Posted on 11/29/2014 4:26:55 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Yet another side effect of the Ferguson unrest was the inevitable calls for how we really need to have a national conversation on race. (You can read some of my previous thoughts on the value of what the media considers a national conversation here.) As I watch the attempts at such debates taking place not only on the small screen, but on blogs and comment sections around the web, I detect a growing sense of frustration on both sides. There are sizable groups of progressives who seem sincerely interested in convincing everyone that pretty much all of these problems – as well as much of what’s wrong with the rest of the nation – boil down to latent racism and endemic white supremacy. This is frustrating to some people who feel that the rules should apply evenly to everyone and that life in a free society comes with an inherent expectation of personal responsibility. For their part, the progressives appear to be frustrated when some of their debate opponents opine that robbing stores and attempting to beat up police officers can lead to bad results even if your skin is bright pink with chartreuse spots.
But the conversation really screams to a halt when the more conservative crowd runs into somebody like CNN author and religion blogger John Blake. Rather than yelling about it on one side or the other, or even trying to grasp what the other party might be trying to say, Blake jumps on the shiny new bandwagon of forgiving everyone who doesn’t think they are a racist because, well… you probably just don’t realize you are and you don’t know any better.
[I]t doesn’t wear a hood, but it causes unsuspecting people to see the world through a racially biased lens.
It’s what one Duke University sociologist calls “racism without racists.” Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, who’s written a book by that title, says it’s a new way of maintaining white domination in places like Ferguson.
“The main problem nowadays is not the folks with the hoods, but the folks dressed in suits,” says Bonilla-Silva.
“The more we assume that the problem of racism is limited to the Klan, the birthers, the tea party or to the Republican Party, the less we understand that racial domination is a collective process and we are all in this game.”
Let’s see… in this caring, open minded, helpful analysis where he’s just trying to have an honest conversation, how many people could a quote from Bonillap-Silva offend in just the opening salvo?
People who wear suits. Check. Birthers. (Read as anyone who opposes Barack Obama for any reason here.) Check. The Tea Party. Check. The rest of the Republican Party. Check.
Hoo boy… that’s a great starting point. But to get the full flavor of how far off the beam this train of logic goes, you need to read the lengthy descriptions of each of the three phrases that often crop up when whites and racial minorities talk about race, and why using them proves you are a racist, albeit perhaps an unintentional one.
‘I don’t see color’
‘But I have black friends’
‘Who you calling a racist?’
The full definition behind each of those three statements – and their deeper meaning for the racisty racists who say or imply them – is probably more than enough to leave most of you shaking your heads and bailing out of any conversation with Mr. Blake. But the drilling down which follows the third is truly enough to make your head spin. Here’s just one sample.
The courts may ignore colorblind racism, but ordinary people ought to be aware of it when they talk about racism, others say. Ross, author of “Everyday Bias,” says being biased doesn’t make people bad, just human.
He says people are hardwired to be biased because it helped keep our ancestors alive. They survived, in part, by having to make quick assumptions about strangers who might prove threatening.
“We need to reduce the level of guilt but increase the level of responsibility we take for it,” he says. “I didn’t choose to internalize these messages, but it’s inside of me and I have to be careful.”
Part of being careful is expanding our definition of racism, says Bonilla-Silva, author of “Racism Without Racists.”
Racism has evolved, but our language for describing it hasn’t, he says.
You see? Your inherent, intractable bias doesn’t make you a bad person. You’re just too stupid to realize what it is that you may or may not be doing, but would probably do if given a chance recognizable by your incredibly racist subconscious. They don’t want you to feel guilty about this… they just want you to stop doing it. Even if you haven’t the vaguest idea of what it might be, and they can’t even tell you themselves, you’re clearly still doing it. So stop, okay?
And if you can’t manage to stop, don’t worry. We’re going to have a national conversation about it. Every. Single. Day.
This irritates me to no end. They don't want a conversation. A conversation is when 2 partys have a common discussion, it is a 2-way communication. What they want is to tell you their demands and how you are going to comply, submit, and admit guilt for whatever it is they accuse you of. They want you to admit that your success is the cause of their failure and that you don't deserve what you have worked for. They want you to bear guilt for your successes. They want you to agree that by simply being born, they are entitled to the same things in life that you have for yourself and family... without the responsibilities. They want your way of life, but they want it given to them, even if that requires YOU giving them YOURS. Ultimately, they don't even understand that most of the things we list as a success aren't even monetary. It's called God, family, ethics, decency, and the ability to actually co-exist with others who leave us the hell alone... not just just slapping the bumper sticker on our cars. this conversation will never happen because they simply do not understand the priority of those core values... these aren't things that their government nannys can take from one and give to another.
So to all those who think that we should have a ‘national conversation’ about how to make racism disappear, here’s a clue for you…. you can’t make something disappear by bringing it up over and over and over again. I have many friends, co-workers, business associates and those married into my family who are of a different race. I can’t remember the last conversation any of us had about race…..in fact, I can’t remember any conversations at all except if someone was commenting on something like Ferudishu. In the well known Bible verse 2 Corinthians 6:14, it talks about different people who should NOT be together…. but it had nothing to do with race, it had everything to do with what people believe in..... “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
Just another “affirmative action’d” Duke “intellectual”
We’ve seen that act before, right?
Gues what. I don’t bloody care anymore. I think most people have reached that point.
That's my theory anyway. 'Cause I've been feelin' better fer sure.
As long as this conversation is entirely one-sided and ignores several massive elephants in the room.
In that case, as was said upthread, I may as well roll with it and go about my business.
I suppose it depends on the meaning of “conversation”. If it actually were a real conversation I’d be ignoring the author as an intolerable, monomaniacal gasbag who won’t let anyone else get a word in edgewise. Which is precisely what I am doing.
“I’m not interested in a conversation until the Blacks get their act together.”
One of the I universities that I graduated from is a HBCU. I have worked inner city precincts, I have worked side by side making my living, gone to dinners, weddings, parties, funerals with our fellow Black citizens. I may write about my experiences someday. Those conversations were sometimes difficult (feel the pain when your friend tells how it felt as a child to have to drink from a different water fountain) sometimes rewarding - when a Black man told me in front of leftist Black Dems why he had the greatest respect and admiration for Ronald Reagan, or Blacks who told me that they never voted for Jesse Helms as Dems, but had the greatest respect for Jesse because did not discriminate in helping his constituents - not color, not party.
Yes, I do agree with the liberal idiots - we do need this conversation - but my agreement stops right there. We cannot let our media run it, we cannot let the leftists in education control it, and we cannot let the government run it. Not letting them control it is that we have to push back on the left - those who divide people. It has to be done at the ground level by regular, freedom loving people - in words and deed, We the People. Otherwise, we will keep tearing our country apart by getting caught up in the institutionalized racism enabled by the media.
I hope you agree you reconsider your precondition for having that conversation. If not for what I have written above, then for the Ferguson Grand Jury, which included Black citizens, fellow Americans, who did their duty right there in the pressure cooker - and they did what was right. There is hope. God Bless America.
What is going on is this:
Obama has failed miserably on matters of substance —stimulus, ADA, unemployment— so he is now going back to what he really understands:
Faculty lounge blather centering on multiculturalism and setting up a de-facto Nomenklatura system.
ValJar’s daily, hand-in-glove communication with Fed-friendly Missouri big-wigs shows Ferguson is an attempt to renew the legitimacy of The Grievance Elite. Obama’s many meetings with the Riot Leaders at the White House is another piece of evidence.
We should never rest until America has a black President. ... well...err....ah...
Since we whites are such rotten racists, no matter what we do or say, when are the nonwhites going to move away from us so they won’t have to put up with us anymore? There are plenty of places on earth where almost everyone is black, Latino, or Asian. Have a nice trip!
I’m not a racist! I hate everyone equally!
Maybe I’d change “gem oxide” to “genocide” first...
It is the “progressive” version of original sin, only it does not apply to everyone, only those who disagree with them.
No colorblind society for them. No equality under the law. They get to decide who should have privileges and who should not... because.
Same response I give to the rest of the nonsense they spew.....
I.
Don’t.
Care.
A liberal I converse and banter with sent this to me. I got as far as the first paragraph where this was said...
“People who wear suits. Check.
Birthers. (Read as anyone who opposes Barack Obama for any reason here.) Check.
The Tea Party. Check.
The rest of the Republican Party. Check.”
I refused to read any further. How does suit wearing, birthers, Tea Party members, or Republicans translate into being a racist?
Answer: It doesn’t but they use this broad brush to paint anyone who disagrees with them with the same racist tone.
I’ve gotten to the point where I believe liberals are truly just above serial killers but only slightly above.
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