When you "fit" the description

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Maybe I say it over and over because you people like to bang on and on and on about race in thread after thread (and clearly you aren't tired of it yet), to the point that you are blind deaf and dumb when confronted with something truly indefensible.

Well done you

Actually I've been going back and forth with you in several threads to see if there would ever come a time you would ever let someone have the last word.. I give it to you very often, I wanted it just once... But when you resort to the smileys, starting with adjectives, or the word "indeed" I know the fun is over. You win again senior poster prolific. Have a good night.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Its not that you disagree with me (although I'm sure that you do, in your way) it's that it's very obvious that you don't like me and this is the focus of your arguments - you disparage and personalise, but you don't respond.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

it's clearly a competition to point out that racism exists, but only towards white people. oh and plus ones - those are uber important.

Competition? No

Trying to prove racism still exists and America is not post racial, now this is the problem.

People denying other individuals' personal experiences = problem (I understand there may be some fabricated experiences, but that does not equal all)

Not being able to walk or drive while being black = problem

Scared to let your kids play outside, even if you pay really good money to live in a "nice" neighborhood = problem

Praying a traffic stop doesn't put you in a body bag = problem

I understand racism exists everywhere, I can say I suffered it less abroad. (other people may have different experiences though)

While abroad, many people had no idea I was a "black" person. Of course, they have some idea if I am wearing braids. With this being said, I had a wealth of opportunities being open and available to me because of who I was (a good, hardworking individual) instead of being denied, because of who I am (a person who just so happens to have "African" ancestry while being born in the U.S.).

No competition. People are just irritated at how slow progress is in the U.S.

Enough for today. I don't want anyone to get angry at me. lol

[Dakine10 5,452]

Look here is another.. A white one. Proves cops are racist against white people. We could do this all day

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-when-they-imprison-the-wrong-guy.html

This happened in 1987. Probably could make a more convincing argument if you found something more recent.

[decocker 7,198]

This happened in 1987. Probably could make a more convincing argument if you found something more recent.

being white is hard, cut him some slack.

[decocker 7,198]

Enough for today. I don't want anyone to get angry at me. lol

there are a handful of posters here who are quite certain that white men are being left behind and they're pretty adamant about it. it takes a certain kind of maturity to admit that, while completely stupid and unfounded, being white has it's advantages.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Its not that you disagree with me (although I'm sure that you do, in your way) it's that it's very obvious that you don't like me and this is the focus of your arguments - you disparage and personalise, but you don't respond.

Pot? Meet Kettle...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Pot? Meet Kettle...

If you fancy being honest you could probably read the exchange that preceded that comment and figure out which of the two of us is being unreasonable.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

I read the whole thing that Marvin posted, and I agree the guy was done wrong. Several things along the way were handled improperly, I am sure we all would agree (no phone call, denied knowledge of the charges, denied access to his lawyer come tom mind). But was it wrong he was detained? No. Were the cops wrong for handcuffing him? No. He was arrested because an eywitness identified him as an accessory to the robbery.

Beverly Hills Police on Friday arrested 47-year-old Brianna Clemons Kloutse of Los Angeles immediately following an armed robbery at a bank in the 8400 block of Wilshire Boulevard. Police believe that Kloutse is the “Purse Packing Bandit,” responsible for nine recent bank robberies and two attempted bank robberies in Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. She will be arraigned today at the criminal court building in downtown Los Angeles.

Witnesses to the robbery said Kloutse was most likely working with a man who was distracting the other bank employees while the robbery was carried out. Within minutes of the robbery call being broadcast, police detained a subject less than a block away from the robbery who closely matched the clothing and physical characteristics of the male suspect. After an eye witness positively identified the subject in a field show-up, police arrested Charles Belk for suspicion of robbery. A follow-up investigation by detectives ultimately determined that Mr. Belk was not involved in the robbery and he was released from custody without charges.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/26/charles-belk-beverly-hills-police_n_5716897.html

It's sad that it took so long to clear him. If it had been a tall, bald, white man, I imagine he would have been arrested, too, after an "eyewitness" identified him. In another story I read recently, a babysitter and her BF robbed a house where they were watching some kids. When the police arrived on scene, the babysitter and BF said they saw a black man running from the house. Guess what? The next door neighbor was black, and was arrested for suspicion of robbery. It was a logical assumption, though flawed. He didn't resist arrest, he was upset because he was innocent, but he said he understood why he was cuffed and held. Turns out the babysitter and BF were busted after the little girl they were watching told the truth.

I see where Mr. Belk has the right to be upset that being held without explanation, denied a call, and denied the opportunity to prove who he was all stacked up. Might even have a case of wrongful arrest in the end, based on those facts. But I can understand why the police jumped on him in the first place. It sucks to fit the description of a criminal and happen to be in the location of the crime at the same time. Regardless of who you are...

If you fancy being honest you could probably read the exchange that preceded that comment and figure out which of the two of us is being unreasonable.

You both make salient points. I was just smiling about you stating "you disparage and personalise, but you don't respond" is all.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I know what you meant - but given what you called me the other week I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

Deep down you know when something is unjustifiable. I read a post that I genuinely consider to be one of the most ignorant and offensive (and yes, racist) things anyone has ever written on here and rather than comment on that (as I have, without insulting anyone) we seem to be discussing what words I start sentences with and how responding to that is the pot calling the kettle black.

Does that make sense to you?

Edited August 27, 2014 by Hail Ming!

[Janelle2002 3,865]

there are a handful of posters here who are quite certain that white men are being left behind and they're pretty adamant about it. it takes a certain kind of maturity to admit that, while completely stupid and unfounded, being white has it's advantages.

I like mature people. lol

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

there are a handful of posters here who are quite certain that white men are being left behind and they're pretty adamant about it. it takes a certain kind of maturity to admit that, while completely stupid and unfounded, being white has it's advantages.

There's an obvious agenda at work in attempting to relativise the experience of blacks during the height of American apartheidt. It's about denying them the experience of prejudice in the past because it's become inconvenient to those in the present who aren't willing to realise that they have in fact benefitted from it.

I was surprised to learn, for example, that it's only about seven generations since (formal) slavery ended. What you often don't hear about is that between the 1860s right through to WW2 black Americans still experienced a form of 'hidden' slavery where black people could be sent to labour camps for things like vagrancy (an unemployed black man was deemed to be a vagrant, by default) in conditions that were little different to the slave plantations. This continued to (at least) 1939.

On top of that you've got another 2 decades of violence, segregation, legalized discrimination, and disenfranchisement - which continued right up to 1965 and the Civil Rights Act.

It amazes me that anyone can think that a whole race of people that has been denied freedom and access to resources for 200 years can recover in the space of a few short decades. It's not helped by prominent politicians (including everyone's favourite libertarians - Ron and Rand Paul) who actually try to claim that the Civil Rights Act wasn't necessary. Never mind that it is only since 1965 that African Americans have been able to move up the social and economic ladder.

The fact is, these things aren't 'in the past', they are very much relevant to the present. The idea that everyone has an equal chance of success is based on the assumption that people are either born into equal circumstances or that society has mechanisms to adjust for social inequalities. We know that the former isn't true and that latter is constantly under attack because people don't understand the purpose of things that are designed to do just that (i.e. Affirmative Action).

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

I know what you meant - but given what you called me the other week I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

Deep down you know when something is unjustifiable. I read a post that I genuinely consider to be one of the most ignorant and offensive (and yes, racist) things anyone has ever written on here and rather than comment on that (as I have, without insulting anyone) we seem to be discussing what words I start sentences with and how responding to that is the pot calling the kettle black.

Does that make sense to you?

Which post did you find ignorant?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If you're asking so we can have a go-around about whether or not it is the things I've said it is, I have to say I'm really not interested in that. I have read arguments like this before many, many times and I know very well what is going on behind them.

Here you go

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

"There's an obvious agenda at work in attempting to relativise the experience of blacks..."

A thoughtful post. Certainly on point.

But what are we to do about it? As in you and I, not "America" or government. It will take time, much more time, for old wounds to heal, for gaps to close, for inequalities to be made equal.

If I am doing something to continue those inequalities, then I am to blame for the lack of progress. But I don't see that I do such. I treat all humans with respect until/unless they show me they don't deserve it. I help my neighbors when I can, regardless of color. I play around with the black kids on my street just as much as the whites.

I realize not everyone does. I live in the south, and there are people here who still harbor (hate? I think not. I think it's just stupidity, cuz how can you hate a person because of their skin color, whom you have never even met?) bad will towards blacks. The N word is common here. When. I hear it, I tell the user that it is unacceptable language, then remove myself from their presence. Will I change them? Maybe not, but I tried, and I stay away from that type of person because I don't tolerate such actions/words.

So what else can we do as individuals? There are enough smart people here that we should be able to brainstorm some good ideas.