Race and Inclusion in America and Beyond

[chilepepper]

16 minutes ago, Papa Steve 55 said:

Your a 16 index, chances are you will never shoot even par. I hear fishing is fun.

Well played. You attack folks .....just gfy

[Papa Steve 55]

Not an attack. Just because you cant get a perfect result is not a reason to try. If you right down the middle the extremes of left and right will attack you. But sometimes you have to make you voice heard.

[phillyk]

I do a lot more reading that commenting when it comes to the BLM movement.  I grew up very close to the city of Chicago.  While hanging out with friends playing football and basketball at the parks, I never had a situation with them in which an authority made assumptions and acted based on their skin color. Because of that lack of experience, it's hard for me to say that I know where they are coming from.  I don't.  They can tell me first hand things that happen, but I was never around.  I see all their posts on FB about interactions they've had.  It's sad to hear that they'd rather take care of situations on their own versus call the cops and have them potentially misunderstand the situation.

Same thing with police officers, I have a family member who is the chief of police for the city where I live and I have other friends who are officers, including in Chicago.  I've never been around them when they are working, but I generally know how they act.

It's hard for me to comment on things that I know nothing, first hand, about.  So thank you to those who choose to share your experiences.

[Vinsk]

When the pickup truck, with its side mirror, 
almost took out my arm, the driver’s grin 

reflected back; it was just a horror 

show that was never going to happen, 
don’t protest, don’t bother with the police 

for my benefit, he gave me a smile— 

he too was startled, redness in his face— 
when I thought I was going, a short while, 

to get myself killed: it wasn’t anger 

when he bared his teeth, as if to caution 
calm down, all good, no one died, ni[ght, neighbor]— 

no sense getting all pissed, the commotion 

of the past is the past; I was so dim, 
he never saw me—of course, I saw him.
 

Tommye Blount

[iacas]

4 hours ago, chilepepper said:

Well played. You attack folks .....just gfy

4 hours ago, Papa Steve 55 said:

Not an attack. Just because you cant get a perfect result is not a reason to try. If you right down the middle the extremes of left and right will attack you. But sometimes you have to make you voice heard.

These posts serve as a good example of giving people — here, IRL, etc. — the benefit of the doubt.

BTW, these types of statements are NOT political:

• People sharing their experiences with racism, what it's like to grow up as a black man, or an Asian person, etc. in the U.S.
• Saying something like "I'm learning that even though I don't think I'm racist, I probably have some underlying biases and I'm now actively working to flush those out and shine a light on them so that I may improve."
• Discussing solutions to police brutality, like reading about whether police are taught de-escalation tactics, whether we can use data analytics to keep certain police members from situations that are likely to inflame, and so on.
• Talking about the police unions, and whether they do "the right thing" or whether they often go a bit too far in protecting the police officers from scrutiny, punishment, whatever.

Those aren't political. Politics divides these days, and by taking everything as political, all we do is set ourselves up to be close-minded and not to talk. Not to listen.

Well I'll tell you - I tend to lean Libertarian or old-style Republican, but there are many facets on which I side with the Democrats. People are almost never all one thing.

Discussing SOCIETY and LAWS and human decency and humanity and police forces and brutality and so on is not political unless you make it specifically political. There's nothing inherently political about those things.

Now, I get that many members are not going to be willing to jump in here. That's fine. My hope in starting the topic was to get a few thoughts. A few stories. A few posts.

Every week or month.

Because in two years, if someone has a thought they'd like to share, they have a place to do it. And even if you're not posting in the topic, read the topic, and maybe learn a little bit. Look inside yourself to see if you can't do something a bit better. To grow as a human.

And give people the benefit of the doubt. People are many things, but one thing that almost nobody is: "all good" or "all bad."

[No Mulligans]

On 6/6/2020 at 10:50 AM, iacas said:

1. No white knighting. We'd all like to think that we're "not racist" or whatever, but virtually everyone has subconscious biases, and this is a time for listening and learning and growing.

+1

I've been thinking the same.  "I'm not racist", is usually said by someone who just made a racist comment.

[saevel25]

Example, you own a business or you are a school superintendent. You see a black person with dreadlocks. They get called in and told they need to cut their hair. You have to ask, why? It’s probably because that look makes people feel uncomfortable. It makes people more comfortable if they dress and have style like a white person. It’s just subconscious tribal thinking in conformity. 

[Double Mocha Man]

1 minute ago, saevel25 said:

Example, you own a business or you are a school superintendent. You see a black person with dreadlocks. They get called in and told they need to cut their hair. You have to ask, why? It’s probably because that look makes people feel uncomfortable. It makes people more comfortable if they dress and have style like a white person. It’s just subconscious tribal thinking in conformity. 

This is true.  We are all "We", with diverse backgrounds and cultures.  Rejoice in that.  For those of us who have kids... they are always going to do radical things we don't agree with.  But we love them just the same.  Trust me, blacks notice that we are white, just like whites notice that blacks are black.  It makes no difference... remove our skin (I know, weird) and we're all the same, except to maybe scientists and doctors.  The point is... we're different, but we are "We".

[phillyk]

3 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 remove our skin (I know, weird) and we're all the same, except to maybe scientists and doctors.  The point is... we're different, but we are "We".

I was actually thinking put a screen in front of us and a username (like TST), and there is no initial, who’s this person? We get straight to the point on discussing whatever. In person and there’s definitely an opinion automatically generated regardless of who the person is. 

[ChetlovesMer]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

People are almost never all one thing.

And give people the benefit of the doubt. People are many things, but one thing that almost nobody is: "all good" or "all bad."

This

[ChetlovesMer]

Terry Crews' controversial tweet about 'Black Supremacy' prompts social media backlash

---

Terry Crews faced social media backlash Sunday after tweeting about the specter of "Black Supremacy."

I found this interesting that Terry Crews is being called to the carpet for a tweet he put out. I like Terry Crews as an actor, so I went back and read a bunch of his other tweets; It seems like he has been a very vocal supporter of the BLM movement. 

It kind of feels like we live in a society where you can NOT make one wrong step in your wording. I understand the spirit of Terry's comments. He probably chose poorly to put such a searchable two-word phrase like "Black Supremacy" in his tweet. Now many people are focusing on those 2 words rather than the whole of what he was trying to convey. 

Of course I realize I'm in a different position than Terry and/or the folks who were offended by what he said (tweeted). I just wish the headlines weren't "Terry Crews warns of 'Black Supremacy'" But instead were more like "Terry Crews wants us to Work Together!"

 

 

[gjunkie57]

On 6/6/2020 at 11:18 PM, metaswinger said:

Thank you for your comments.  There are people here who have never heard about 'The Talk'.  Right now, it's obviously a difficult and really stressful time.  Be sure to take care of yourself, whether that is hitting a few balls or a glass of bourbon in the evening.  This is unprecedented.

Thank you. Unfortunately ‘The Talk’ is pointless now. Our de-escalation tactics are useless when the ‘training’ officer instructs his trainees to keep pressing on a hand cuffed man who is face down pleading for his life.
I cannot get the image of George Floyd out of my mind. 

[ChetlovesMer]

1 minute ago, gjunkie57 said:

I cannot get the image of George Floyd out of my mind. 

Me either.

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Terry Crews' controversial tweet about 'Black Supremacy' prompts social media backlash

---

Terry Crews faced social media backlash Sunday after tweeting about the specter of "Black Supremacy."

I found this interesting that Terry Crews is being called to the carpet for a tweet he put out. I like Terry Crews as an actor, so I went back and read a bunch of his other tweets; It seems like he has been a very vocal supporter of the BLM movement. 

It kind of feels like we live in a society where you can NOT make one wrong step in your wording. I understand the spirit of Terry's comments. He probably chose poorly to put such a searchable two-word phrase like "Black Supremacy" in his tweet. Now many people are focusing on those 2 words rather than the whole of what he was trying to convey. 

Of course I realize I'm in a different position than Terry and/or the folks who were offended by what he said (tweeted). I just wish the headlines weren't "Terry Crews warns of 'Black Supremacy'" But instead were more like "Terry Crews wants us to Work Together!"

 

 

He’s been through a lot. He was part of the #metoo movement and was abused when he was a young actor. FWIW, there are those on both extremes that will twist words to support their sides.

I liked this statement. I also liked, “All lives won’t matter until Black Lives Matter”.

 

[iacas]

Yes, @boogielicious, that's why I made the rule in the OP about the "all lives matter" stuff. 🙂

I'm trying to do one thing each day, really one thing not a quick passing thing like "commenting here," but something with some substance, to educate and learn and uncover perhaps some of my own biases, subconscious or otherwise, or systemic biases I see in others.

Today an older person during a lesson told me a story about a "colored" woman, and I cringed inwardly. It wasn't my place to say anything at the time, mostly because I felt he was just using an outdated term but wasn't using it in a pejorative way, but it made me cringe, made me pause for a second, made me think. Should I have said something? To gain what? I don't know if there's a "right" answer to that, because again, he wasn't (IMO) saying it as a negative, he was saying it as if he had said the word "tall" or "skinny" or "brunette."

I do think that this stuff will decrease over time. My generation, for lack of a better word, feels less "racist" than my parents', and my child's feels less than my own. Racism, intentional/conscious or otherwise, is a learned, taught thing. So is discrimination of any type, really.

[Vinsk]

11 minutes ago, iacas said:

I'm trying to do one thing each day, really one thing not a quick passing thing like "commenting here," but something with some substance, to educate and learn and uncover perhaps some of my own biases, subconscious or otherwise, or systemic biases I see in others.

This. Because BLM is a movement ..not just a moment.

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I do think that this stuff will decrease over time. My generation, for lack of a better word, feels less "racist" than my parents', and my child's feels less than my own. Racism, intentional/conscious or otherwise, is a learned, taught thing. So is discrimination of any type, really.

+1

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

It wasn't my place to say anything at the time, mostly because I felt he was just using an outdated term but wasn't using it in a pejorative way, but it made me cringe, made me pause for a second, made me think. Should I have said something? To gain what? I don't know if there's a "right" answer to that, because again, he wasn't (IMO) saying it as a negative, he was saying it as if he had said the word "tall" or "skinny" or "brunette."

I remember my dad telling me once that my grandparents didn't believe that Blacks and White people should marry. Though, in a strange ironic situation, my grandma's favorite baseball player was black. She would be one of the few to cheer for him at an Indian's game. It's weird how people can hold two conflicting thoughts. I do not believe my grandparents were bigots or bad people. All the times I was around them they were nothing but respectful to everyone. They never made derogatory comments, but they just held a few outdated beliefs. It's just something they learned growing up, and it stuck with them. The older people get the harder it is for them to change. Unless a person is really good at breaking habits, there is some wonky programming that can get into people's head.