- Mar 11, 2015
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Now THIS is the message that will work. This is a message we can all get behind.See, IM2. This demonstrates what I have been explaining elsewhere.It is up to you, because you made the declaration that it needs to be done, so it is reasonable for me to ask what you think should be done.
I also think each person needs to be taken as an individual, and these conversations tend to make sweeping generalizations on both sides.
Does racism still exist in this country? Yes, it does, I won’t argue that. But many problems faced by black communities are caused by multiple and complex factors, which in some cases may not be racism but the legacy of racism perpetuated by economic disparities.
I agree with your statements on AA, that it wasn’t only blacks that benefited. The point I was making is people who use that argument completely minimize the contribution of merit, as if that person could not possibly have accomplished what he did on the basis of merit. And that same argument can be made for white privilege.
If you were to ask ME, as a white person, what “white people” should do, I would have a difficult time answering, because I am not seeing it through the same lens you do exactly.
I see a problem such as this for example: many poor neighborhoods tend to be lacking in good infrastructure, good schools, safe programs for youth, and they tend to be the places where industrial dumps and landfills get located, and other sorts of things that affect health and quality of life. Often these areas are predominately black, but not always. The people living there lack political power and funding. So...racism could be playing a role here but how would you address the issues? And the issues themselves faced by many poor communitees. Do you address it from the aspect of race? Or, do organize, publicize, attract attention and investment from a community perspective?
.I agree, but it is still unfair to make statements about white privalege not merit, being the main driving factor.
Coyote is hardly someone I would call a right-wing white nationalist. The approach is everything. It can't be a blanket statement "you're white, therefore privileged" or a statement that white kids have an advantage just because they are white. What they see and experience will tell them otherwise, and you are left with more resistance, rather than cooperation.
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But it can be Bootney, because it is true. You can resist all you want but this is a macro level discussion because what was done and what continues to be done does not just apply to one person. And this is the stumbling block that keeps getting in the way. Blacks are arguing with WE and whites argue with I.
And therein lies the problem. And it forces stereotyping and generalizing.
I think of myself as I....not a member of “the white community”
Coyote you cannot solve a problem without considering what caused it. You can consider yourself I all you want but I does nothing alone in life. We all get help from places, meaning the stronger WE are, the stronger I will be. We are interdependent and not independent. So WE have to work together to make things better.
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You can only get behind a message if it ignores what you don't want to hear. Whites need to understand that for everyone to be strong they drop the selfish I first attitude which currently dominates the thinking in many white communities.
Because you erroneously believe whites lose something by our demands for equality.