Popovich - "we live in a racist country that hasn’t figured it out yet”

Discrimination is treating people differently in a material way based on their race. By material way I mean granting one group favoritism or penalizing another group. Racism is having bias for or against a group.

How it makes a group feel is secondary or immaterial. That's only a concern if you care about how people feel. I don't think it's what people are fighting for when they fight against discrimination. It's more about being held back or typecast in your work, school, or other opportunities. It's about whether or not you are trusted because of the color of your skin.

Do you have white privilege? To some degree yes if you are white. Your race gives you an advantage in life. That's not your fault and you have nothing to be ashamed of. But realize that the world tilts a bit in your favor. People associate you with positive qualities and find you more trustworthy simply because you are white is one form of white privilege. Another form is a sense of entitlement - that America is inherently for white people. That it's important for white people to maintain a majority and stay in power. Another form is thinking that you just out compete minorities on a level playing field. Another form is people thinking that a minority got a high position or place in a university due to affirmative action instead of their own merits.

You can call any of these things a form of white privilege. Ultimately I don't judge you because I don't know you well enough - you have to decide.

The information is there. If you want to understand minorities, talk to them and listen. Yes sometimes minorities misconstrue their failures to racism but often part of their failure is related to race. If you are born black, you're unlikely to have parents who had a great education. That factor alone puts you at a disadvantage.

 

Clicking on “show ignore content” in this thread is like reading an op ed written by Richard Spencer. It’s amazing how people can write word salads that are just disorienting ways of saying “I’m a white supremecist”.

 

When will the white genocide end! Fight the power!

 

A lot of white guys on this board. I'm asking this because mostly people who lean left post here.

How many of you guys believe you are racist?

 

Do you want me to repost some of the nonsense that was posted in the previous page? Like how African Americans are to blame for their poverty level because they apparently choose to have children out of wedlock? That’s just one example.

You can’t be serious here if you don’t see the thesis that posters like this are trying to build. If nobody is going to call that kind of nonsense out or get chastised when they do from folks like yourself who get defensive when you DARE to call underlying racism out we are in a pretty sad state of affairs.

Or just chill man cause I wasn’t even referring to you. Obviously I don’t ignore you.

 

Good question. If you are a white guy here in Texas especially yes you have inherit racism in you. Yes I’ll admit it... I said and thought some pretty shitty things myself. I’ll never forget when I was 18 waiting tables and I said something asinine about tipping and the current clientele and got a tongue lashing from one of my best friends who is black. Changed me forever. I’ll never forget what he said to me.

It’s impossible not to have this with you unless you grew up in a cave. It’s up to our generation to continue to make changes and make sure our kids grow up with a different racial environment. My parents and especially grandparents are great and I love them to death but they failed in this regard just as many I know also were exposed to some racism that will shape your thinking the rest of your life.

So admitting your inherit racism I believe is important. It’s like a virus and you have to make sure you never pass that along to your next generation like many of us had it passed down to us unknowingly.

 

I don't know how you stand the struggle and are able to face such discrimination as a white guy. I hope you were able to find a job, avoid being followed around by store security all the time, have people on the street move to the other side in fear of you because of your white skin color, able to not feel too much resentment when something turns up missing in a room you were in with a bunch of people but you are still suspected of taking it even though there is no evidence pointing at you, but you are still believed to have taken the item because of your white skin color. I hope you aren't thought to be lazy, uneducated, and just not as smart or capable as all the black guys in your classroom. I know it's got to be hard having all the heroes in books, television, movies, commercials etc. look like you while growing from childhood to adulthood.

Keep up the fight against that oppression. I know you can do it.

 

FB, what good does it do to teach children they are a victim? Even if past actions from other groups have limited opportunities for some black families(and I am not saying that is the case) is it better to teach children if they work hard and stay clean they greatly increase chance for success or is it better to teach them the deck is stacked against them so they should just not try and wait for the government to "fix" the situation? What government program can possibly fix this situation? The welfare state has only enabled more single parent households with the government playing the role of "daddy" to the tune of 70+ %. Many people who grow up in fatherless homes end up doing the exact same thing when they come of age and the poverty cycle continues.

That is why black leaders need to quit with the "victimhood" mantra and start teaching personal responsibility and accountability. Teach children it is up to them to break the cycle. Start holding success stories up as heroes instead on demonizing them. Teach men to keep their junk in their pants and for ladies to keep their legs closed until they get married or at least to be smart and use birth control. Teaching children that with hard work and staying clean they greatly increase their chances of breaking the cycle is really the only thing that makes sense. There is no government program that will fix this and actually may make things worse like many government programs tend to do.

 

This post is not based on fact. Presenting facts to people about discrimination isn't teaching victimhood. It's teaching the truth. It is true that candidates who are white and have the same or worse resume in terms of criminal record, education, work experience will be hired more than the black population with the same or better resume. That is a truth for our present day. It isn't relegated to the past. And it shows that whites get more opportunities than blacks. Add to that studies that show African Americans are underrepresented in gifted and talented programs while being over-represented in special education programs despite qualifying for the gifted and talented program and not meeting the criteria for the special education program. That further limits the opportunity based on the race of African-Americans. That isn't relegated to the past and is happening in the present.

That doesn't mean that black folks shouldn't work hard try their best make choices that will increase their chances for success. In fact, I would hope it would inspire people to work even harder. Pointing out these facts does not prevent the teaching of taking personal responsibility.

I think it is important to study the work, dedication, study, resilience of people who are oppressed but still succeed. It can open up a pathway to acheievement.

That doesn't mean that we shouldn't also point out the unfairness and difference in opportunities that exist TODAY based on race. People of every race should wish to combat that injustice.

 

It's the arrogance in the assumption that they don't that I can see as being kinda racist.

It's the nature of news media consumption
If you lean right you probably only listen and read sources that confirm your bias thus you will only listen to stories where "black people play the victim card" and make an assumption that clip that you were spammed with on your social media news feed is them repeating that victim complex 24-7. You don't hear those very same people donating and being involved in the community and starting after school programs to get these kids involved.

If you want a true solution, look at our public grade school education and how its funding is allocated. When property tax determines local school funding, you are completely removing the purpose of public school by tying it's funding to how wealthy the local population is.

In summary, we had a system that existed for 300+ years that explcitly racially funneled black citizens into **** funded schools and neighborhoods through redlining and now they are packed in these poor neighborhoods where the local school district funding is based in local property tax, the same lineage of black families that were denied access to properly funded schools for centuries due to race are now in **** properly funded schools due to **** funding for schools in poor neighborhoods in general.

But ya, we have enough tax revenue to federally support our schools right? That's why we severely reduced out tax revenue just so a group of humans with the most accumulated wealth in mankind history can have tax cuts .

 

It is not hard to see I lean about as far to the right as anyone here. I can only speak for my own family in saying we could not care less what ANY persons race or gender is. We judge people by the content of their character. That is how I was raised and also how my wife was raised. We instilled the same values in our two children.

 

You just stated that black activists in black communities don't preach trying and putting forth effort to their children.

 

Can you for once actually attempt to try to understand Pop's position and that his statement was in reference to the leadership of this country currently and the people willing to vote for that leadership?

We had a national election to determine our head of state and we chose a man who started his poltical career by calling the previous president a foreign born Kenyian and making up stories of "thousands upon thousands" of Muslims celebrating 9/11 on the streets of Jersey City.

 

It's easier to beat up a straw man and stick to that. Pop said that everyone of us are racist. That's outrageous and he's an idiot and wrong!

 

Greg Poppovich, coach of the team I despise the most, is the reason why there are racists? Get your old ass the hell out of here.

 

My friend is still one of my best friends and no he didn't overreact. He told me something that forever changed the way I think. If he hadn't been a close friend at the time, I'm sure he wouldn't have said anything, but that's the point. Its the people closest to us that impact our worldview.

No, Thank God I'm not a racist, but as a white man growing up in Texas, I know what I've been exposed to and I know what is in the back of your head from years and years of being exposed to what I call soft inherit racism. Things that folks from my home circle do and say to separate them from us. Its alot of small things over the year that get socialized and ingrained in your head.

Doesn't make any of us terrible people that need to be locked away, but the awareness that we cannot let this pass to the next generation is what I believe is most important.

............

So No I don't agree with Pop's quote on the surface that everyone is racist, but I do believe that there is inherit racism passed on through the past generation, and hopefully our generation (the folks of us raising kids right now) can be a major stop to that ugly inheritance. I don't know what Pop said to give context and explain further, but I'd assume this is more along the lines of what he was getting at, although on face value yeah.... this is incorrect on its face. Racism is more complex than that in this country and especially here in Texas.