I am about to become very unpopular. But I feel compelled to allow my thoughts to flow cathartically onto the page. I've made no mistake on how I perceive the August 8th shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO. After researching the evidence, and researching police officer protocols and statistics, and finally putting myself in both Brown and Wilson's shoes, I fully believe that officer Wilson acted in self defense. This, I've said time and again. It is not new.
What has been nagging at me, however, is the blowback. The vehement and prolonged protests, riots, and violent demonstrations all in the name of Justice or Peace or Black Lives Matter. White people becoming enraged at other white people, black people dredging up how they've been done wrong forever and white people need to check their privilege. Buzzfeed videos on how people are racist without even knowing it have popped up. "Dear White People" came out and basically tells people of pale complexion that they Have No Clue. Memes and vines and tweets about how white people keep black people down, and all black people want is equality.
I've noticed a trend. Some black people like Morgan Freeman and Charles Barkley are ashamed of the black population. Because the reaction to a man being shot in self defense is being touted as a civil rights issue, and not a self defense issue. The protesters don't have any ties to actually wanting Justice, they seem to want a Political Agenda and Revenge. And some black people like liberal extremists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson promote those protests. Because it further separates the races. And if anyone is a racist, it is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. That's based on the actual definition of racism, not the White-Blaming definition going around lately.
I am a typical middle class white girl. I grew up in a middle class white neighborhood, with middle-class white mostly Mormon neighbors. I don't remember having more than a few kids of color in my schools until high school, and most of my teachers were white. Now, because I'm a mess with faces, I could be remembering it wrong, and maybe there were more people of color than I remember, but that's beside the point. The point is, I am not biased on skin color.
Now, right now I think I'm hearing groans and moans about how I'm immediately not credible because NOBODY is colorblind. But I didn't even recognize my white husband in a crowd till we'd been together about five years. And that's a guy I saw every day. And after my experiment this past weekend, I realized that it's true. I went to my swanky, middle class Wal-Mart to do some shopping, and decided that I was going to make a mental note of the ethnicities I saw. I was going to make a conscious effort to notice skin color. I encountered about 75 people, in the two hours I was there, and I was the only white person. Did this revelation scare me? Nope. Plenty of people are in the minority at some time or another.
So I redid the experiment. This time, since I was sick, it was a trip to the doctor's office. My son was with me, and we went to McDonald's first. I didn't encounter a single other white person. Not at McDonald's, or the doctor's office, nor the pharmacy. And I needed x-rays and both prescription and OTC meds. Today, I went to the grocery store, the post office, Kinkos, and Chipotle. I smiled at or otherwise made contact with easily 50 people. Three were white.
So, where I live, I'm in the minority. And that's ok. Because I believe that People is People is People. Skin color doesn't explain what's going on inside.
So if a middle class white girl isn't afraid to be in the minority, why would anyone else? I mean, I hear people say that white people cross the street to avoid black males. Well, as a female, if more than one male of any color was walking toward me, I'd cross the street. Because I'm a female, and I don't entirely trust strange men. I'm not a small female - I like to say that I'm not portable - but two or more men could do some serious harm to me. And although I know most men wouldn't ever hurt a woman, I still need to be wary just in case those particular males would. We all know how rape cases are currently treated, and I'd rather not be a statistic because I wanted to show someone I don't even know that I'm not a racist.
A common allegory I've read lately is a class all gets to throw a piece of paper, crumpled, at a trash can at the front of the class. This is supposed to show privilege. Specifically, according to the story, White Privilege. I couldn't agree less. I believe it is referencing Class Privilege. Black people don't have the monopoly on being looked upon as Less Than. Yes, they've had issues in former generations, but this is about where I become very, very unpopular.
Black people bring racism upon themselves. It is a residual knee-jerk reaction to the way they've been treated in former generations. Bear with me, please. And understand that, despite the way black people *used* to be treated, there is absolutely no reason to be such jerks about it now.
The black kids of today have never been slaves. Their grandparents haven't been slaves. Their grandparents and parents have even been able to vote and live in unsegregated areas. The world is moving forward and providing equality for everyone, barring some truly jerk-wad ass-wranglers who retain backwards thinking. Affirmative Action has made sure that a certain percentage of 'minorities' are accepted into colleges and workplaces....but to be honest, I'm not sure Affirmative Action is necessary anymore. These kids and adults are living in a world where people largely don't care about race and they're accepted to the school/place of business based on their skills and merits and not handouts. And yet....there is still black-on-black crime. Black-on-white crime. And white-on-black crime. I think it's time to just call it 'crime', but whatever. I've been told there's a major case of racism in the USA.
Racism is essentially one race trying to be superior to all others. To be a racist, One is supposed to believe that their randomly chosen race is somehow better than others. Kinda like how the Sioux felt about the Pawnee. Or the white folk of yesteryear felt about black folk. But we all know better now. We have people of color in all walks of life. CEOs, the President of the USA, and McDonald's. The USA is this big melting pot of acceptance for the most part. Yeah, there's the KKK....but they represent all white people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton et al represent all black people. It's a mangled, extreme, and toxic version of a totally normal race of people. And there's this saying.....'everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind always.'. We all have to deal with discrimination in this world. Why do black people seem to insist that their plight is worse than others? Try being disabled/differently abledin this world. Especially if your disability is invisible to the layperson.
Now, of all my black friends, none have dealt with discrimination from me or anyone I know. I have no doubt some scumbags are jerks to them now and again, but this is 2014. They can walk away or even call the cops to report harassment. I deal with discrimination frequently too, as a female of size (That means I'm fat). I've been spat upon, barked at, shoved, and called names in public. Does my experience with discrimination not matter because I'm white? It sure hurts a lot. Hurts even more when I'm told I'm not allowed to hurt because I'm privileged.
So here's why I believe that the vociferous black community brings racism upon themselves......they don't respect themselves, and they're just passing along the hate their relatives passed on.
Just a few generations ago, black people had to fight tooth and nail for everything. So the grandparents raised the parents to be wary of white people. As the white people were growing away from discriminating against people of color, the people of color retained their protective walls. And passed them down to their kids. Anger is a cruel mistress. Hate takes people prisoner. And those espousing anger and hate don't want to take responsibility for their anger and hate....so they pass blame.
Police officers aren't more prone to being racially biased the vast majority of the time (there was a study done with cops and civilians and response times and colors of suspects......I'll have to find it again). However, the people of color that are so loudly screaming racism are taught from birth not to trust white people OR authority, and so the people of color behave differently to the cops than white people do. That causes more strife and causes more arrests of people of color than of white people.
I have a FB friend who is getting her degrees in law and she specifically studies racial discrimination cases. She can spout statistics day and night about how black people are more likely to get arrested, shot, or killed by cops. But I, as a hyperempathetic person who is a huge advocate for assessing individual situations, believe that the correlation between those stats has nothing to do with racial bias and everything to do with a suspect's behavior and the officer's interpretation of the suspect's intent.
There is no way that any two people will behave exactly the same way in the same basic circumstances. Or even that the same two people react the same way every time. As humans, we are in and of ourselves about a bajillion variables all working in contest with each other. right about here is where the Ian Malcolm chaos theory from Jurassic Park comes to mind. The way we drive our car depends on our mood, how much sleep we've gotten, whether we feel attractive that day, whether or not the kids are in the car, whether we are headed to work or home or the bar......And let's say a cop pulls you over. Someone like me, who has not been trained to fear the police, will be quiet unless spoken to, answer all questions with yes sir or no sir, and keep our hands in sight at all times. Someone whose parents have instilled a mistrust of the law would likely not do such things. And the difference in behavior is what will get that person arrested and not me. That has nothing to do with White Privilege and everything to do with themselves.
So my thoughts are clear. Morgan Freeman hates black history month and racism speak because it's only an issue if you make it one. Charles Barkley says that black people make it hard for themselves. And you know what the black community says about black people that actually believe in equality and not bitching about being black? They're called brainwashed. They're told that they're 'too white'. That they have betrayed their own race.
Think on that a minute. A race of people who disown and slander people of their own race for acting and behaving as equals of another race. Who is racist now?
(Being proud of who you are and where you've come from is fine. Encouraged, even. But stepping on others and putting them down so you feel good about yourself? For shame.....)
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