Theres been Antifa, BLM, etc.,protests and riots for 2 weeks.
I ask myself, as a “man with white privilege, how do I help change bad attitudes/racism stuff”?
The answer I got from a USAF Colonel friend from Church was, do as St Francis said, “Go out and preach the gospel. Use words if you must.”
IMO that’s about right.
You or I can’t. Just as with our lives. Change mist come from ok within. I am absolutely for sensible steps to making this a country more fair than others. I also wont pretend to walk i shoes I’ve never worn
I can’t begin to say that I have walked a mile in an African Americans shoes so I feel their pain. But neither can I talk about white privilege. I grew up hard. I got knocked down and got back up more times than I can count.
I’ve been on the receiving end of police brutality, I probably deserved it to. It put me in hospital for a week.
That doesn’t give me any special insights into BLM. I grieve for anyone when they die, I understand the outrage over George Floyd’s death. The image of the officer kneeling on his neck until he is dead is not one I will ever forget.
I and a group of father’s surrounded a park (with our legally open carried weapons) where there was a peaceful protest over gun control because people made threats against the children there. Do I agree with Gun Control, only if you mean use both hands, I think it’s a ridiculous concept. But I believe in the rights enshrined in our Constitution.
I believe in the right to peaceably assemble and protest against perceived injustice. If this was only about peaceful protestors. I would be willing to make sure those peaceful protestors did not come to harm.
But this critical moment is being coopted by people with agendas. Be it to get their rioting and looting on, political or anti American agendas. But the peaceful protestors are being used as shields to allow these activities.
I am not going to protest, loot or riot, but neither am I going to be this riots Reginald Denny
I think you already started - just by asking
First thing we should do is to realize that whites are not privileged. Nobody gets special stuff just because they are white. If we don’t believe that, go see those whites living in poverty and hopelessness and tell them they are privileged.
I feel it is still true that there are people who are instantly biased against a people because of their color. That is true from whites, blacks, Asians, etc. No certain people are the only ones who have this bias.
We are confusing racism from the term “systemic racism.” Systemic racism took time to find a place in the hearts and minds of the American public, but since the 60’s it has been squelched.
I was part of the group in the military where race riots were more common. There is one difference of note, however, since I served in Viet Nam alongside blacks. When we came back, some of those guys were still with me. We had a bond that possibly civilians never experienced.
When the plight of blacks in certain areas caused frustration and unrest, problems arose. I stood with my returned brothers and their issues against our military commander and got transferred out to get rid of me.
Those days would not happen now. That racist door shut long ago.
Many blacks are speaking out now, producing videos, and explaining how systemic racism no longer exists in America.
Whites are not privileged and need no feel guilty about the color of their skin. Whites suffer bias now just like blacks, but not because of skin color. They suffer disadvantages now, but not because of skin color.
When Martin Luther King stated that he looked for a day when a man is no longer judged because of the color of his skin but by the content of his character; he nailed it.
We should search ourselves and see what kind of character we are putting on display.
There is prejudice against white people today and it IS because of skin color. It is caused by those who want America to see that the blacks have no chance in our country and it is because of the inherent advantages of people with white skin. That is a blatant lie that serves a political agenda.
This propaganda serves to feed the anger and hate that is on display. If you are black, go outside the peer group that wants you to feel like a victim and see the reality in the rest of America. If you are white, and you feel like you have advantaged because of your skin color; you probably had a mother and a father at home. It probably wasn’t your skin color that helped you in life.
If we want racism to die out in America, take the advice Morgan Freeman offered “stop talking about it.”
What if we all were white? Would there be any bias? Would the population be forced into classes of white, like young or old, fat or thin, rich or poor, blue or brown eyed? Is bias inherent in our human nature? Maybe we each want to feel at least a little bit better than the next guy.
I’ll bet what Mr. Freeman was saying is a lot deeper than it appears. I believe he was suggesting that the differences are there because we keep pointing them out to one another. And if we stop concerning ourselves with the color of a man’s skin, it will cease to be an issue, no longer a reason to see one person as separate from our selves. I do, however, believe that talking about these issues is healthy and should continue, and I don’t believe Mr. Freeman would disagree.
I’m not white, I get accused of trying to be white by some ignorant people.
I’ve made choices in life to get me where I’m at and going in a certain direction. For that I feel blessed for it, not trying to be a certain skin color.
I’m from the perspective of I’m American 100%. My heritage should be a non issue to others, for me it’s not relevant to my character or identity, maybe due to as I don’t make it one. I don’t hide or deny it, but it should not be a factor, yet for some it seems absolutely a necessity to impress and impose upon others as they feel their identity has caused oppression.
Honestly I feel some make it an issue so much to the point as to be creating their own prison.
Maybe, call me crazy just maybe I don’t have run ins with the law go bad because I try to not provide reason or probable cause, it’s not to say it hasn’t happened or won’t happen that I’ve been profiled again.
Yet in the times it has happened, I have a clean record, I am able to conduct myself in a manner that sets all parties on their way no harm no foul and no citation. The funny thing is I’ve been given the most static from law enforcement officers that are from my same or similar heritage when it did happen and they were rookies, new to the force.
I don’t believe in white privilege, that’s in my opinion just another “race card” excuse for someone to pull. Fact is there are real “winners and prime individuals” of all colors of skin.
I boil it down to life isn’t fair and there will be people who will make it difficult, it’s how you as a person prepare and work through these is what defines the outcome.
Now if I want to get even more real about it, certain people are just flat out “special” and there is nothing that can be done except do the best you can when these possible life altering moments of the planet’s colliding occur.
If we want to see an end to racism, we need to stop with labels such as “black American, white American, Mexican American” etc. We are either Americans, or not. The whole of our nation is rich in the heritage of multiple races, backgrounds and creeds. When filling out my census, when it asked where you descended from (English, African, etc) I put American. Should one be proud of their heritage, ABSOLUTELY! Should we first and foremost be proud Americans, ABSOLUTELY! What happened to George Floyd, was a tragedy. The headlines should have read “Minneapolis man killed by corrupt officer.” Also, we are now seeing how this “race baiting” is using a criminal as a martyr. Had mister Floyd not died, he would be in jail for passing counterfeit money, being under the influence of controlled sibstances and resisting arrest. No, he didn’t deserve to die for these crimes, but, criminal actions nonetheless. We should make a martyr of David Dorn. A retired officer, shot multiple times by a robber, and left to die on the street. It has become apparent, in recent history, that Certain black lives matter. When it is politically expedient, they matter. When if flys in the face of the narrative, those men and women are considered just another statistic.
Just treat everyone equally with respect and manners. If everyone did that it go a long way to ending this crap.
Yes, this. It applies to this topic as well. When you hear from people you and your children are guilty because of your DNA, you don’t need anyone’s permission to tell them to go … But this is a family forum and I will stop.
I suppose it would be better if you saw the video:
I grew up in a well off family. My mom was born from a family that originated from dirt poor- abused Irish immigrants. Her father farmed and worked on odd jobs like fixing TVs his whole life. Both my grandparents had about an elementary level education, but they understood hard work. All 8 of their children went off to have decent jobs. Some became hard working electricians (who make more money than my white color job), and many of them graduated college. My grandparents instilled values in my mother. My father was an enlisted soldier. When my dad got out he used military funding to pay for college and he graduated college while I was a baby. Both of my parents were not privileged in their up bringing. I was very privileged from because of their sacrifices and now I have my own kid, and I want to do even better for him.
To cry about “White privilege” is disrespectful to my family.
It also is a pity game. I don’t want to be pitied. It’s gross to me. Why would I pity an entire group of people because of their skin color. In many ways that seems racist to me. I find more white people are obsessed with the “white privelage” conversation. Most black people I work with and am friends will occasionally bring it up, but they really just want to feel they have had equal opportunity. It’s something that frustrates them, but they do not harp on the white privilege discussion in the same way white people do… They bring it up when a white racist athlete convicted of rape gets a 9 month sentence when a black man would have been in jail for years or when a white kid pleads the “Affluenza” because he was too well off to know the difference between right and wrong in court.
Some of them have been oppressed because of race, some of them have been oppressed because of the family they were born into. I had black a black classmate that admitted his black friends discouraged and bullied him for taking school seriously. I’ve known black people to tell me “I was not raised to feel cheated” to be honest, they are usually really successful because they learned to work instead of feeling entitled. I understand the frustration, but to cling to the government to get your “rightfully due” creates a dependency on government. There are issues on all sides of this conversation. It’s more than just “racist white men”, though they certainly do exist.
I just hope people will learn to be open to healthy-challenging dialogue on these issues so we can actually address all sides of these racial issues. I’m going to post a really good speech I found during my research.
45IAC. I wish that I saved some related information to post here. The short of it is that if you have hyphenated allegiance, then you have loyalty to neither. And you’re right on with your comments on David Dorn. What a shame.
Just last week I got pulled over by a State Trooper for speeding. My Drivers License was up to date, but because my White Privilege Card had expired, it cost me $185.
@KenM Seriously… great post my friend.
I like things simple and focused. We all too often clutter up a problem with noise and lose what it is we need to fix. The real point should be that doing ‘wrong’ to any individual is what should be the focus. If it’s wrong to do to one then it’s equally wrong to do to the other. The reason regardless of whatever ‘ism’, hate, or other thought, does not make it more ‘wrong’, it’s the action of the wrong. Address the action not the thought behind it.
This is “divide and conquer” this is “if you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bull 
” This is the “Lefts” agenda, lets not loose sight of that either. This is all happening for a reason, the 2020 election.
As a white guy, I have no response to the issues. I’m left with no response because the left’s narrative tells me I am wrong (no matter the topic), that I must change, that I must redress wrongs. All the while, telling me that I have no valid opinion on the matter.
That all pisses me off.
Let a black man speak for you. Here is a former SWAT Officer with a few inciteful words:
I don’t like the setup “as a white guy.”
It smacks of the foundations of racism, that we’re all inherently different because of our skin color. It’s the same thing that bothers me about white managers hiring a black or Asian employee because they “think differently.”
We’re a self-governing people. We must work together towards a more perfect a society that works for all kinds of Americans. That means I can’t look at you as white, black, immigrant, Catholic, gay, etc. Because the moment I do, we’re separated.
Neither do I, but these days I’m not given any options.