failed. Poverty in every measurable form does not exist. Hence, the oppressed worker needs to be replaced by identity. Without the tension between one group against another, the revolution to bring about communism does not occur.

However, there is hope. Given all the identities that people take on, they end up fighting amongst themselves. Blacks don’t like Jews. Mexicans don’t like PRs. Lesbos don’t like trans. Faggots don’t like bisexuals. The list goes on. Eventually, people will recognize they are Americans first.

7 posted on 06/27/2023 12:08:05 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA (Delay Trump’s trial, delay. Elect Trump President. Trump pardons himself.)
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To: Faith Presses On

In my lifetime we went from being the nation where our loudest talkers said, “Look how cool our nation is! We put a man on the moon!”, to our loudest talkers saying, “Look how horrible we are as a nation. Surely our nation has major flaws somewhere...if we know where to look...I’m sure there’s some major flaws...hold up...oh well, let’s play up the few minor ones like they’re systemic or something”.


8 posted on 06/27/2023 12:15:02 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: CodeToad

You’re right. It started in 2013 with the death of Trayvon Martin. Floyd’s death pushed it to the forefront.


9 posted on 06/27/2023 12:59:04 PM PDT by econjack
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To: econjack

For some people, the important thing about the first two men walking on the moon in 1969 is not that they were two Americans but that both were cisgender white males.


10 posted on 06/27/2023 1:09:50 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

That’s because their view of the world is through a pinhole.


11 posted on 06/27/2023 1:27:05 PM PDT by econjack
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To: econjack

“...their view of the world is through a pinhole.”

That’s so good!


12 posted on 06/27/2023 1:42:44 PM PDT by PsyCon
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To: Faith Presses On

Behind a paywall.


13 posted on 06/27/2023 2:11:40 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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To: teeman8r

Race is losing its sheen in America, it really isn’t that important, yet Democrats are trying to hold on to the segregation as long as they can.


14 posted on 06/27/2023 2:12:49 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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To: CodeToad

Remember “Pigs in a blanket! Fry ‘em like bacon!” and “Waht do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!”?

That was BLM and it was well before anyone had ever heard of George Floyd.

BTW, look up the sentencing disparity between Officer Derek Chauvin and Officer Mohammed Noor.


15 posted on 06/27/2023 2:15:39 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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To: Faith Presses On

It should be obvious that our culture was a happier healthier thing in the Archie Bunker/George Jefferson era than in the Barack Obama/Eric Holder era. When racial differences were more a matter of humor than life and death we were a much better country.

It’s odd the “Blazing Saddle” and a Sammy Davis Jr roast were signs of a healthier country


16 posted on 06/27/2023 3:10:10 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Freedom isn't free, liberty isn't liberal and you'll never find anything Right on the Left)
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To: TBP

you fixed it.


17 posted on 06/27/2023 3:16:23 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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