RACISM PRECEDES RACE: Dylann Roof Provides An Example

 “Scott Roof, who identified himself as the suspect’s cousin, told The Intercept that “Dylann was normal until he started listening to that white power music stuff.”

He claims that “he kind of went over the edge when a girl he liked starting dating a black guy two years back.” He added, “Dylann liked her … The black guy got her”

from WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE CHARLESTON GUNMAN, 

NY MAG JUNE 2016 

This quote is not precisely an example of racism preceding race. But it's pretty close.

Establishing that racism precedes the social construction of  race, racial categories, is important because there is a huge, predominantly white, crowd of people that are always searching for a way to say that "race" isn't real so just ignore racism and both will go away.

One of the ways this race-isn't-real group makes its position sound morally superior is by saying
 

ONCE UPON A TIME 

THERE WAS ONLY THE HUMAN RACE. 

WE WERE ALL ONE 

BEFORE RACE, CLASS, AND MONEY
DIVIDED US. 

First of all, I'd like to know what pink colored sky, 100s of rainbows with pots gold at the end for everybody to share type world, this EVER happened in. You can't even get to it via time machine. But racism didn't come into the world after race. Racism came into the world first and then race, racial categories came afterward.

Ta-Nehisi Coates gets credit for putting it succinctly:  "Racism Precedes Race" But, Howard Zinn wrote a pretty good paragraph or ten in "People's History Of The United States" on how this deliberately done in the United States by Rich Europeans to keep people divided and categorized so as to secure wealth.

But I can demonstrate it racism precedes race, just using this quote. And if you know how very badly one group always wants to feel better than another, they you'll understand how rich white people got the poor white people to go along with believing in and executing race categories in the first place.  

The quote again:

 “Scott Roof, who identified himself as the suspect’s cousin, told The Intercept that “Dylann was normal until he started listening to that white power music stuff.”

He claims that “he kind of went over the edge when a girl he liked starting dating a black guy two years back.” He added, “Dylann liked her … The black guy got her”

RACISM PRECEDES RACE EXAMPLE A:

Step 1 of Creating Racism in Self

What you are greedy for is observed - a girl

Step 2  Creating Racism in Self

The reason you can't have it is some observed difference. he's a different color

Step 3 Creating Race

The observed difference, the different skin color,  means he IS OTHER. And his being other is what makes him evil and inferior (an idea that was fostered by the music)

CONCLUSION  Race is created as justification for resentment as it takes the eyes off ones own inferiority and/or the girl's choice.


* * * * *
RACISM PRECEDES RACE EXAMPLE B:

I can see this happening the very first time a white man sees another race. Let use a Native American as an example:

1)  You see what you are greedy for

Free land and free resources

2) The reason you can't have it is a person in your way with an observed difference

men and women of different a skin color, face shape, hair color, hair texture, culture - they are different and even too stupid to even understand what they have

3) The observed difference is willfully made inferior and/or evil

   They are other, a different race, maybe a different and inferior species. People in this inferior category don't deserve to have this land/resource when I don't have land.

Race has been created as justification for stealing land

Do you see? The reason (greed) for the hatred (ethnoracism) came first. The hated object was only given a category that othered-him/her afterward (race)
Gee, I guess racism STILL requires soul searching and taking action based on what you find. 

WHITE TWITTER GOES NUTS OVER BOMANI JONES SLIGHTLY ALTERED T-SHIRT

ACCEPTABLE WHITE BOY CHIC

This is being sold all over the internet right now
....just like it has been for decades now

SAME THEME DIFFERENT TARGET,

WORN BY BOMANI JONES ON ESPN

ALL OF A SUDDEN

A BUNCH OF WHITE FOLK
SEE
AND UNDERSTAND

Mocking another group
Being racially targetedStereotyping
What is and is not political correctness

You'd think that this Caucasians t-shirt would remove the sawdust and hayseeds from their eyes and allow them to see how this t-shirt also mocks a racial-racial other, targets a racial other, and that criticism of this t-shirt is not about poltiical correctness. 

BUT NOOO

THIS SHIRT IS STILL
OKAY
GOOD OLE WHITE BOY CHIC

But the shirt blow?
White twitter has spoken and
"That's racist" 

It's like there is some sort of special sorcery blocking white people's vision when it comes to mocking racial others for fun. It's like they think it's their right to stereotype and mock racial others and it is ONLY their right to do so.
Well, I guess it's not sorcery. It's just that the only race-based negativity that matters to many white people is the race-based negativity that's aimed at white people.  

How else can you see both of these t-shirts and only understand how ONE of them is communicating in stereotypes?
 

From Love Life Of An Asian Guy

"What we have here, this is the same thing that goes on with the logo for the Cleveland Indians, right? So, to have a problem with the logo of this, would be to have a problem with the Indians, but if you’re quiet about the Indians, and you got something to say about my shirt, I think it’s time for introspection. I think that’s a fair thing to ask."

Like a BDSM version of Pavlov's dog who responds to the sound of a leather whip cracking on a plump booty, whypipo on Twitter had an instant, collective meltdown.

    "Well, what if I wore a shirt that said NEGRO with a Black man on it?!"

     "THIS IS RACISTTT!"

Now, here's what I noticed: these Y-people can understand the "offensiveness" of Bomani's 'Caucasian' shirt but will also deny any issue with other racist teams (Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, Chicago Blackhawks.)

Racism is one part ignorance. But a lot of its other parts are pure b.s. and rational as hell. This ignorance is willful. Believing that this mess is even 50% ignorance, believing that explaining racism will cure MOST racism, is like walking around expecting that all the billing errors that you will ever experience in your life will fall in your favor instead of the company's.  
READ MORE:
https://www.facebook.com/theLLAG/photos/a.493561587401992.1073741825.100744900016998/1014063215351824/?type=3&theater 

REACT OR DIE: IT'S DANGEROUS TO BE BLACK IN BRAZIL

THIS SEEMS TRUE 

DESPITE BRAZIL HAVING 

THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF AFRICA-DESCENDED FOLK 

OUTSIDE OF AFRICA ITSELF. 

THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO "INVISIBLIZE" RACE, 

NOMINALLY ERASE RACE, 

AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS

 BEFORE THE U.S.

TRIED TO DO THE SAME 

HAS HAD IT'S EFFECT IN BRAZIL

 * * * * *

"As Salvador kicked off Carnival, residents of Cabula...gathered to commemorate the murder of twelve black people on Feb. 6, 2015

Brazilian newspapers called "The Cabula 12" would be bank robbers and glorified the police officers as heroes. Yet, once more the victims of these police shootings were mostly black and poor black as Amnesty International says they are at least 80% of the time.

Autopsy reports showed, according to one article, that these "bank robbers" died on their knees with their hands on their heads. A secret video tape of what looks like a hospital corridor shows that three of the "robbers" have bullet holes in their backs.

Brazil's population is 50% of that of the United States. "Yet Brazil's police have managed to kill "more people in a five year span than U.S. police have killed in the last 30 years."

“The numbers are equivalent to a country at war,” said Hamilton Borges, a black liberation leader and founder of the anti-police violence movement Reaja ou Sera Morta, meaning “React or Die.” 

...Days after the massacre, protests erupted in slums throughout Salvador. Family members broke their silence and spoke to the media. During the carnival, a popular Afro-bloco group staged a die-in honoring Cabula and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. Countless murals dot the city with the words: “We will never forget those killed in Cabula.”

America.Aljazeera.com 

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2016/2/25/the-cabula-12-brazil-police-war-blacks.html

 * * * * *

Cops in Brazil
Image Source: Twitter

The protests make it sound like a new day is dawning in the black areas of Brazil. 

And black people in this country need to take notice of the fact that maybe we are a part of that new dawn.  Black people in other countries are looking at us and they have been since long before Black Lives Matter.

We, as Black Americans, have power that those in Brazil don't, power that those in France don't.

We, with our whole 13% and American ideals,  have the ability to make ourselves heard in this country and also on the world stage. And we've probably had this power, without most of us being very aware of it, since Civil Rights Leaders used television so effectively to show how the United States was beating and lynching black people in the 1950s and 1960s for doing things as simple as trying to live free and vote.

 

I consider the willingness of the protests in Brazil to stand up another victory for Aliza Garza, Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors and their entire Black Lives Matter movement. And if the Black Lives Matter first function is to act like a spotlight, then let us all turn our eyes to the south, toward Brazil, and lift up their struggle.

If the U.S. can be embarrassed into treating us better than the did prior to the 1960s, Brazil can be embarrassed into stopping it's police force from murdering black people at will.

We, as black people, should always see ourselves as being part of a world struggle.
    

Read More On the deaths of The Cabula 12 
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/02/fighting_a_black_genocide_in_brazil.html


Read More On How Very Differently Race Is Constructed In Brazilhttp://thankherforsurviving.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-social-construction-of-race-in.html

AMERICA FERRERA ON RACISM IN HOLLYWOOD

[At an audition] America Ferrera received a note that there was already a Latino actor cast in the film, and thus her chances were slim to none. So she decided to take a stand.

"I defiantly bleached my hair blond, painted my face white and made the audition tape," Ferrera said. She didn't get the part. "Let me tell you: Blond does not suit me. I try not to prove my point on audition tapes anymore."

Ferrera described the situation as feeling "powerless" — that what was keeping her from getting this role was totally out of her control. "What do you do when someone says, 'Your color skin is not what we're looking for'?" she told the Times.

http://mic.com/articles/136095/america-ferrera-shares-her-experiences-fighting-against-racism-in-hollywood-auditions#.pcuUM1DJh

It has always amazed me at how the slightest tinge of color in your skin can make you "not white" It's amazing. 

Black Actresses Left Ladder /  Cosby Actresses Far Right LadderFew Exceptions to the Darker Means Less Work/Less Money Rule

And the further you get from "not white" the more your chances decrease as far as getting roles. Prior to Shonda Rhimes, Mara Brock Akil and other black people going to work BEHIND THE CAMERA and influencing actress choices, you could see which black women were having "an easier time" in Hollywood based on their skin shade.  In fact, with black actresses, you can actually put them in order by skin shade and you will simultaneously be putting them in order by their net worth.

Racism in Hollywood isn't all about skin color though. America Ferrera is fairly pale. Some of her exclusion is due to non-white facial features too. And her last name announces she's not likely not-white before she shows up to audition probably isn't helping her either. Her last name may increase her "foreign" look once she stands before those with weak minds --unless a Latina is truly pale enough to pass ala Cameron Diaz.

 Asians whose features look more white have an "easier time" in Hollywood too. That's why Julie Chen had surgery to make her appearance less Asian. And it worked. She got more work and she's famous now. 

Liberal Hollywood has a long way to go on the anti-racism front. OscarsSoWhite the 2016 sequel  is just the part of the iceberg that's riding above the crest of the waves. 

Dear white people in the fashion world...

African model Nykhor Paul blasts white makeup artists for neglecting black beauty

Dear white people in the fashion world! 

Please don't take this the wrong way but it's time you people get your shit right when it comes to our complexion!

Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional show when all the other white girls don't have to do anything but show up wtf! Don't try to make me feel bad because I am blue black its 2015 go to Mac, Bobbi Brown, Makeup forever, Iman cosmetic, black opal, even Lancôme and Clinique carried them plus so much more. there's so much options our there for dark skin tones today.

A good makeup artist would come prepare and do there research before coming to work because often time you know what to expect especially at a show! Stop apologizing it's insulting and disrespectful to me and my race it doesn't help, seriously! Make an effort at least!

That goes for NYC, London, Milan, Paris and Cape Town plus everywhere else that have issues with black skin tones. Just because you only book a few of us doesn't mean you have the right to make us look ratchet. I'm tired of complaining about not getting book[ed] as a black model and I'm definitely super tired of apologizing for my blackness!!!!

Fashion is art, art is never racist it should be inclusive of all not only white people, shit we started fashion in Africa and you modernize and copy it! Why can't we be part of fashion fully and equally?

 * * * * * *
I had no idea. It is 2015. But, she has bigger problems than the make-up artists. Apparently, this issue is so-much-nothing to the people that employ her that she can't even complain to the modeling agency itself or the people running a particular show. 

The basics of professionalism don't matter the person complaining is black?


 If a make-up artist failed to show up with ENOUGH SHADES of pale pink lipstick he or she probably wouldn't get another gig.

I just read another story where Tyra Banks said it's an unwritten rule that there can only be one black supermodels out of 10 supermodels at any given moment. So I imagine that down in the trenches, long before the supermodel status, there is an entire 10% of non-pale females, that make artists just don't bother to bring make-up for?
I haven't read a fashion magazine in approximately a jupiter century.  Are the magazines whiter than 90% white? Just glancing at a magazine, standing on line at the grocery store, I know it's less than 10%. But even if the percentage of non-white models is 5%, how can you show up for work and be unprepared 1 out of 20 times consistently --and still have a job?

Where can I get a job and just not bother to do it right 1 in 20 times and still get paid? Do you have to be white to qualify for jobs like that?

TRAYVON MARTIN VERDICT Anniversary

"Several years ago, as I was leaving for a dawn run (still dark outside), I was followed by a young man.  

I walked, he walked; I ran, he ran; I ran faster, he ran faster. 

When there was no doubt he was chasing me, I stopped and asked him what he wanted. He simply beckoned to me, saying, "Come here, come here." 

I responded, "YOU need to get away from me," as I assumed my fighting stance: feet apart, keys between fingers.

He stood there for a few moments and then began slowly backing away; he finally turned and ran back in the direction from which he'd come. 

Had he continued toward me and got within striking distance, this was my plan: stab him in the eyes with the keys and immediately kick him in his "man parts," and if that worked, beat his head into the concrete until he was unconscious or someone pulled me off of him. 

Yes, I would have struck first as a total stranger was pursuing me in the dark for apparently no good reason."

~ Gloria’s Story

**********************************
Seems like Gloria had a logical reaction to me. Even if there had been no dialogue between her and her stalker, and Gloria had wound up having to turn around and kick him in his assets, it STILL seems like a logical reaction. And I think it might seem like that way to 95% of the population, if they read her story too...for so long as race remained out of the picture. 

Now this might not be right, but it is mostly certainly true that the image George Zimmerman presented on the night he killed Trayvon Martin looks very similar to the image presented on television and in movies, over and over again, as the thief, the rapist, and the murderer. On THAT night George Zimmerman looked very much like 1,001+ actors who have landed the role of Hispanic Thug on shows presented on FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, FOX AGAIN and a motion picture near you. 

If this same man, as pictured above, had been the one going home after getting skittles and tea, and then someone who could be cast as Mike Brady had done the killing, the very same people who support Zimmerman NOW would be JUST as unable to see past his Hispanic stereotype and acknowledge him as a victim. 

That's just as galling as it is ironic. And don’t you wonder what kind of book Zimmerman's father would have written then? 

In either case, Zimmerman as real chaser or as fictional chase-ee, I'm trying to imagine the conditions in which a logical person could perceive the chaser as the one whose fright counts most in a confrontational “misunderstanding” where someone ends up dead ... without some bone-marrow deep racism being involved. 

There’s no doubt, racially speaking, that things have improved in this country. We have a black president and at least 1/3 of the white population voted for him. This was unthinkable just 20 years ago, and maybe even 8 years ago. And despite the wishful thinking of covert and overt racists all over the United States, the Trayvon Martin case is NOT even close to being divided straight down racial lines. Things are not exactly like they were during the Rodney King trials. Thank God. 

Even so, George Zimmerman's personal store of racism is a drop in the bucket as compared to the amount of racism it took to support a murderer's right to kill Trayvon Martin this year.

The people that water, shine light on, and fertilize the Zimmermans of this country do more than enable racism. They have turned all these Zimmermans, these cowardly weasels with guns, into the unstable weapons of mass destruction that they are, taken all together. And the passing of these “Stand Your Ground” type laws was the enabler's way of pushing THE BUTTON. But without seeing day-to-day hate in their own mirrors and racial epithets foaming out of their own mouths, the superiority remains. And that superiority sans much hate remains invisible to them…but not to the rest of us. 

More importantly, in this condition they will never recognize themselves as Zimmerman's accomplices. And those that tsk-tsk this first group of enablers/accomplices for some stray “politically incorrect word ” or two, will be perfectly comfortable in calling these people “friends." And they won’t recognize their own roles as secondary accomplices either. 

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”

— George Burns

The election of President Barack Obama is two steps forward. But more than half(?) the country being unable to recognize Trayvon Martin, a man-child of 17, as a human-being frightened of a stranger following him in the dark, frightened enough to stand HIS GROUND and fight back just like Gloria would have - in Klan Country no less - is likely three steps back.* 

If Mamie Till were still alive to see all this, I wonder if we would be able to stand hearing her tell us why the accomplices said her son deserved to die. I wonder if she would be able to tell us how to make these accomplices take responsibility for what they’ve created --- and how she lived with it when many of the accomplices of her time never took responsibility for a thing. I wonder if she would be able to tell us all how to move forward again anyway.

*http://www.pbs.org/harrymoore/terror/k.html 

Originally written the day after the verdict.
#BlackLivesMatter Was Conceived By Alicia Garza,  Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi as a result of what happened to Trayvon Martin. And #BlackLivesMatter has turned a national spotlight on a number of cases, including Freddie Gray's. 

2014 UNARMED & KILLED BY POLICE ALL IN 60 SECONDS

VIDEO FROM NOW THIS




Not sure of the demographics or all ethnicities, but


VICTIM COUNT


1 WHITE WOMAN

3 BLACK WOMEN (Mariam Carey Missing)

4 LATINO MEN

7 WHITE MEN

17 BLACK MEN





POLICE

5 INDICTED


8 NOT CHARGED OR INDICTED

 

17 UNDER INVESTIGATION

A HANDMADE CARD FOR HARMONY'S BIRTHDAY

 

A few days ago, when I read this for the first time, all I could really think about was
how hurt I was as a little girl when things like this were directed at me.



I was trying to imagine how upset I would have been if my friends parents, Laura Watt's parents had been different.  If Laura's parents hadn't been kind, generous white people with one foot inside always inside hippy culture, if they hadn't been as open as they were, I wonder how many different shades of devastated I'd have been if Laura had given me a card like this in 4th or 5th grade....or any grade.



Looking at this story again, I see that a 10 year old white
girl drew her friend a pretty card; knows that being a racist ("races")
is a bad thing; and hopes her mother will change her father's mind.

Judging by the video, the little white girl's hopes were dashed.



In the video, Harmony's Father said that the birthday party went off without a hitch. And maybe it really did. Everything  probably was okay during the party itself.  But Harmony wasn't okay. I know she wasn't  because I wasn't. My parents always wanted to believe the same thing when I was targeted because of my skin color. And I helped them believe everything was "okay." As young as 7 or 8 years old I knew what I was supposed to say.  I knew how to make my parents less upset on my behalf.



It still amazes me when parents say 'bad thing *x* happened yesterday, but then we did fun thing *y* immediately afterward. So she forgot all about it'  ...especially when bad thing *x* contains a suitcase full of racism that weighs more than the little person expected to carry it.



Still, I'm hoping Harmony genuinely did have the happiest of birthdays this year. Maybe her mind really didn't travel back to the moment she opened this card/folded note---not during the party anyway. And I hope she won't remember reading the note OR the reaction of her parents when they first read it... not too often, anyway.




I also hope the little white girl was at least somewhat distracted the night of the party. But better she had a night full of tears over being left out than lose the knowledge that her father's actions were
indeed racist and hateful --even though she loves him. Ten years old is rather a young age to figure out that you can love a person but despise some of what is inside them.



But she can do it. Others have. Others can. Others will.



More than anything, I hope that neither one of these girls ever completely forgets this incident and that we don't either.



I wonder what kind of artwork was drawn on the cover of the card?






READ MORE/SEE VIDEO  http://abc7chicago.com/562622/

GOT HIM!!! McKinney Pool Party Officer ERIC CASEBOLT RESIGNS

ERIC CASEBOLT IS NO LONGER A POLICE OFFICER


He should have been fired.  

And I know I'm hoping against hope for charges.  But that arrogant S.O.B.  is out of a job.  



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/09/eric-casebolt-police-resignation_n_7547804.html

McKinney Pool Party: SIGN A PETITION to stop ERIC CASEBOLT from doing this yet again.

BACKGROUND in case you missed the main story:  

Super Trooper ERIC CASEBOLT went to see about a complaint about a disruption at a public pool (too many black kids in one place) He ignored white teens to chase black teens and order them to the ground.  He didn't like something a 14 or 15 year old girl in a bikini down said, so he yanked her to the ground, then up, then down again. She was screaming for her mother the entire time. When she became hysterical a few boys ran to her aid and this nut job pulled a gun on them.

Watch the first few seconds of the video closely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R46-XTqXkzE  The super cop, super trooper tag is earned in the first few seconds. That runt cop, runs, drops into a barrel roll and runs again like he's chasing bank robbers instead of children

Other than his name, there are a couple of things you should know about ERIC CASEBOLT - otherwise known as super trooper. His racial attitudes are made clear in the article link below. But the most important thing you should know is that ERIC CASEBOLT has used his power as a police officer to abuse an African American before.

Eric Casebolt At Christmas Party - From Facebook/Heavy.com

ERIC CASEBOLT was the subject of a federal lawsuit for pulling a black man's pants down on the highway -as his partner beat him up. I'll let you read the disgusting details of Albert E Brown Jr's abuse here.( http://heavy.com/news/2015/06/eric-casebolt-mckinney-texas-police-officer-cop-suspended-black-teens-pool-party-arrest-video-leave-investigation-photo-gun-background-name/)

Brown's case was dismissed because Brown had charges filed against him. It is unclear as to whether Casebolt's charges (1) marijuana possession and  (2) "he tried to grab my gun"  were THE charges that allowed the judge to dismiss the case or not but Brown was told to refile later. And like the Rockerfeller he was not,  Brown didn't hire another attorney and file another complaint after watching this clear case of abuse be dismissed once already.

I wonder if the statute of limitations has run out for Brown. It was long ago. Probably. Maybe he'll get to testify at this clown's trial.

Even if there's no trial, let's at least make the effort to have him fired. He pulled a gun on black children.

Please sign one or both petitions. (Links below the image) 

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/fire-officer-eric-casebolt/?sp_ref=125998333.176.14187.f.57645.3&referring_akid=.1726395.D5myzQ&source=fb_sp


https://www.change.org/p/mckinney-police-department-fire-mckinney-tx-officer-eric-casebolt-and-charge-him-with-official-oppression?just_created=true

PANEL - BLACK WOMEN & THE WORK PLACE

7 MINUTES ON

     - BLACK WOMEN'S CHOICES & EXPERIENCES 

     - "WHEN PATRICIA ARQUETTE SAID 'WOMEN' SHE MEANT WHITE WOMEN." (Wage gap with White Women - White Women get paid 78 cents on the dollar as compared to men. And Black women get paid 64 cents on the dollar as compared to men.)

      - "YOU HAVE TO BE TWICE AS GOOD AS THEM TO GET HALF OF WHAT THEY HAVE" (most black folk have heard this since birth)



(The Nightly Show is on Comedy Central)



Christina Greer (Assistant Professor, Fordham University)

"We need to think about this historically...Let's just take FDR. He had to make concessions with White Southerner....He excluded black domestics....in order to make *The New Deal* happen... A lack of wealth was able to be built."



Jacque Reid (Co-Host New York Live)
   "We are dealing with the same issues tht a lot of black men deal with -with advancing in the work places. And then we're also dealing with  a lot of issues that women deal with - with advancing in the workplace...I had a white manager tell me she was afraid of me."



Issa Rae (Awkward Black Girl Creator/Actor)

    "If I was a white man, I would rule this world right now."


Marina Franklin (Comedian)
    "Talking"  (When Jacque Reid said she asked herself what she was doing to make this woman afraid, Marina answered, "Talking.")
 

   

MY EXPERIENCE:

I  too had a white female co-worker tell me she was afraid.  She was growling at me like she didn't have good sense daily because as a 19 or 20 year old receptionist I was passing HER calls to HER.

Early one morning, I tell her she has no right to yell at me in a calm, pretty much mechanical manner. But she and the other white woman that overheard were the ones that were "afraid."  My fear doesn't count of losing my job for DOING my job doesn't matter.

However, they were not so afraid that they didn't admit to me later, to my face that they were "afraid" I was friendly or work "friends" with both of these white women in a very small office. There were other black females to buffer things, so social gatherings were truly good and fun. But "white friendship" comes at a high cost on the front end, more often than not


There was part with Issa Rae where there was some over-talking. She said the good ole boy network is not necessarily a "racism thing" The white executives picking people they know...etc. SURE IT'S A RACISM THING. That's how the good ole boy network was established. 'We only talk to, consider, people who look like us, talk like us, look like us, enjoy hockey like us, look like us' -- That's an outcome and perpetuation of de facto racism at it's finest. CLICK HERE TO READ and HEAR MORE ABOUT "RACISM WITHOUT RACISTS"


SEE MORE OF THE NIGHTLY SHOW
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/k24f0l/the-nightly-show-tonightly---2-26-15

MICHELLE OBAMA TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT RACISM AT TUSKEGEE GRADUATION

I didn't think I'd hear a truth this clear from either one of the Obamas until after they'd been out of the White House for a decade or more.



I couldn't believe it when our FIRST BLACK FIRST LADY MRS. MICHELLE OBAMA started talking about all of the things most black women had guessed she was going through as Barack Obama ran for president the first time. I could see how hemmed in she felt. I could see it. Every time she got anywhere near one syllable of the honesty she's gave out here, she was labeled as militant. (I most definitely remember how I felt when I saw her first magazine cover, that drawing of her in afro, machine, gun, and military helmet. I'll never forget it. Ever.)

She spoke about how she and Barack have been treated. I can't believe she took it ALL THE WAY THERE.

The intro is too long at 6 minutes

This speech starts rolling about 10 minutes in

At 19 minutes Michelle Obama is ON FIRE!!!

And she crushed that Strong Black Women. Crushed her. She came through as a true, shining, and effervescent example for any Black Person, any Black Woman and especially any Christian Black Feminist Mother to look up to. 










I have been looking for that picture she's talking about too. Looking all over

THE TALK: To Have Or Not To Have, That Is NOT The Question

JULY 13 2013

"I was chatting just yesterday about the necessity of educating my 11-year old around race matters in an era that claims to be post-racial and among a generation indifferent to racial complexities. I was wondering whether sharing my viewpoint would unduly harm her sanguine perspective and dampen any hopes that things indeed had changed.

I guess my face has been rinsed with one final splash of cold water. She and I will need to sit and talk about the realities of race. I'll be the thief who steals from her pocket the innocence of childhood. Maybe, if we're lucky, she'll live to see what I won't see, the realized dream of a post-racial America, in her children or perhaps even her grands.

Or, just maybe and even more likely, she'll be having this same talk with her young ones too." - Jonathan C.

July 13, 2013

I still remember my parents having THE TALK with me when I was a kid. We had just moved to New York City when I was in 1st grade.

Prior to that I'd gone to kindergarten a mixed race school on a military base in Alaska. As the military had already been integrated for X years. the white people had adjusted (somewhat?). Therefore there had been no reason to give me THE TALK.

I had an impersonal section of THE TALK when we moved to segregated Texas. My parents had to explain to me why all the kids at my school were black. I say "impersonal" because we were living in a black neighborhood and I was going to a black school and the white people that hated ALL blacks were not going to be there at my school.

My parents didn't have to have THE TALK in its entirety until we moved to New York City. I was still in first grade. I can't remember the words actually said. I just have a general recollection of being given the news that I would be going to a predominantly white school and that it wasn't going to be like Alaska. (Bussing had recently started) I was told that the white kids there weren't used to black people. I was told that they might fear me and act like they hate me because of my skin color. I was told that I shouldn't really be afraid because the kids wouldn't REALLY know what they were saying. They would just be repeating what their ignorant parents said.

"Ignorant" was a big word associated with "racism" in our house. I remember vaguely being told what to do if one of my teachers was to verbally attack me in some way. I was told to behave politely and come home and tell my father. He would take care of it.

I DO remember my reaction to THE TALK. I got the runs immediately. I was scared I was ill most of the weekend. Most of it....but I started to relax because I knew I wouldn't be forced to go to school if I was sick. I confirmed this verbally at least once. I relaxed. And relaxing was my undoing (insert bitter laughter here) I was fine come Monday morning.

At P.S. 209 everything was arranged by height. I was tall, so I wound up in the back of the line and in the back of classroom more often than not. Even if I hadn't been tall, I started at P.S. 209 in the middle of the school year, so I suppose I would have wound up in the very back desk behind Stacy and Judy anyway.

In 1970 Stacy had long brown wavy hair to the middle of her back. Judy had long thin blond hair to the middle of her back. And that's pretty much all I saw of them for the remainder of the year. They never said hello to me. Ever. They didn't talk to me at all. They made sure their hands didn't touch mine when they had to pass back papers. They made sure their mouths were pursed in distaste every time they had to do so, but I rarely ever saw their faces at all.

My mother said I used to come home from school chattering at 100 miles an hour from the second I hit the door. She said she didn't realize that it was because I hadn't spoken to anyone all day...not until much, much later. I don't know if she knows to this day that those white girls were the reason I was so very, very silent and "well behaved."

That all took place in 1970. And now, in 2013, Jonathan's post about having to tell his daughter the very same things just made me burst into tears



 * * * * * * * * * * *
On July 13, 2013 we heard the Trayvon Martin Verdict.

On February 24, 2015, the Department of Justice decided they didn't have enough evidence for a federal hate crime prosecution.

To talk or not to talk about racism is not the question when you have dark-skinned child. The only question is how old can you let your child get? How long can you wait and still get there before another child or teacher says or does something...hateful or ignorant enough to be mistaken for hate? When is the question.  

WHITE AMERICA'S CHANNELLING OF A WEAK, FLATTENED MEMORY OF MLK

 In Order To Dismiss The Reason Behind The Baltimore Uprising

"There is a ritual that accompanies these moments of protest by black Americans, and the wholly predictable urban unrest that follows the repeated killings of unarmed black people by police.

The high priests of public opinion take to the TV, radio, and Internet and summon the memory of Brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to condemn black folks who are "rioting", for the latter are violating the sacred covenant of "non-violence" that King, as one of America's greatest leaders and martyrs, supposedly died for.

The man and woman on the street participates in this act of American civil religion as well. They mutter some basic understanding of Dr. King's dream, spittle accompanying a phrase about the Civil Rights Movement, as they shake their heads in consternation at the violent protests in Baltimore and elsewhere.

The high priests of public opinion on the dais, and those who sit in the pews of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement as civil religion, are engaged in futile acts of conjuring. They are trying to channel a weak and flattened memory of a man, one that has been reduced to selling fast food in January and February, made into an onerous statue at Washington's mall, and reduced to a paragraph that is ripped from a towering speech."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF Chauncy DeVega At DailyKOS

ON THE T-WORD and Black Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Black Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Calls Protesters Thugs

I turned away from her when she said it. Mad. And I wasn't all that impressed with what President Obama said either. Just a tinge too much catering BEFORE he got to the disenfranchisement part

Black leaders are between a rock and a hard place when protests go a little south (and I mean a LITTLE compared to the 1968 King Assassination Protest)

But the word "thug" shouldn't have left her lips. Sorry.

I here she's back peddling.  I can kinda see the heat of the moment thing...especially if she was defending the protests as the uprising became more volatile.  But slip of the tongue or expressing her dyed in the wool respectability politician sentiments she needs to beg for forgiveness.

BEN AFFLECK Didn't Do Anything YOUR CHILD'S HISTORY BOOK Hasn't Done 1000x

SO IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE ANGRY, BE ANGRY ABOUT THAT

BACKGROUND:

Henry Louis Gates has a show on PBS called "Finding Your Roots" where he tells people, mostly stars, about the research he's done on their ancestors

An educator to the bone, Gates goes over quite a bit of where those ancestors fit in United States History. Beyond that,  Gates reports on a DNA trace so that each star can know what section of the planet their ancestors came from before they were brought to or came to the United States.

The history part put the show into the edu-tainment category of television along with a number of of other PBS TV shows. But it is the white washing of the history section of this show that concerns me.

This should concern us all because Ben Affleck refusing to talk about his slave owning ancestor then winding up all smiles on the show as he discusses the war hero ancestor is just one example of millions of examples of  "focusing on the positive" of white history and erasing the negative impacts of that white history on everyone else. This incident is symbolic and also contributes a tiny piece to the whole, incomplete pseudo-history that has been pouring over us all since grade school.


Do you think the erasure of white-negative-action toward black and brown stopped at the days of slavery? It didn't. The erasure of the uglier side of white history and current events has been constant in this country. All you have to do is review the true-er story of Miriam Carey's death in 2013 to refresh your memory.

It is shocking how much worse our schools history classes are in the 21st century, worse than when I was a kid. And I didn't think e-race-sure could get worse than that. But I was chatting with people the other day that didn't know that the Japanese were rounded up during WWII and held in U.S."internment camps." Those of you that did know, did you also know that a number of Japanese men volunteered from within those internment camps to prove their loyalty to the U.S., to prove their worth?


Did you know that black men did the same thing? They volunteered to fight for this country, to prove their worth and loyalty during...


- the Revolutionary War,

- the Civil War,

- WWI

- WWII

- etc



Did you know that, while still just a lawyer, the second President of the United States John Adams defended the white British soldiers that killed Crispus Attucks  --the black man who has been reported as the first man of any shade to die for this country?  And last I checked, the "John Adams" white washed historical record on wikipedia doesn't mention the Crispus Attucks connection to the second president of the U.S.


If you didn't learn any one of these things in school, it should be clear to you that is both normal and standard operating procedure, for human beings to hide ugly things in their history, personal or collective. And it should be crystal clear to anybody that's been paying attention that it is also standard operation procedure for white people to erase the uglier parts of white history.  School books, many of them written, produced in Texas, make sure history books for schools don't contain anything controversial (white racism) in them.


It is absolutely unacceptable that our PBS station, supposedly liberal in tone, is continuing the tradition of white washing history for adult edu-tainment. This concern of mine isn't just about erasure or incompleteness either: This select-a-view approach to history is connected to who lives and who dies in the here and now.

Negative white history has been erased to the point that large swathes of white population are extremely ignorant of the actions of the racial history of this country and history of their own ancestors. This leaves them believing everybody started out on equal footing...10 seconds after slavery was declared illegal. Therefore, the resulting racism should actually be expected.


If you, as a white person, are told over and over again that everything your white father, grandfather, and great grandfather was great and your white cousins, white friends, and white co-workers were all told the same thing THEN doesn't it's going to appear to you that everybody is country started out equal and/or have had equal chances for success for a very long time now?


And since this erasure of white racism is continual from 1600s to now, doesn't it look like the U.S. is a meritocracy where blacks and browns are simply failing to pull their own weight?

And since the erasure of white racism, including Ben Affleck's white slave owner ancestors, also includes the erasure of white violence toward black and brown people, doesn't this make violence of white policeman toward black people seem like it sprang up outta nowhere instead of it being a continuation of the same old behaviors?

During black history month I read a paper that hypothesize that police forces might have sprung from the groups of poor white men known as "paddy rollers" or runaway slave catchers.

And wouldn't the paddy rollers to police force connection explain some-tons about the black dead that were killed by white police while unarmed?

In the end, PBS has a lot of blame for this. But Henry Louis Gates knows all of what I just shared here and 10x more. Gates had to know that Affleck was motivated by all the usual pieces of human frailty in general and white fragility in the specific. Unless Gates was completely over-ridden by PBS, and it doesn't look like he was, he gets the lion's share of the blame for contributing to this white washing because he knows that human being do not like to tell on themselves in general and that white people are resistant to telling ugly history since forever. The entire racial climate of the United States is based on these two types of duck-and-cover.

Black man Gates should have been the gate-keep on the truth. He should have told Ben Affleck, "Sorry buh-BYE" He's had so many stars on his show, how could Affleck have been missed? How?

Regardless of who is more responsible for this particular sin-of-omission, Henry Louis Gates and PBS owe us all an apology for their contribution to the bigger racial picture.

Or maybe PBS should  just change the name of the show. "Finding Your Roots" could be changed to "Hiding Your Roots" with a couple keystrokes. And we'd be back on SSDD Street in no time at all.



CLICK HERE for more on BAD HISTORY LESSONS and RACISM CONSTRUCTION


CLICK HERE FOR SONY HACK GATE: BEN AFFLECK HIDES SLAVE OWNING ANCESTOR