As a white man, I've never experienced racism. Today at work, though, one of my coworkers (a 50 year old white woman that still has spoiled rich kid syndrome) was involved in a conversation about how statues are getting torn down in the south, etc. I was talking about how things were going a bit overboard, especially when it comes to things like calling for the cancellation of Paw Patrol for showing good cops, etc. She says how "racism is still alive and well in the South" and basically advocates for burning it all down in the South. I was taken aback. I was raised in the South. That's my ancestry. My family still all lives there. I was angry. I basically bit my tongue, but did point out how there are a lot of cosmopolitan cities in the south, and that Houston is the most culturally diverse city in the country. But I wanted to scream and yell at her for essentially calling me and my family racist. I wanted to tell her how the city I live in (in Pennsylvania) is the most overtly racist city I've lived in. Iwanted to tell her how integral the black community is in the south. I thought better of it. She obviously wouldn't understand. Then I thought. That may be the closest I've ever come to experiencing racism. I was mad. I was angry. I'll never understand what racism actually feels like, but as angry as I was, it must be terrible. I don't want to say I get it, but I got a glimpse of how terrible and helpless it could make someone feel. I don't know how to put what I'm thinking to words, but the thought of it makes my head, and my heart hurt. I hope change continues to come. I hope this is a revolution. And I hope people start to realize the damage that has been done.
Revolutions are never clean, equal, nor fair. It sucks it takes being in that situation to become empathetic of the overall problem. That's how we mostly learn. There have been moments when Trump's racism has been exposed the deepest along with his party's complicit silence that I've felt payback is almost justified, but who exactly are the victims of payback? Generally the powerless who happen to be grouped with the targeted. We need more empathy during this time. Some catharsis is good but it's harder to reconcile when people get injured or people's livelihoods get burnt down.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/arts/television/protests-fictional-cops.html ut last week, when the show’s official Twitter account put out a bland call for “Black voices to be heard,” commenters came after Chase. “Euthanize the police dog,” they said. “Defund the paw patrol.” “All dogs go to heaven, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol.” It’s a joke, but it’s also not. As the protests against racist police violence enter their third week, the charges are mounting against fictional cops, too. Even big-hearted cartoon police dogs — or maybe especially big-hearted cartoon police dogs — are on notice. The effort to publicize police brutality also means banishing the good-cop archetype, which reigns on both television and in viral videos of the protests themselves. “Paw Patrol” seems harmless enough, and that’s the point: The movement rests on understanding that cops do plenty of harm.
Yeah I was gonna say... I don't think Paw Patrol is actually being cancelled. I think it was just people being silly on social media. Marshall ftw
I don't really understand your reaction of thinking she's specifically calling you and your family racist. It's known the south is a hotbed for racism (not that other places aren't plenty racist). Specifically, the statues, and the love for the confederacy is to the south what apple pie is for America, its a really popular part of the culture down here for way to many people. Confederate flags shouldn't be a casual bumper sticker, shirt logos, or flags on people's walls and porches , but it is, so I understand what she's saying when she's talking about burning it down, that culture needs to be burned down.
I agree that that part of culture needs to be burnt down, but she was essentially calling all of the south racist. That was the connotation. My fault in not conveying that originally. My point is that it's an everywhere problem. She was painting it as a south problem. I, being the only southerner, was offended. Painting this as a southern only problem, IS the problem. If you're thinking you're not part of the problem because of your geographical location, you're likely a part of the problem. This is someone who used to vacation in Cape Cod every year, and whose extent of southern travel is a yearly Myrtle Beach trip, mind you.
Racism absolutely isn't just a southern thing and it's important for everybody to know that, but the love for the confederacy is.
Don't be offended. Unless you're in power to create laws to ban/outlaw confederate flags. What she's saying if a place in the south's elected executive and legislative condones blatant racist symbols and logos, then its on the people who vote for them
Thanks, OP. I have had that experience in Cali many times. The Houston area was more integrated than any place I’ve found on the west coast. But people can’t understand that and usually seem to assume that their own region is somehow free of racism. On the larger point, I used to feel like I got it, that I could put myself in any other person’s shoes if I was thoughtful, including a person of any color. Now I know that’s simply not true. Going to be a lifetime process and am just going to keep listening. a pal elsewhere posted a great column by Mo Cheeks about one of his PoPo encounters. Pretty damned scary. You wouldn’t think I could still be shocked, but there I was, being shocked again.
This is a great post. Ones ability to empathize is some degree natural disposition, but massively impacted and shaped by personal experiences. People who have suffered some form of racism or discrimination have greater insight to how black people feel. People who have close friends who are black are also going to be empathetic toward BLM. People who have never left their communities or never traveled outside the Us are more prone to be Murica. It is no wonder that major parts of the Trump base have the views they hold and proudly embrace Trump rhetoric. A couple of spring breaks ago, we rented a cabin in the Smoky mountains and that was the first time my kids engaged with people in rural Tennessee or the like. It is somewhat hard not to “look down” on people like that with disdain or pity because of their myopic views. But at the same time, they are a product of their upbringing and circumstances and for a multitude of reasons have not had life experiences that would facilitate broader thinking. I have far more understanding and sympathy for those Trump supporters in rural Tennessee than the educated people in major metropolitan cities who, despite their education and life experiences, support the Trump rhetoric and ideology, at that point, it’s not your circumstances, it’s you.
Had to track it down. https://sports.yahoo.com/could-183436429.html Maurice Cheeks: That Could Have Been Me
Yes experiencing or feeling it every day can contribute to hypertension, heart failure, cancer and death.
I didn't have to see any hardcore deep south type racism growing up in Houston, but when we'd go to Louisiana for the holidays it was like stepping back in time. My relatives didn't talk about it or complain vocally about blacks, but they had zero interactions with black people literally their entire lives. The fear ingrained in them was absurd -- in the early 90s my great grandma called for a plumber and they sent a black guy out... She called the sheriff. A black person had never even been on their land much less in their homes. It's crazy because they were the kindest people and once she got to the point of needing a nursing home she suddenly had several black girls taking care of her every day. It took less than a day for a lifetime of fear to evaporate - those girls loved her and she felt the same -- she lived until 99 so she was there about 9 years. Her great great granddaughter was mixed race and she adored that girl -- about 20 years earlier if she had been told her granddaughter was mixed race (black father) she would have been horrified. Situations like hers are becoming rare in the modern world -- her experiences I can understand, but people who interact with black people and still have intense hatred is something that is difficult to understand. When you see these young kids carrying their tiki torches whining about white rights it's like there is some other problem in their lives they are projecting on blacks and joining a trendy alt right group gives them validation. The whole alt right youth movement is one of the stranger things I've seen recently -- the leading voices of the movement are not something I would have ever thought could have been appealing to a young person in 21st century. All of the violence recently by white cops against blacks has been so open and blatant I can't wrap my head around it -- your on video by multiple people yelling at you and still kill a person. I have really been having problems processing how frequent and grotesque the violence has been -- it's certainly not a few bad apples it's ingrained hatred on a much larger scale than I would ever had imagined.
In LA it's all about flaunting wealth and status to the point where the racism is far more subtle and one is expected to stay in their social lane. So it's fashionable and even unifying to tear down a racist hick in public but what's lost is the dignity we deny to the other which in turn provokes them to fight for the indignities burned into their birthright. We all take too much pride on abstract things we've "earned" or are too insecure at the thought that we aren't really all that no matter the amount of things we have. It's safe to say that even if racism against minorites died out tomorrow, many city folk would still see the deep South ass a backwater and third world eyesore. What to do with that situation is hopefully tied to the topic at hand
The south is far more racist - that is just a fact. It doesn't mean you or your family is racist, but there are a couple in my family that I know are....and it sucks. DD
I said it before on here, but seeing all these young white people and other people of color standing in solidarity with African Americans in all these protests makes me so happy and hopeful experiencing racism can absolutely suck at times...I have a huge hatred for racists, including the few of them who post on here...seeing the type of things they have nerve to post, especially in the Arbery thread and some others, makes my blood boil thinking you’re better than someone, hating someone, looking down on someone, etc because they’re a different skin color is so unbelievably stupid...with many of these racists, they’re hatred of others preoccupies their thoughts so much...it’s a pathetic way to live when I see some of these idiots going on racists rants in public, all I can think of is how sad that person is
I’ll second what the OP is saying about racism not being a Southern problem. Minnesota has this very progressive image but racism might be worse here now than it is in Houston. Minneapolis has had issues with redlining and in 1920 three black men were lynched in Duluth. In recent history Minnesota as an overwhelmingly white state has dealt with waves of non-white immigration with Hmong coming in the 70’s and 80’s, Somalis in 90’s and poorer Hispanics in the last 20 years. Those first waves were largely confined to the Twin Cities but much of the Hispanic immigration has been into rural areas or smaller cities to work in agriculture and meat processing. I’ve heard directly from people there that this is driving the support for Trump and anti-immigrant feeling was a big part of the support for politicians like Michelle Bachman.
Also going after Paw Patrol is another boneheaded culture war move. It’s as stupid as the people who complain about female superhero movies. I’m going to guess this is a very small number of people who complain about Paw Patrol but it wouldn’t surprise me to see social media get clogged up with a bunch of people yelling about how the Evil Dems are coming after your kids’ favorite show.
It was a joke. It was a small number of people joking on twitter. The power of clickbait is real ya'll. You should read the article it's a bunch of signifying nothingness.
