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.
Might as well be wishing for the stars and the moon.
I agree. They are.
“Christian and Newsom were leaving an apartment together to go to a friend’s party when they were abducted from the apartment complex parking lot. Christian’s parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house the following Monday with the help of her mobile phone provider.
An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the house unoccupied and Christian’s body in a bin in the kitchen. According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan at the subsequent trial of Eric Boyd, Newsom was repeatedly sodomized with an object and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. Barefoot, he was dragged outside the house to a set of nearby railroad tracks. He was sexually mutilated, shot in the back of his head, neck and back and his body was then set on fire.
According to the testimony of the medical examiner, Channon’s death came after hours of torture, having suffered injuries to her vagina, anus and mouth. She was raped with an unidentified object and beaten in the head. It was also reported that her body was scrubbed with bleach which was also poured down her throat, in an attempt by her attackers to remove DNA evidence, while Channon was still alive. She was then bound with curtains and strips of bedding, her face covered with a bin liner and her body stashed within five large bin bags, before being placed inside a residential waste disposal unit and covered with sheets. The medical examiner said there was evidence that Channon slowly suffocated to death. (Wikipedia) There were no cars overturned, no spray-painted police cars, no crashed-in store windows, no fires, and no angry mobs when these white people were killed by black people.”
See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_301_33592.php#sthash.CQAN2uPi.dpuf
LOL. I missed “mongrels” — I like the autocorrect version even better!
“national conversation on race”
We’ve already had one. Many times over. It’s a waste of breath.
Whites are allowed to bow down and grovel in apology for what they didn’t do.
Stating facts is not allowed.
So that’s not a conversation. I’ll be glad to engage in a conversation when it becomes fair for all.
SHAME ON YOU FOR NOT AGREEING WITH ME!
ping
Self ping
Oh, yeah... whew... Last session is tomorrow (I think we used to call it going to "class," to learn (remember that concept?). Really now it's indoctrination through weekly installments.
I am a over 50 student enrolled for a master's degree in (gulp) social work. Not for a liberal cause, but because advancement in my job will help me help veterans and their families (mental health therapy, etc.) (and I'm a vet myself).
That said, us white folk must understand the oppression of the masses at the hand of Anglo domination of this continent. First, realize, North America wasn't / isn't ours in the first place. Manifest Destiny (erase what you learned in elementary school) was a license to exterminate the native cultures (there's always a modicum of truth in a lie).
It does not matter that I was raised not to harbor prejudice.
It does not matter that I was under the belief that society has mostly purged a racial attitude (prior to the recent turn of events beginning with Zimmerman).
It does not matter that I think of myself as simply American. I can not ever be American, that is reserved to the peoples who inhabited this continent first.
It does not matter that I have no attachment to my European "roots."
It does not matter that none of my (known) ancestors owned slaves.
I am white, er, Anglo, and the only thing I have to do is accept deep remorse for the ills of what was wrought by my Anglo ancestors. They were a bunch of conquering, patriarchal racists. Ask anyone.
Oh, yeah, don't forget - our forefathers were a bunch of slave-owning morons. Really.
Don't even try to explain the 3/5-ths clause in the constitution. There is nothing you can say or do to make them understand the Northern reason that was added. Federalist papers? HAH! Propaganda from the rich white folk. Please.
I speak up in class at times, not much. I need to pass. I am paying too damn much money not to.
When I do, the young ones are intrigued by a fresh viewpoint. They sometimes ask me to tell them more outside of the classroom. They do have an inkling that something is wrong.
Just pepper your term paper with the correct amount of politically correct verbiage (e.g. "oppression" "discrimination" "social and/or economic justice" etc.) and you too can have a passing grade.
Oh, yeah, to be fair, the professor is a member of La Raza, and quotes from newsletters sent out by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
When it is said that today there is liberal indoctrination on college campuses - believe it. But from my observation, it doesn't start there. These kids have already been brainwashed before they even graduated high school.
*Ahem*
Get with it my brother, that is so 90's!
Have you seen him lately?
It's "Slim shake-down Sharpton."
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