Politics Thread

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Originally Posted by boozehound

Racism without power is different than racism with power. I think that's a distinction worth recognizing. White people have the power in our society and they make the rules. That guy calling you a White Devil (which I agree is racist) can't really do anything to impact your life from a policy perspective.

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Geezus this is the most white guilt bs I have ever heard.

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Oh man, the kool aid has been consumed. It's too late.

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You don't agree? I don't think anything 'racist' that has even been said or done to me has had a negative impact on my life in any way other than potentially making me feel momentarily uncomfortable or threatened. It's not that it isn't racist, it's just that it doesn't impact me.

The system in America has worked quite well for me, but it hasn't for everyone. My parents are fairly wealthy White people (super white actually - Canadian immigrants), and now I'm a now a fairly wealthy White person. It honestly took me a while to recognize and understand the amount of privilege (both white privilege and economic privilege) that I have benefited from in my life. It doesn't mean that my accomplishments aren't valid or that I don't work hard, it just means that I started out with an advantage that many people don't have. Shit, even in this Pandemic my job is secure and my company is performing incredibly well.

When groups of people attain power and wealth they generally seek to expand and preserve said power and wealth. There is typically some group (or groups) that are on the losing end of that deal. They don't have wealth or power and if they were to gain wealth (particularly) power it typically has to come at the expense of the group that currently wields it. Eventually if the power gets concentrated enough and the masses get sufficiently restless we all end up getting our heads chopped off. It's happened plenty of times before and it will happen again.

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Originally Posted by Xville

Geezus this is the most white guilt bs I have ever heard.

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I guess I don't really care? I don't think I feel guilty, I feel lucky and privileged. I also don't think that's a particularly bad way to go through life.

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Originally Posted by boozehound

You don't agree?

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I think there are a lot of very poor, uneducated white folks who would very very surprised to learn that they have power and make the rules in society.

Rich people make the rules.

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

I think there are a lot of very poor, uneducated white folks who would very very surprised to learn that they have power and make the rules in society.

Rich people make the rules.

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Oh yeah, of course. That's the golden rule. Money is the biggest divide. The rich people are virtually all white though (especially the megarich) in America. Given that, I can understand how black people feel like there is more racism in the system than white people do. They are disproportionately not represented in the upper classes.

As far as why, there are probably a lot of contributing factors, but I'm not sure it's a huge stretch to suggest that the black community was negatively impacted by largely 'sitting out' the post WW2 expansion in which middle class white families gained a lot of wealth. For example, segregation in schools didn't end until (I believe) the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I'm not saying we should be paying reparations or anything, just that I kind of understand why they feel the deck has been stacked against them.

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

I think there are a lot of very poor, uneducated white folks who would very very surprised to learn that they have power and make the rules in society.

Rich people make the rules.

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Tell that to Sterling Brown and Thabo Safolosha. They're rich and victims of police brutality.

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Originally Posted by boozehound

Money is the biggest divide.

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So why are we still talking about race? Let's talk about money. There are more poor white people than poor black people. There are LOTS of wealthy black people. I'm 100% for affirmative action. But it has to be based on (lack of) wealth and not on race.

My overall point: the notion that only white racism matters because whites have "power" is nonsense. Some small slice of rich whites have power (along with a still smaller slice of rich POC).

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Originally Posted by Mrs. Garrett

Tell that to Sterling Brown and Thabo Safolosha. They're rich and victims of police brutality.

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Do you have their cell #s? I'll text them.

Some of these stances by some in here have been nothing short of gross. And have been for a long time. Wake up.

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Originally Posted by xavierj

So anytime a person of opposite color kills someone, it’s racist? That’s the problem with this country. Not everything has to be because the color of ones skin. Are there racists? Absolutely. It doesn’t discriminate, people of all colors have racism with in it. Until we get over that then we will be in the same situation we have been forever. Stop making everything about race. Just do a google search of white people killed by cops and everything that comes up is the number of black people who were killed by cops. That just fuels the fire. Black lives matter gets clicks, white people killed, not so much.

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It was an “A Few Good Good Men” allusion. I know, a bit obscure...

I agree we don’t know for sure that POS cop was racist. Also we don’t know Floyd’s history. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that passing a fake $20 is the worst he’s done and hasn’t had a long criminal history or has fought with cops before. All those things lend context to what happened.

Time will tell.