BY ROBERT WHITE
I grew up in New Jersey. My mother was from Asheville. In my teens, many of my friends converted to Islam. Racism was often given as the reason.
My friends questioned where this white man with long, flowing hair who spoke of love and peace was. Where was he in all the documented cases of deliberate action to deny us the basic human rights? Where was he in the lives of the white people who were doing some horrendous things to so many of us?
Islam does not allow any pictures of the creator or the Prophet Muhammad. The lack of focus on race, as it pertains to God, in Islam was very attractive. My friends felt they had a chance with a God who embraced all and favored no race or a particular people.
I am not Muslim but cringe to call myself Christian. But I read the words of this man Jesus, and they are good and right. I live them by deed, not in public conversations on street corners.
Last year, my wife and I closed on a small farm in Leicester. My neighbors are all white; I hear gunfire all the time. Big guns, huge guns, semi-automatic guns — and, now and then, fully automatic guns.
Several neighbors have stopped and introduced themselves; they seem to be very decent folks. Yet there is a certain apprehension in my soul. I wonder what would happen if something came up missing around here. The very bucolic country road running past our property is so inviting, yet I have never walked to the end of it out of fear. Fear someone may see my black skin and believe I’m after something that doesn’t belong to me. I’ve been stopped so many times, in so many cities, just for being in the wrong place while sightseeing.
So I stay on my land and plant my fruit trees and berries. I tend to my raised beds and hunt mushrooms on our land. I wave as folks jog or walk by, hoping the fact I am working the land just like them will keep me and my family safe. Afraid for my dog as she wanders (like the other dogs out here), because she belongs to some black people.
Why should I live in such fear in the land of my birth? This land where the bones of my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents rest. I am American, but this land of my birth seems to reject us even after all the years we’ve been here. We have died in every war this country has fought; a highly biased criminal justice system is our reward. Deliberate undereducation and underemployment are the thanks we get.
I know I believe all lives matter. I also believe most black people feel the same way. But white kids are not being gunned down eating Skittles and drinking soda. White men aren’t being stopped and ending up dead for a traffic violation.
Refusing to lie down in the street because a cop is yelling at you is no reason to die. There is a thing called dignity that we all have, and sometimes people just get tired of bowing down to injustice. Sometimes enough is just that: enough.
The recent hue and cry is “Make America great again.” Most black folks feel America has never been great. Don’t get mad: Just look at what has been done to us for centuries. If we don’t take a knee in protest or stand up and fight, history has shown us what could happen. The prisons are full of black folks, and it seems there’s a concerted effort to fill the cemeteries with our bodies long before they can succumb to a natural death.
I crave tranquility and abhor chaos. My biggest fear for my country is that the racist attitudes of so many whites will cause disaffected black youths to start embracing radical Islam as their way to seek recompense for the palpable hatred toward them that’s permeating America right now. I fear that Middle Eastern countries flush with oil money may start funneling cash to our low-income neighborhoods the same way the drug cartels have done, encouraging misdirected black youths with that false hope based on some lie disguised as truth.
Yes, my friends, all lives do matter. But until white America realizes that black children are loved by their parents the same way you love yours, we are all in trouble. There’s a gaping hole in this country created by racism, and it’s waiting to be filled by something. It is we Americans, black and white, who will decide what fills this hole.
When the World Trade Center fell, blacks, whites, Christians and Muslims died in the rubble. We all felt violated and vulnerable. Death, disease and the sun do not discriminate: I will spend the rest of my life remembering that. I will extend nothing but love to my white brothers and sisters. I will also love and respect my gay, lesbian, bisexual brothers and sisters, and those who are gender-fluid.
I did not create you and will not force upon you my opinions about how you love or whom you love. But I promise I will respect you and honor your being. As a black man, this is all I ask of you all. Is that too much to ask?
My life matters!
Now retired, Robert White has been a framing carpenter, radio announcer and small-business owner in New Jersey and Asheville. He founded the Pisgah View Peace Garden.
Excellent article. You raise so many valid points about justice and how it is meted out in 2016 ‘Murica.
I think you misread the hats though- they actually read Make America Hate Again.
Sadly, the many valid points you make will soon be drowned out by the alt right echo chamber, who will use code words and phrases to denigrate any points you raise and dissolve any discussion into a rich tapestry of vitriol and bile. Blaming the victims, the press, the current Prez, etc.
Wait for it, wait for it…
“I am not Muslim but cringe to call myself Christian. But I read the words of this man Jesus, and they are good and right. I live them by deed, not in public conversations on street corners.”
I also cringe to call myself a Christian. However, if you live by Christ’s words, then you are indeed his follower, because he himself said that his disciples are not those who (merely) call him lord (and don’t do his words), but those who do what he says.
All lives matter in the bible.
You raise some good (and bad) points, but do know that racism crosses all color boundaries. The most racism I have ever seen was when I worked in a virtually all-black section of a city. Shouldn’t I have had the right to be there without feeling threatened?
Here’s something to think about. If someone can justify either of these, he/she is part of the problem.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/83/db/c8/83dbc86067eb905274c185000bbe4259.jpg
http://thefederalist.com/2016/10/27/berkeley-activists-block-white-people-using-campus-entrance-protest-racism/
I never knew that Jesus guy had a monopoly on doing good things. How ever did people discern right from wrong before he was born?
My motivation is simple ethics, and not fairy tales of any sort.
I suppose the Federalist would be the closest you could come to citing a news source here without having to resort to 4chan or the like, congrats.
If whiny college kids want to pull that infantile crap, I agree that it is foolish, but I will not hear any judgement from the altright. as they have no place at the
ethics, moral or any other table. What bugs me about the left is that there hasn’t been a real Dem candidate since JFK. I think we’re long overdue.
See, the altright is composed of whiners. They sit at the end of the bar, grumbling about how they got a raw deal in life and that they have to actually see black people (without their chains!) and have to compete with them in the job market. They complain how Jews ‘own’ the banks, Hollywood and even Heinz ketchup! They see women as a threat and call for the repeal of certain amendments regarding people’s rights to vote, they call for only property owners to be able to vote, etc. Their entire 18th c paradigm has been shattered, and like the wallflower at a dance they feel left out and left behind.
Then when you call them out on it, they smile, kinda half laugh and claim they’re just kidding. If you told them you agreed with them, they’d tell you right on, the fire is rising or some code word horsepuckey like that. The point is, the altright are cowards as I never see or hear of them preaching their hate unless they have strength in numbers. The altright doesn’t go to Compton with a megaphone, they hide behind websites. They don’t wave a swastika at a Lakers game as they know it’d be the last thing they ever did.
For hating those of dark skin, the altright stays in the dark at the fringes of society and scatter when light hits them, much like cockroaches.
I know a guy with similar beliefs, back when ‘altright’ just went by ‘white supremacy’. His beliefs would only come out after a few drinks, and late a night in hushed tones. I made a point of calling him out on it, but he thought it was funny. Weird. He’d say stuff like ‘just wait, things will be different’ and the like.
His beliefs cost him his marriage, resulting in a nasty custody battle over the kids, he managed to alienate most of his friends, he ended up moving far away as from what I heard there may have been a few of his ‘friends’ who would have ‘helped’ him leave town, one way or another. Last I ran into his ex wife and kids I noticed the older one using phrases like ‘our tribe’ and ‘our world’. Hmmm, a little brainwashing was going on at home maybe?
I do know this as a fact- if we as a nation continue to doll out different forms of justice based on skin color, religion, etc, don’t complain when strife and violence happens. Malcolm X had some choice words about this as well for describing any cornered animal that will fight. We can’t have it both ways and still claim to be ‘the greatest nation on earth’.
I don’t expect any progress from the left which had its chance for 8 years, but I see less chance with the new administration to be.
Maybe it might take another Nat Turner, Malcolm X or The Weathermen? I’m ok with that. But I will call out altright kaka for what it is.
And yes, by all means put your faith in a man ‘but he’s one of us!’ born with a silver spoon in his mouth who until the early 2000’s was a registered Democrat. See if anything changes for the better in terms of race relations, police accountability (there’s an oxymoron for you) or the safeguarding of civil liberties. As for the economy, who knows? You might lose your shirt, but you’v e always got your red baseball hat.
“There’s a gaping hole in this country created by racism, and it’s waiting to be filled by something. ”
No, there’s a gaping hole caused by the divisive, hateful identity politics (us vs. them) that have co-opted the democrat party.
You are basically discounting and dismissing Robert White’s fear as a black man in America and his own experience of being stopped many times, in many cities, just for being in the wrong place while sightseeing, and his own thoughts and feelings, by putting them in the nice, tidy box of ‘divisive, hateful identity politics (us vs. them) that have co-opted the democrat party.’ It would be great if we could really listen to each other.
Until social media is discounted as a news source regardless of anyone’s politics,
no listening will happen. Sad but true.
Babies need their food strained and filtered.
btw, the Twitter CEO rightly called Twitter the peoples’ news source. It is epic. Instantaneous reporting directly from the source.
“Epic” – the most overused adjective of the 2000’s. Gross.
A polio vaccine is epic.
Climbing Mt. Everest is epic.
Setting foot on the moon is epic.
Your whiny posts are not.
Stick to cute cat vids on youtube.
No, As I already said, he raised some good points, so I’m not dismissing his fear. I understand the dynamic and respect it. I know what it’s like to walk into a black restaurant in a black area with a black friend who wanted me to see it, and experience tension so thick you could cut it with a knife because I was a white person. It even took my friend aback.
I will say, though, that people tend to treat you in the way you see them. If someone projects doubts towards another person that he is rascist, that other person will pick up on the fear vibe and tend to be aloof, which will be interpreted as rascism by the projecting person. I once had a muffler fixed at a black business (in the same black area). As I was talking with the owner I could just feel the animosity he was projecting towards me (experienced it all the time there). I don’t let other people define what I am, so I just treated him like I’d treat anyone. When the conversation turned to biodiesel, he become very interested that I knew so much about it, and dropped his defensiveness. When the conversation was over, I could tell that he respected and liked me, just as I respected and liked him.
I took a coupla sociology courses in college (ahhhhh! higher education! Bad! Bad! but bear with me)
and the prof asked us to read written statements from various anonymous writers and ask if we agreed with them.
The results of who agreed with who came in. Percentages were tabulated.
Then pictures of said writers were presented and the same ‘do you agree with these statements?’ were asked of our class.
How strange- students tended to disagree with the same statements previously agreed with made by people of color, big noses, etc.
Hmmm.
WTF did you just say?
Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, snowflake.
As you’ve said, you don’t give a damn anyway.
Very well expressed. This is also my experience. Racism is not a very good word for what Robert W. describes. It is a very human, perhaps hard wired signal that someone that looks different, may be cause for caution, or even alarm. And this trait knows no racial, ethnic, or skin color boundaries.
Like Snowflake, I can relate to many times I had good reason to fear for my safety in predominately African American neighborhoods. A better example of my observation above concerns my blue eyed, blonde niece, who many years ago traveled to Namibia to teach English following college. She wrote home to her mother with tear stains on the paper describing her being isolated and ostracized by the native nuns at the school where she taught. When she returned home for Christmas, she had finally been accepted. She returned to Namibia following summer vacation for her second school year and all was well.
I believe that those who keep bringing up the past, as a reason to fear the present and future, are not going to be very happy.
Having said that, I also understand trauma, which is a very real factor that impacts people in the here and now with or without their permission. Every reasonable person understands why Mr. White may suffer from re-experiencing, flashbacks, maybe even nightmares. However, he might consider therapy so as to not allow these very real episodes from the past to not rule his present and future, or to form unsupported fears of his Caucasian neighbors, and world views of this country.
I pass folks of color on the street often, and, as is my custom no matter who it is, I nod and perhaps smile. I do observe that a larger percentage of passerbys of color fail to return my nod, often ignoring me or looking at me suspiciously. Why?
What on earth do I have to do with what has happened to a person’s ancestors, perhaps even to them in years past, when
Democratic Jim Crow laws were prevalent in parts of the country? How do we move forward if people of color consider that if one’s skin tone is a lighter shade, then they are suspect of being a racist? The answer is we do not.
These are comments I would ask Mr. White to ponder: When you make a very generic, unsubstantiated statement such as
“But until white America realizes that black children are loved by their parents the same way you love yours, we are all in trouble”, that begins to undermine your mostly thoughtful and cogent points made. People who do not think this, and have never thought of thinking this, will take exception. Just as you would take exception if I stated that “until black America realizes that all white people want is for black people to stop having children out of wedlock, stop assaulting law enforcement when apprehended or stopped for violations, stop killing each other in the streets, then we are all in trouble”. I do hope you get the point I am attempting to make.
When you state “The prisons are full of black folks, and it seems there’s a concerted effort to fill the cemeteries with our bodies long before they can succumb to a natural death”, you again undermine the well reasoned points you have made.
What concerted effort? These are the kind of statements that most people abhor, as it is unnecessarily accusatory, disrespectful to the “decent folks” as you describe your neighbors, and does nothing to advance the fight. The Dept. of Justice national crime statistics do provide a rationale of sorts for the disproportions evident in the prison population. And again, if there is a basis in present day courts in America for your charge of bias due to skin color, then neither I, nor your neighbors, nor any other good citizen is responsible for your perception of injustice occurring TODAY. I do believe that somewhat the opposite is occurring, however. Caucasians are shot by police, and will continue to be, for the same reasons people of color are shot. The difference is, in today’s divisive climate, when it is NOT a Caucasian, the press explodes and marches and riots ensue.
Of course, there is injustice. Always has been, is now, and always will be. The history of injustice is that good people unite to defeat it, and in this country, today, I firmly believe that this is not happening.
It is not happening because the wrong people are being blamed.
And yet- last I checked, there are write in candidates for POTUS.
Oh, your candidate didn’t win like a Superbowl game? Waah.
Your candidate did win and you scream it in public? Good on you- did you actually do anything else other than pull a lever?
At least for a write in candidate you voted for a conscience.
Yea, and the GOP never stooped so low for this election as to insinuate us vs. them.
If anyone only thinks there are 2 flavors for elections,
you’ll get no sympathy, empathy or any other ‘thy from me.
Those are the real ‘snowflakes’.
R.I.F. Reading Is Fundamental.
Voting ain’t shopping, and Robert White’s piece is one of the most articulate and well spoken pieces of writing I’ve seen on this hack wanna be excuse for a
journalism website for many. many moons.
In an overpopulated world, everyone is in direct competition with everyone else, for housing, jobs, land, timber, water, food etc. In this competition, people form teams to better compete. If they couldn’t build these teams based on race, religion, language or class; they would only find something else to base them on. The only way out is contraception. No way lifeboat america can hold 7 billion, or even 300 million.
Yes, birth control. If every time I got busy with a female I had a kid, I’d have sworn of sex and resorted to Penthouse Letters to the Editor years ago.
If it’s good enough for Loretta Lynn to write a song about…
Blame overpopulation on the so called Agricultural Revolution from about 3,000 yrs ago where farmers murdered hunter/gatherers and committed the original genocide, unheard of at the time. Hunter gatherer societies only supported as many inhabitants as the LOCAL resources would keep alive, and they recognized how life worked.
That book of extended metaphors (not literal truth) called the Bible scribed it as the Ballad of Cain (we own land) vs. Abel (we hunt and gather and move about). Abel obviously lost.
Fast forward to ‘civilized’ peoples plowing under the land, nice ideas like owning land, overpopulation, famine and war came into existence.
Those hunter gatherers that whitey likes to subjugate kept population in check for not expanding past what their resources could support.
See also Thomas Malthus.
The extended metaphor of Cain and Able is also why veganism=war. Veggie eaters murdered hunter gatherers. Own it.
But enough about that.
Cops- demonstrate an actual commitment to the oath you swore, otherwise there’s always a high school gym teacher job for you to bully others.
Boatrocker,
Put your keyboard down and go outside and do something for the “things” that outrage you so. Instead of responding to everyone’s comments, which just makes you easier to ignore .
Actually, that’s exactly what I do for all 3 jobs.
Thanks for the suggestions, buttercup.
I dunno. We seem to be doing pretty well at 300+ million. Envy of most of the world.
According to you.
Luggenpresse.
Cite thy sources or else.
Very well written article which describes what many people feel and think right now. Keep up the good work Mr. White!
LOL, I FEEL that Mr White is an ignorant tool that is afraid of where he lives. It reminds of the people who move next to an airport and then complain about the noise. Yet while he is afraid to walk the streets at night for FEELING his life is in danger, has yet to like actually EXPERIENCE any such actions. Well maybe in his own mind but what one assumes and what is reality can be two different things.
I greatly respect the man for what he did. I wish I could be his neighbor to put his mind at ease and let him know everything’s OK. He seems like a really decent guy.
Again, point well made. I believe most of us reading this article would feel the same.
I am certainly not going to dispute anything about your feelings of discrimination or your fears for your personal safety due to skin color. What I am having a VERY hard time with is this: WHY are the Republican party, Trump, and white people in general being blamed, targeted, and maligned for everything that is apparently wrong or unbalanced in the US when we just had a BLACK PRESIDENT FOR 8 YEARS. How is this “our fault”? Trump hasn’t even taken office and yet the Republican party is being faulted for everyone’s dissatisfaction with “equality”. As a white female who had few rights… was spoken down to…was barred from events, jobs and places until about the mid-1970s, I can tell you that I am PROUD that women have worked hard enough to overcome bias and discrimination over the last 4 decades. But I don’t have a chip on my shoulder about every white man out there who oppressed women since the beginning of time. I respect myself more than that. I embrace what we fought for – I have a killer career, a beautiful family, and I am empowered to reach the stars and I inspire my daughter to do the same…respectfully. Reverse discrimination is what? Payback? It’s darkness and vengeance and poison that is being passed down to each generation and literally taking God/Jesus/Love/Compassion/Equality completely out of the equation breeding anger and hate all over again.
1) Paragraphs. For those that read more than 140 characters.
2) Yea, the GOP certainly gave that first black Prez a free ride, for quotes like ‘let him fail’.
3) Spoken down to, barred from events, awwwww. You voted for the p@#$% grabber. Own it.
4)Reverse discrimination? Sorry, post some pics of your white ancestors in chains or being lynched for whistling at a white girl or no dice.
5)Yay! for your career. Money always trumps equality, right?
Wow, Boatrocker, who is the angry one here? You seem to have no desire to rise above it, be a good example, and bring about REAL change. You just stay up there on your anonymous negative soapbox with your hyper-critical tone.
To #4 – does it ever effing end? Please. You have no idea where my family came from or what they’ve endured. So ignorant. And angry. Hmmm.
IMO there’s nobody here more stupid than this guy. He imagines regurgitation of dailykos talking points is intelligence.
And Snowflake, what have you brought to the discussion besides flat out of denials of statistics/facts and a mockery of a real problem in this country? Answer? Nothing. Your goal is to simply cause controversy and fan the flames of hate. My beliefs come from knowing right and wrong, and not a frog named Pepe.
And the more you post, the more you show your true colors- except they’re hidden online under sheets.
Concur, totally. Best just not to engage with the parroting drivel.
Sorry, I’m trying to eat some Kellog’s cereal as I read this but you seem unusually incoherent today.
crunch crunch.
Yes, I get it- You’re a coal miner’s daughter and had it worse than anyone, but I still maintain if your’e a concerned white female your ‘kin’ didn’t get off the boat in chains unless they were criminals and thus folks of color have had it worse. Same with the American Indians.
I do love when whitey whines because they don’t have a White History month- it’s because every month is. Same way there’s not a Childrens’ Day for having Mother and Fathers’ Day- every day is childrens’ day.
I watched some stand up comedy online recently and the dude nailed it. He did an impression of the altright something like
(paraphrasing)
“God! Get over slavery already! It’s been 150 years! I never owned a slave so I couldn’t ever be considered a racist! Martin Luther King was like what 60 years ago. And we have a black Prez now so everything’s cool!
Huh? What? Did someone say 9/11? Never forget man! Never forget!”
Ha, triggered!
For people posting a random phrase with no context like you and having to scroll up and down to see which post is set to the left for trying to figure out what the hell you mean in terms of which comment you are referencing. please learn to write in your native tongue.
Reading is fundamental. Try, just try to stay off social media and stop texting like a 13 year old girl.
Use your words. Nouns and verbs, maybe a subject, otherwise you are the problem.
“Trump hasn’t even taken office and yet the Republican party is being faulted for everyone’s dissatisfaction with “equality”.”
Identity politics. It’s just the nature of the beast. Even democrats are starting to openly admit that this is why they lost the election. Most people see through it and are tired of it. Divisive, hateful. Enough is enough.
Once Drumpf is impeached, you might meet the same fate as French girls who slept with Germans during the French occupation
during WWII.
A shaved head, paraded through town with a sign around the neck and denied essential services- education for the kids, petrol (gas),
employment.
LOL, because Robert White moves into the county and is then afraid of his white neighbors who shoot their guns lulz. Yet is free to move elsewhere like Chicago where when they shoot, it’s usually at each other. Ignorance is colorblind I’m afraid and this guy is full of it.
Mr White would do himself a favor and realize a nation that murders 60 million babies, many of them black because of Planned Parenthood who was founded by Sanger, a self avowed racist and who brought that organization to being primarily to rid the nation of people like him, to not tow the hate the right or Christian ideology. Especially when the leftist in this are more than happy to kill black babies. But black culture is one of unregulated behavior and a strong matriarchy that destroys men.
Not a Hater – Glory be….thank you for your comment! You are so, so right.
I, and most people, have empathy for anyone who feels threatened. The problem is whether it’s a real threat or an imagined one. A very important distinction.
A sincere piece of advice for Robert — turn off the TV and ditch the newspapers! Big corporate media has largely manufactured a narrative that is not true. And politicians have propelled the narrative to suit their own ends. But people buy the spin. Why? Is it because they want to see themselves as victims? Don’t do that, it’s a poor way to view yourself. DO NOT trust the media to do your thinking and observing for you. They will fail you, over and over.
It’s clear Robert has based a lot of belief in the media when he states this, “White men aren’t being stopped and ending up dead for a traffic violation.” — He does not have proof of that. Only that the TV is not depicting it. It doesn’t fit their intended storyline of this era. But, the fact is far more white people than black people are killed by cops in the USA each year.
A few other things: Yes, discrimination flows in many, many directions so it gets a little tiresome when some decide to only focus on the (perceived) discrimination in their life. A bit selfish, don’t you think? My life matters too, Robert, and like Not a Hater, I’ve endured my fair share of undeserved crap because of the preconceived notions of others. But, I don’t feel singled out, I know it affects others too.
A heads-up about a local characteristic that I was unfamiliar with when I moved here. But my neighbor clued me in. There is a fair amount of property crime in metro AVL and, for that reason, homeowners tend to pay attention to new faces around their neighborhoods. Some will strike up conversations with an unknown walker attempting to learn whether that person is a new neighbor or someone random who might be casing the area. It would behoove him and his wife to go introduce themselves to nearby neighbors they haven’t met yet.
Robert, do not believe the false, intentionally divisive and politically expedient narrative.
Uh huh. In your own words, Snowflake, when white power is called out- verbatim.
“Who cares? You don’t get it. We don’t care what you think.
Your smug posturing and moralizing are irrelevant.
The boy has cried wolf too many times.
You and yours re irrelevant.”
From “Dissent is Patriotic” LTE, Mtn X,
All that was missing was a goose step.
I hope that Mr. White reads this letter from Concerned White Female. It eloquently and intelligently describes what many Caucasians are feeling. It might also be observed that it drove many to vote for the President-Elect out of desperation of being blamed by the elites, by the press, by the liberal left, of causing all the woes Mr. White describes.
Anyone who negatively views her letter obviously has not known hardship and discrimination, and risen above it out of self respect and hard work. So be wary of how you respond!
Discrimination? Not as far as I know, unless it was being told by an older black lady as a child that all white people smell like baloney. I somehow rose above that. Hardship? hmmmm, I guess you know everyone’s life story here. Ever been so broke you had to wipe the arse with a coffee filter?
chuckling- you did imply that nobody has it as rough.
White whining is what the ‘blacks are the real racists’ tripe is. Any whitey that plays the ‘reverse racism’ card really needs to see a movie called “White Man’s Burden”. Harry Belafonte plays such an arrogant but not overtly bigoted ‘white’ guy, as the shoe is on the other foot.
I don’t understand how the idea of having a president of color automatically translates into meaning oh-look-now-there’s-no-racism-anymore. It seems to me that the insidious nature of treating others who look different as less-than (the me-first, you second, “I” deserve over you) stems from equality feeling like oppression to the privileged who don’t recognize or understand the deleterious effects of that privilege on others on a daily basis. I know I never felt like I had to have the conversation with my lily white skinned son that he best not wear that hooded sweatshirt when he went out with his friends lest he be thought of as up to no good and his life might be in danger for it. The point being, why did I not feel that way? – my “privilege” in society? – There are no easy remedies to fear.
“The point being, why did I not feel that way?”
Could be because you taught your lily white son to respect and obey the law, which by necessity also means respecting and obeying those who are authorized to enforce those laws. Persons who have not internalized these things can and do have real problems when dealing with authority figures. If you want to call that privilege, that’s your business.
Laughing hysterically- yea, ’cause those authority figures in power (cops) always do the right thing.
Tory.
A sort of the Guardians “The Counted” data for 2015 reveals a TOTAL of 105 unarmed males shot and killed by police last year…44 were white, 38 black, 20 Hispanic, and 3 other. Instead of jumping to claims of bias purely on numbers, actually read the reports and available news coverage.
If you examine only the 38 unarmed black male shootings, 75% (14 people struggled with the officer, 7 reached for the officers weapon, 5 made suspicious moves or were believed to have pointed a weapon and 2 dragged the officer in a car) may be legally justified if the officer had a reasonable fear for their life or great bodily harm. If true, you end up with 10 incidents that are questionable.
On the other side, in some of these 2015 shooting fatalities of unarmed black men, police officers have been arrested or charged in cases such as Anthony Hill, Eric Harris [officer convicted], Walter Scott, William Chapman II [officer convicted], Samuel Dubose, and Paterson Brown Jr. [mistrial] with others still under investigation.
To give a sense of perspective, out of a black population of 39 MILLION and an estimated 2-1/2 MILLION annual arrests of blacks of which 10 questionable “unarmed” shooting incidents occurred in 2015. Statistically, how is this proof that black lives don’t matter to police?
How many of those 44 whitey deaths at the hands of cops were unarmed with hands in plain sight, reaching for a driver’s license, screaming that they were unarmed and not resisting or otherwise not breaking the law for a traffic stop, O Sultan of Statistics?
Enquiring minds would love to know.
“whitey deaths”….. this phrase sounds a little bigoted and you are deflecting from the FACTS. Was your last reference to a traffic stop, referring to Sandra Bland who died as a result of committing suicide?
Several shooting deaths of white people by police occurred in 2015 that appear unprovoked. In one case, David Kassick was lying down when he was shot twice in the back. Ryan Bolinger was shot when he got out of his car and ‘danced around’. Jeremy Mardis (age 6) a passenger in a car was shot by two black police officers, Andrew Thomas was shot once in the neck as he emerged from a vehicle that he had crashed while intoxicated, Jason Brady was was shot accidentally by deputy Joel Jenkins, a neighbor who was reportedly intoxicated, etc.
But this doesn’t fit the MSM narrative so you hardly hear it reported. What many people find troubling is Black Lives Matter erroneous claim that “black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise”. This is supported by the actual data if you actually examine the police shooting stats.
*NOT supported by the actual data…
Well whoopy do! White folks being gunned down with no provocation. Know what that proves?
Police in the country are out of control, over-militarized thugs post Patriot Act and we as a nation fear them vs respect them, which is horrible to consider.
Gone are the Norman Rockwell days when a cop was someone you called when you needed help.
Now the NRA maniacs tout collecting an arsenal in your home vs maybe keeping rifle for hunting and a holdout pistol and rail on about
‘when the #$%^ hits the fan’ like it’s The Walking Dead. “Cuz the cops ain’t gonna help you!”, etc.
Either way, what rational person would ever trust the police who refuse to demonstrate accountability or transparency?
I think your above listed examples reinforce that point.
As for using the term ‘whitey’, waah.
Consider many of the altright code words used on threads like these to describe ‘them’ (everyone else in a world of 7.5 billion) and tell me how they are any less offensive. Poor us, we don’t have a White History Month and no textbooks evvvvver cover our contributions to world history.
See why it’s so important to call cops out when they act as judge, jury and executioner? Because today it’s a black in a city far away, or even here in town. Tomorrow it might be someone you love and then I guarantee you’ll find it to be a problem.
@boatrocker
“As for using the term ‘whitey’, waah.” So now you are “bigotry-splaining”??
Of course there are bad cops as there are bad people in any profession but you have to compare the numbers of bad shootings to the average 9-10 MILLION annual arrests and much larger number of police/civilian interactions.
Your judge, jury and executioner argument is a straw man argument and it avoids the legitimate use of deadly force a “reasonable’ officer can use if they fear great bodily harm. You focus only on “police out of control” but dodge the FACT that there are large numbers of violent criminals who break laws and do not want to be arrested. Do you really expect every felon with a long arrest record to peacefully surrender?
@boatrocker
Quote from Washington Post: John Hopkins University researchers estimate that “medical errors” in hospitals and other health-care facilities may now be the third-leading cause of death in the United States — claiming 251,000 lives every year. Why is this not widely covered in the media?
Applying general population demographics, this would mean that over 35,000 blacks are annually killed by medical errors. That is approximately 3,500 TIMES the annual number of innocent unarmed black males shot and killed by police. Perhaps BLM needs to change its name to Black Patient Lives Matter and start protesting hospitals and clinics. They won’t do this since BLM is not really concerned about all black lives, but rather furthering a political agenda.
” since BLM is not really concerned about all black lives, but rather furthering a political agenda” — exactly, Roland.
It does not cease to amaze me that these “organizations” pop-up out of nowhere (just one day they appear and manage to get scads of MSM coverage) and all of the hystericals jump on board not even researching a tad to see who’s behind it, funding it, observing to see if their actions match their words and stated purpose. It’s almost as if a part of the population are zombies who get triggered into action based on certain words/themes spouted from the TV. (Hey, I’m on to something there.)
Anyhow, yes, knowing who started and funds BLM reveals what they’re really up to.
Even 1 dirty cop is 1 too many. For them having a piece on their hip. See, if it were simply a dirty Target or Burger King employee who was stealing office supplies, nobody dies from that.
1 dirty cop is 1 too many.
And as usual, The Real World (1992 MTV Productions) is obsessing about his Jewish boogey men.
Between you and Snowflake (if you are actually two different posters as your views fit together so nicely like a tongue and groove
for carpentry),
what you do in the privacy of your own home online really isn’t my business is it?
Who exactly funds BLM again? I’d like to hear you say it in print.
@boatrocker
As always, ad hominems are the first response of those with nothing to say. You mention no one dies from Target or Burger King employees (what kind of argument is that??) but conveniently leave out all the innocent civilians that are raped, robbed, assaulted and murdered by criminals, the very people that police have to find and arrest. Very convenient of you to totally ignore this.
Defund local police! Many city social programs prevent more crime per dollar than city police funding; without shooting innocent people! We just need to demand that municipal governments transfer the funds!
Meanwhile, more than 700 homicides in Chicago alone so far this year (mostly black-on-black crime). Why don’t those black lives matter?
Uh, actually they do. Do you really think nobody mourns them like the high profile cases we read about on a daily basis? Wow.
I would like to say, “well done, with the community garden!” https://communitygarden.org/find-a-garden/gardens/pisgah-view-community-peace-garden/
From the website: “We hope to improve our community by “Becoming the change we wish to see in the world.” — Yes, indeed.
A well fed (by one’s own labors) activist is an effective one. Cool garden.
I’d be curious to know more about his stint as a radio announcer.
My life matters!
Great. Here’s a cookie. When a family member of yours is gunned down by corrupts cops for driving while black, unarmed and not resisting, then you can join WLM. Then you can be beaten by the same cops for demonstrating for justice.
“My neighbors are all white; I hear gunfire all the time. Big guns, huge guns, semi-automatic guns — and, now and then, fully automatic guns.”
What did he think it would be like in Leicester?
Now this one is actually funny. When I moved from Leicester many years ago closer to town, I had trouble sleeping for missing the gunfire.
I was never sure if it was just the neighbors having fun and wasting ammo or if they were actually hunting.
That’s where I learned the NSFW joke about two hunters watching their dog.
I’m really surprised. I live in a more wild, redneck area and hardly ever hear guns.
Turn down the skinhead music on the stereo. Or maybe you just have more acreage such that the sound doesn’t carry?
Irrelevant.
Thank you Bob.
Hatred is hatred! Our country suffers because we all think way to highly of ourselves. I live in a predominantly white, rural community. I work in an elementary school in the nearby city that is 99% minoritiy.ost of my coworkers are not white… I don’t look at my neighbors, my students or my coworkers differently unless they, any of them, give me reason. This guy needs to get out and meet his neighbors. Do good things for them. Get to know them and let them get to know you. If I stayed out here in my, I have to admit, based solely on the news and hesdlines, I might feel differently. Don’t wait for your neighbors to “stop by”. You could do a lot to help them grow their world a bit!
Fire up the grill, and suddenly you’ll have a few folks sniffing around wondering what’s for dinner.
That’s how I’ve always gotten to know my new neighbors- by inviting them over, chowing down and having a good time together.
Only the lowest of low would eat your food and then make a backhanded racist remark. If that happens, good fences do make for good neighbors.
Remember, bigots don’t demonstrate their true ahem, colors unless they have strength in numbers. Usually it’s done online, as they scatter like cockroaches when the light hits them.
Thank you Bob. That was a well-written and courageous piece of writing. May your gardens be safe and blessed.
Well said, I have both great sorrow and yet great hope. Thank you for being willing to open up about how you see the world. Hope I have the privilege to meet you someday soon!
Respect for ALL life matters. Smarten up.
Bravo! Author! Nobody has ever, ever changed the subject like that before when discussing out of control cops gunning down people of color.
If your statement were the case in America, the original LTE would then be a moot point.
Leicester is a big place and White’s real risk depends a great deal on exactly which part of Leicester he is in, which determines who his neighbors are. He doesn’t say and I wasn’t able to look him up to find out. There have been racist attacks in Leicester within the decade.
Robert your story is an amazing story about our country and where we are today. I can say that I have felt similar ways that you have in places I have lived. I have recently been stationed to the United states from Germany where I was stationed in the United States Army. While I was in Germany there was a large influx of immigrants to Germany and the entire countries climate changed. We had soldiers in our organization being assaulted, their family members were targeted, and several soldiers were killed outside of work. Aside from all of this any person I met that was from Syria were amazing honest people. I honestly felt more apprehension moving back to the United States from Germany because of our obsession with violence in our country. In Europe the culture is so much more laid back it seems so much safer than the rampant chaos of our American cities. People will always fear what they don’t know and what they don’t understand. To understand why our nation is so divided right now you have to look at where people learn today, and how their beliefs are disproved or reinforced. I work with people from all over the world every day, people of all races and creeds and they are all amazing people. I am sure most people can say that they know great people that are white, and great people of color. Some of us interact with these people every day.
The problem is that we are each bombarded every day with a constant stream of hate and division, on the web, on the news and in our music. The good that is inside of us ends up being buried to the point where we begin second guessing things we never took for granted. We self indoctrinate ourselves to the worst possible outcomes in every scenario, because that all we hear about. Whether its someone seeing a girl wearing a Hijab and thinking she might have a bomb, someone at a traffic stop sees a black man and they lock their car door, or someone sees a white man in flannels and they look to see if he is carrying a gun. Our culture is drip fed lines of hatred and division while the possibilities for success and self betterment continued to be raised further from our grasp. Many of us in our nation whether we are white, black, brown or yellow, are all struggling for the same thing, and many of us are barely making it by. Someone certainly benefits from us struggling among ourselves for the tiny scraps of bread that are thrown down from on high. Someone certainly benefits from us being divided and not unified. As a nation we have become so divided that many people don’t realize that poverty doesn’t have a color, struggles don’t have a color, and that by somehow stratifying ourselves into further classes of the advantaged helps no one.
Black folks have it worse in our country, there is no denying that truth. Police in our country need a complete overhaul to there rules of engagement, and the way they conduct business. When it comes down to it though, it isn’t just the police that need to change, we do too. Our culture is one that glorifies and embraces violence in all its methods, this has not helped us and can never help us in the pursuit of a better world. The things you wrote are soul scorching, from what you wrote above you are a man that has accomplished much and earned a piece of prosperity. You have reached your american dream, you own land have a beautiful piece of heaven, but because of whats gone on in our nation and what continues to go on its like ashes in your mouth. I can’t pretend to know your life or what you have went through, but what I can do is hope. I hope that each day is better for you in your beautiful home, I hope that you never have to face bigotry in the place you have worked so hard to earn. I hope that you are able to gain the happiness and peace you deserve in your new home, and I hope we as Americans can only seek to be better and more understanding with each new day. But I won’t lie the things in our country scare me, there is a hatred alive in our nation that will tear us to pieces if we let it. I am worried that my children won’t grow up in a neighborhood where kids of all races and creeds meet together and play street ball, that instead we are simply divided in racial cells that block out all understanding, and strangle any chance for growth.
Thank you so much for your post, Mr. White. Much respect.
It was great to hear that you and your family had made that move that you’d been talking about since I met you. I suspect that your concerns about being out in the country are also felt by others who would like to follow your example and are part of what keep some of us close in to the urban centers. Thank you for articulating your experience, fears, hopes for the public. May your positive actions and honest expression truths lift the fog of disillusion and cut through the catch-phrase and reaction-based competitive non-dialogs for all of us who care to hear your message and plan for our own dreams and gardens.