"Okay, we elected Obama. We're all done here, right?"

[theotherbaldwin]

In Lousiana:

White Louisiana cops shoot and kill an unarmed elderly black man in front of his family and allegedly move his handgun over next to his body to make it look like he was threatening them. "If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names," the local police chief says. "I want them to be afraid every time they see the police that they might get arrested."

And in west Texas:

Texas cops pull over black and Hispanic motorists and give them a choice: give up their cash, valuables, and vehicles, or be charged with felonies and have their children put in foster care. "It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," reported one victim. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there."

Horrifying abuses like this is exactly why we have to keep fighting against racism in ourselves, and internalized biases, as well as wherever we can. Anything that will make society, as a whole become less and less approving of things like this happening will also help make a safer world for those who would be wronged as well.

Comments

[whosdamike.livejournal.com]

Is it too late to let the South secede?

[theotherbaldwin.livejournal.com]

I picked two examples from sorta-near-my-general-neck-of-the-forest.

But this isn't just a southern thing. Witness the recent BART incidents in California for example. This is why it's important to do everything one can to make this unacceptable across the board, everywhere.

[brunomik.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree that these types of events should not be tolerated in the least, but at the same time, I refuse to be demonized because I'm white. That's just another type of bigotry.

I can't claim to never have a racist thought go through my mind, but I do control my behavior to be sure that I treat everyone with respect until they do something to loose my respect.

For every instance like these, there are just as many black-on-white crimes that never make it into the news because its not PC to report on it. Not saying that it makes the events you pointed out any more right, but I'm just saying that its not license to put all white men on the cross.

[theotherbaldwin.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree that these types of events should not be tolerated in the least, but at the same time, I refuse to be demonized because I'm white.

I don't think anyone in the articles, nor am I, doing anything of the sort. Also... I don't see how these two statements are related. I might not be understanding you correctly. Would you be willing to clarify?

[brunomik.livejournal.com]

I guess it was more of an emotional response than an educated observation. I probably shouldn't reply to journal entries before 8AM in the morning.

Its just that I get tired of being looked at as the "bad guy" just for being white (not related to the articles you posted). I'll give you an example. Remember Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction at president Obama's inauguration? For the non-white races, he used funny, endearing rhymes: brown can stick around ...
when yellow will be mellow.... But, then when he finally got to white, the line he used was pretty much a rebuking: ...and
when white will embrace what is right.

Maybe nobody else read into that, but to me, that said that white people are 100% in the wrong on everything, which is not fair and is an inherently separatist mentality.

I just find this stuff frustrating...

[theotherbaldwin.livejournal.com]

There's a great community focusing on answering, clarifying and examining questions of racism of all spectrum: racism_101