I have a lot of trouble understanding you sometimes. I read it like 3 or 4 times and still don't get it. Can we take it a bit slower? What are you asking me here?

I understand that your world view and your personal goals never deviate from being focused on just yourself, so don't take this the wrong way when I say that sometimes people do things for the greater good of others.

I would think that given their history, the AME church is well acquainted with fighting white supremacy of old and recognizes it when it occurs. It's just not considered to be a concern anymore.

To the extent that there might be racism in policing and sentencing, that is what the community outreach is for; to meet them halfway and promote understanding between communities.

However, the overwhelming consensus is that much of the racism is due to self-inflicted wounds, and better policing needs to be done by both the black community and the police working in tandem to turn out the criminal elements. As one congregation member told me after we were stopped by police once, "(The problem) isn't the police. It's n***ers. They're ruining it for everyone." Another one put it to me as being akin to (paraphrasing here) how the Italian Americans faced a lot of **** back in the 80s and 90s due to the mafia, but since they eliminated their influence, Italian Americans are just treated normally now.

Perhaps you need to visit an AME church. Wil's mindset is the much more prevalent one there. I still remember a sermon where the preacher said that if you fail in life, "don't blame your parents, society, the white man, or God. Blame yourself. Your life is your responsibility."

Based on some of the posts in this thread, he should go on Twitter and make a tweet about it

What should he really do? Learn valuable skills, invest in his education, send out more applications, maybe build some connections through an internship or temp-job ...

That's a great example of how white supremacy in U.S. society can easily be absorbed by people of all races and classes.

You seemed to be saying, from the question I asked you, that since one can be happier by not thinking that white supremacy or whatever is stamping out your potential in life, and instead using positive energy to try to do the best for yourself that you can, that you should ignore it. I think there are numerous examples (a couple of which I mentioned in my last post) that suggest you shouldn't necessarily ignore something just because ignoring it makes you happier.

While this is a good truth, I don't see it as a end-all argument against why we should be against trying to remove artificial hurdles making people's lives more difficult.

Noone is saying young people shouldn't work hard to invest in their education. But unfortunately education isn't accessible to everyone and it's very expensive even for those who have access. I'm saying we protest and activate until our tax dollars provide for university education for everyone who is willing to work for it. This would have broad positive effects on the economy as a whole, not just for black Americans.

The two things I like about this post is the bolded is clearly wrong and I NEED a citation on it, or that a congregation member told you a Chris Rock joke from 15 years ago and you've repeated it as a fact about an entire race.

These are OUR tax dollars that are being redirected to massive corporations, stockholders, and high income earners. I'm saying we demand they be spent properly, that's about taking action not about being a victim.

It's literally just a Chris Rock joke.

Who exactly is doing what for who?

I mean, I am responsible for myself. I work to achieve those goals so that I can be self sufficient and achieve the things I want out of life. Are you implying something is wrong with that?

Let's pretend you are me. What would you be doing that would be so more satisfying and meaningful for others that I am not? Should I be out there protesting with the Asian American association of America?

I'm being serious. You are implying I'm selfish. I treat others with respect and as my equals. I take care of myself and my family and I try my best to lead a moral life. What am I missing?

I had some white friends from South Carolina once repeat that same quote almost verbatim to me when talking about "the problem with black people".

All the pixels in the world could not possibly form an eyeroll large enough for the one this bit here deserves

System would do very well with reading "the case for reparations" even just once.

I asked why people ask for allies. Why do people ask for allies?

I informed about what people who ask for allies tend to want. or, What people facing oppression and erasure tend to ask for.

They want and ask for the word to get out and grow.

I showed how people who help are just doing a normal human thing which can even be shown using a simple economic analogy.

I can imagine this looks lopsided when oppression and erasure are being ignored or hidden. Allies are helpful when they see that stuff clearly.

For all those saying the black young person should invest in his education,

Do you stand with me in fighting for free public university access for all U.S. citizens?

Unrelated: so this seems kinda scary, yeah? Are conservatives cool with this?





(I think first tweet says Portland because he was posting the picture from a friend of his)

Clearly you need to learn how to read. I am referring to the opinion of many people from the AME church, not a factual citation about an entire race. Your citation for such an opinion would be to go visit an AME church and ask people for their opinion.

It is not an end-all nor is it some sort of absorption of white supremacy, as I mentioned about community outreach to the police and other communities to combat bad perceptions of the black community. It's called meeting the other communities halfway. Given the AME church's history in fighting white supremacy in the past, I do not think it is unreasonable nor steeped in white supremacist thought.

And what would you have me say to the church once I visit them again? What is your solution?

I think you're misunderstanding what people mean here when they say "white supremacist thought." We're not saying that the church member has some devious association with the KKK and he's trying to create an all-white America. Rather, the ideas associated with white supremacy have been absorbed into his mind through all the same ways that media gets them into the minds of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh viewers (hell, plenty of people of color absorb these sources). Remember that especially pre-2010, the media was very lowest common denominator and it's not like there was that much "black" media. Most black Americans watched white media for the most part and absorbed culture and ideas about race and society through those media.

I think it's interesting that in every category in life when something bad happens we try our best to get past it and look forward to our future, except when it comes to white liberals and their self hate, and constant blaming of everyone's problems on white racism.

I don't let racism consume me. I look forward, I concentrate on the positive things, not the negative. White people can indeed be racist, but some of that is expected as they are the majority. If the majority was black, they'd be racist. If the majority were Asians, we'd be racist. Each of us has to get past it.

It seems you don't agree and it's something you want to revisit all the time. White racism isn't what is stopping people from succeeding.

Did you guys know that the television show Sanford & Son was written by an all-white writers room. Now the show was never actively discriminatory or attacking towards black Americans that I know of, but just that very fact alone denotes that the culture and values of the show are reflective of WHITE institutions moreso than you would think, or even WHITE institutional ideas of how black society operates (in an age way before social media, where segregation and disconnection was even more rampant in society).

Well, that's right in a way at least. What's stopping people from succeeding is the redirection of resources away from black communities and towards white communities. Racist institutions play the role, but the RESOURCES are the key at the end of the day--even with President Obama at the top of the executive branch, the flow of RESOURCES is still institutionally segregated and deeply deeply so.

It seems to me that white people are very very very well aware of and downright paranoid of racism towards blacks. Other than treating people as equals and with respect, what should they be doing? What is the difference between an "ally", and someone like me?

So what is the problem with showing your ID documents when leaving a plane?
What exactly is the "scary" part?

I could see some disadvantages if this were some sensitive personal data, but showing your ID, which you have to carry anyway in order to even enter the plane, seems very harmless to me.

What am I missing?

Only two generations ago black people couldn't even get a mortage.