The Murder of George Floyd & Subsequent Protests/Riots

[Red Memories]

This is an important topic to discuss - this question of racism vs. 'reverse-racism'.

I encountered the idea that racism = prejudice + power when I was taking a multicultural counseling class, and so it was expanded on a bit. I hope others will fill in the gaps of what I say.

When there is a power imbalance in society, the same motivations and actions can produce different results. To a limited degree one can reframe this larger notion of power imbalance by different individual roles that have a power imbalance. Consider teacher/student, employer/employee, adult/child, cop/civilian, counselor/client, etc. In each of these instance, if the individual holding the power commits a moral violation towards the one with less power, the result is more severe. If the teacher openly mocks a student it is different than when the student mocks a teacher. If a counselor tells a client they are a worthless piece of crap it is different than when a client says it to a counselor. Behaviors that are hurtful can always be wrong, but there is a way a student knows that their mocking has a different effect than if they were the teacher. In this way degree of social power serves as an amplifier for the behavior.

These examples are limited because one in power is dominant for other reasons than simply racial privilege. But the basic notion can extend to racial privilege. When the woman in the dog park threatened to call the police on the black man, it was a different action than if he threatened to call the police for her behavior. The assumed result is different and so the same behavior is different because of context. There is a motivation, a behavior, but then the context contributes to defining it.

At the point where a person is permanently maimed or murdered, then some of these notions change. If a student murders a teacher, it is not a less atrocity than if the teacher murders a student. In that instance the result of the behavior is the same and so in a way the power is the same. There can be different levels of this sociologically though, if the murder of one results in more similar murders because the victim has less social power, then even that could represent that difference in power, although at the individual level I still see the same line crossed and should be subjected to the same laws and punishments.

I really think this topic should be explored more comprehensively, and so I hope others will add to what I'm trying to say here.

When I took sociology, the difference between racism and prejudice was defined to me in this way.

Prejudice is when you view any group of people, and assume something about them based on some feature. For instance, I was homeschooled, and due to this many people who know little of homeschooling assumed my parents really didn't do much, that I was sheltered, or that I was kept home to be brainwashed by religion. This is a prejudice. Thinking a black man in a black hoodie will rob you is a prejudice. Assuming a white cop is racist is a prejudice. You can be prejudice against items even. For instance, my mother told me that romance books with stencilly pencil looking drawn covers are usually chicklit that is super smutty. after picking one up and having the experience, if I pick up a book with that sort of cover I place it back on the shelf. I am now prejudice against romance books with pencil stencil drawn like covers.

Racism involves an active belief that you, somehow, are superior to another person due to your skin color. The thing is, this could apply to any person. A white person who demeans a black person for their color is in fact racist. A mexican who demeans an asian for their skin color is racist. A black person who demeans a white person for the color of their skin is in fact racist. For someone to be racist, you have to assume the interaction you're having wouldn't happen if you weren't black/white/asian etc. Which is a dilemma I have. Not every discourse with a black person is racist, it isn't because their black. If I get in an argument with a mexican friend I really don't think my mexican friend is being racist to me. The only time I ever felt "racism" in any sense was as I said, that student told me he wanted to leave my state because there's too many white people here. It felt kinda distasteful, but I try to assume maybe he is just a hurting person inside and needed to see white people aren't all spiteful to him. The same as whites can be taught to hate blacks, I think many blacks are taught to hate whites by agendas, media, or who knows what. I found it amazing we had a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands in my social work 101 class, and my teacher asked him how race relations were in Europe where he was. He said America was so much kinder. There they still segregate in some areas. I know my mother knows people online in Italy who say how the North and South judge each other by skin colors too. It is just fascinating how things get warped to meet some grand idea and people just string along. I do not deny racism exists, or perhaps there are still systems in place disproportionately affecting populations of people, but I do think reverse racism is a thing we need to stop ignoring too.

I will be honest, I have no issue with protesting of systematic racism issues, although I feel it is more like a systematic poverty issue which sadly blacks are disproportionately affected. However I also have an issue mainly with a bigger issue of militarization of police forces. My psychology teacher showed us some data points, of people killed by police back when I first began college...this was back in 2016ish when this first hit its head. Blacks do face issues, but fuck, about 300 WHITE PEOPLE were killed by cops, some unarmed, some excessive force. and I'm thinking GOD, THERE'S A BIGGER ISSUE HERE. COPS SHOULD NOT BE KILLING THIS MANY PEOPLE PERIOD. There's keeping law and order then there's just being trained to be so on edge you just shoot to kill practically anytime there's an issue.

 

[anticlimatic]

You voted for one who not only is happy in chaotic states of emergency, but actually creates them.

I may have voted for him, but they created him. One of their own, like a mirror looking back at them. Only explanation there is for the visceral reaction he invokes.

 

[anticlimatic]

White nationalist group posing as antifa called for violence on Twitter So this was Identity Evropa. Excuse me, American Identity Movement is what they're going by now. Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement | Counter Extremism Project

Are you afraid that if you let go of your hatred of conservative white people you will have nothing left?

 

[Jaguar]

I may have voted for him, but they created him. One of their own, like a mirror looking back at them. Only explanation there is for the visceral reaction he invokes.

He's a grifter looking for gullible people whose blood he can suck for personal gain. Nothing more.

 

[ceecee]

Are you afraid that if you let go of your hatred of conservative white people you will have nothing left?

You are equating a violent white supremacist group with American conservatives? You are so very lost.

 

[anticlimatic]

Woman, 22, killed at protest as civil unrest roils Davenport

 

[anticlimatic]

You are equating a violent white supremacist group with American conservatives? You are so very lost.

I was referring more to your "those fucks" comments about conservative demonstrators from your previous post. And also your history in general of absolute unwavering vitriol just like it.

 

[Jaguar]

How Trump’s Idea for a Photo Op Led to Havoc in a Park - The New York Times

 

[anticlimatic]

He's a grifter looking for gullible people whose blood he can suck for personal gain. Nothing more.

Of the media, by the media. Well said.

 

[Jaguar]

Well said.

Thank you.

 

[anticlimatic]

When I took sociology, the difference between racism and prejudice was defined to me in this way. Prejudice is when you view any group of people, and assume something about them based on some feature. For instance, I was homeschooled, and due to this many people who know little of homeschooling assumed my parents really didn't do much, that I was sheltered, or that I was kept home to be brainwashed by religion. This is a prejudice. Thinking a black man in a black hoodie will rob you is a prejudice. Assuming a white cop is racist is a prejudice. You can be prejudice against items even. For instance, my mother told me that romance books with stencilly pencil looking drawn covers are usually chicklit that is super smutty. after picking one up and having the experience, if I pick up a book with that sort of cover I place it back on the shelf. I am now prejudice against romance books with pencil stencil drawn like covers. Racism involves an active belief that you, somehow, are superior to another person due to your skin color. The thing is, this could apply to any person. A white person who demeans a black person for their color is in fact racist. A mexican who demeans an asian for their skin color is racist. A black person who demeans a white person for the color of their skin is in fact racist. For someone to be racist, you have to assume the interaction you're having wouldn't happen if you weren't black/white/asian etc. Which is a dilemma I have. Not every discourse with a black person is racist, it isn't because their black. If I get in an argument with a mexican friend I really don't think my mexican friend is being racist to me. The only time I ever felt "racism" in any sense was as I said, that student told me he wanted to leave my state because there's too many white people here. It felt kinda distasteful, but I try to assume maybe he is just a hurting person inside and needed to see white people aren't all spiteful to him. The same as whites can be taught to hate blacks, I think many blacks are taught to hate whites by agendas, media, or who knows what. I found it amazing we had a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands in my social work 101 class, and my teacher asked him how race relations were in Europe where he was. He said America was so much kinder. There they still segregate in some areas. I know my mother knows people online in Italy who say how the North and South judge each other by skin colors too. It is just fascinating how things get warped to meet some grand idea and people just string along. I do not deny racism exists, or perhaps there are still systems in place disproportionately affecting populations of people, but I do think reverse racism is a thing we need to stop ignoring too. I will be honest, I have no issue with protesting of systematic racism issues, although I feel it is more like a systematic poverty issue which sadly blacks are disproportionately affected. However I also have an issue mainly with a bigger issue of militarization of police forces. My psychology teacher showed us some data points, of people killed by police back when I first began college...this was back in 2016ish when this first hit its head. Blacks do face issues, but fuck, about 300 WHITE PEOPLE were killed by cops, some unarmed, some excessive force. and I'm thinking GOD, THERE'S A BIGGER ISSUE HERE. COPS SHOULD NOT BE KILLING THIS MANY PEOPLE PERIOD. There's keeping law and order then there's just being trained to be so on edge you just shoot to kill practically anytime there's an issue.

I took a bunch of criminal justice classes as electives in college, almost all taught by former cops, because I figured as an adult I should probably know and understand that stuff and how cops operate. My biggest takeaway was that most of the power and authority they have is dwarfed by the mountain of pressure and responsibility that comes with it. There is also a heavy psychological toll. Cops deal with the absolute worst of humanity all day long, especially in urban areas. They have to see things that turn most people's stomachs. Most cops eventually get worn down by it- kind of like how Frodo got worn down by the ring of power. Any of them that manage to live up to the "good cop" standards of most civilized people aren't baseline individuals- they are exceptionally heroic.

To adequately address this issue you would need to strike very deeply at society itself. Getting people out of poverty is the most important step.

 

[FemMecha]

You make some good point here.

When I took sociology, the difference between racism and prejudice was defined to me in this way.

Prejudice is when you view any group of people, and assume something about them based on some feature. For instance, I was homeschooled, and due to this many people who know little of homeschooling assumed my parents really didn't do much, that I was sheltered, or that I was kept home to be brainwashed by religion. This is a prejudice. Thinking a black man in a black hoodie will rob you is a prejudice. Assuming a white cop is racist is a prejudice. You can be prejudice against items even. For instance, my mother told me that romance books with stencilly pencil looking drawn covers are usually chicklit that is super smutty. after picking one up and having the experience, if I pick up a book with that sort of cover I place it back on the shelf. I am now prejudice against romance books with pencil stencil drawn like covers.

I think this is a good observation along with the tendency for all of us to think this way in order to simplify our realities. It is a sometimes misguided attempt I think to conserve mental space when people think categorically and apply attributes to these boxes. It is fundamental to a great deal of human reasoning, but it does have a dark side to its application.

Racism involves an active belief that you, somehow, are superior to another person due to your skin color. The thing is, this could apply to any person. A white person who demeans a black person for their color is in fact racist. A mexican who demeans an asian for their skin color is racist. A black person who demeans a white person for the color of their skin is in fact racist. For someone to be racist, you have to assume the interaction you're having wouldn't happen if you weren't black/white/asian etc. Which is a dilemma I have. Not every discourse with a black person is racist, it isn't because their black. If I get in an argument with a mexican friend I really don't think my mexican friend is being racist to me.

It is true this can happen between any two groups of people, but context does redefine the nature of the exchange and the degree of harm done. Also, many attributes get lumped into this idea of categorizing people based on skin color, so the judgments are often moral assumptions that get framed with this idea of race.

The only time I ever felt "racism" in any sense was as I said, that student told me he wanted to leave my state because there's too many white people here. It felt kinda distasteful, but I try to assume maybe he is just a hurting person inside and needed to see white people aren't all spiteful to him.

I would say that I can see how someone might feel that way. I think it would be difficult to live in a world that focuses on external attributes and to be different from the norm. That could be very difficult. From a different perspective I kinda share that feeling because extremely homogeneous environments feel much more imposing on me - they assume I share more attributes with them than is the case. Environments that are multicultural require a lot more attentiveness, tolerance, effort to understand, than environments where everyone is assumed to think and feel the same way.

The same as whites can be taught to hate blacks, I think many blacks are taught to hate whites by agendas, media, or who knows what. I found it amazing we had a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands in my social work 101 class, and my teacher asked him how race relations were in Europe where he was. He said America was so much kinder. There they still segregate in some areas. I know my mother knows people online in Italy who say how the North and South judge each other by skin colors too. It is just fascinating how things get warped to meet some grand idea and people just string along. I do not deny racism exists, or perhaps there are still systems in place disproportionately affecting populations of people, but I do think reverse racism is a thing we need to stop ignoring too.

I have heard racist statements coming from a number of directions. I think the main issue with 'reverse racism', is that it doesn't make sense for that to be the first issue a dominant culture addresses. The first issue is the racism that is causing the societal imbalances. In that way I think the first issue for someone like me is to find ways to stand up to friends and family who make racist statements. It is difficult for me because I don't often stand up for myself, but just let people talk, so I have heard people say things and not challenge it. Until I do that, I don't think my first soap box should be the reverse racism. I need to clean my own house first so to speak.

I will be honest, I have no issue with protesting of systematic racism issues, although I feel it is more like a systematic poverty issue which sadly blacks are disproportionately affected. However I also have an issue mainly with a bigger issue of militarization of police forces. My psychology teacher showed us some data points, of people killed by police back when I first began college...this was back in 2016ish when this first hit its head. Blacks do face issues, but fuck, about 300 WHITE PEOPLE were killed by cops, some unarmed, some excessive force. and I'm thinking GOD, THERE'S A BIGGER ISSUE HERE. COPS SHOULD NOT BE KILLING THIS MANY PEOPLE PERIOD. There's keeping law and order then there's just being trained to be so on edge you just shoot to kill practically anytime there's an issue.

It is true that socio-economic imbalances are a huge issue, but there is a lot of evidence to show there is an interconnectedness with racism. There can be some gender related issues as well, although those are particularly complex. I've been treated abysmally by cops - they've scared me quite a bit at times. One stopped me on a remote road for going slightly above the speed limit and when he saw my hand shaking to sign the ticket he started yelling and swinging his arms around saying, "Do I have to call search and rescue? We can't have you driving all crazy over the road!". There was no rational context and I was scared. When my car was totaled after someone ran a red light and hit me so hard it spun my car completely around, the cop was gruff with me, scolding me, asking if I had been drinking at 10:00am on my way to take a nature walk. I'm a college instructor, but he treated me like a wayward drunk. He was triggered because I was crying. Any sign of vulnerability set these two people off. Readers can tell from my posts that I'm calm and deliberate, so there isn't anything about me that would justify these behaviors. Based on the information I have, I do think that black Americans are facing more issues than I face, but my experiences provide a bridge of empathy, an experiential starting point to start to understand the concern.

What is also important in these discussion is to hear directly from people who are experiencing society from different racial perspectives, different socio-economic perspectives, different gender perspectives. I don't want to try to speak for someone who has lived a different experience.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

That first protest in Minneapolis started peacefully, but the police shot tear gas, rubber bullets and mace into the crowd. If instead they had brought cameras and microphones and let the people's voices be heard, the rest could have played out differently. It is also important to note that even this first protest that turned to property damage did not result in people being beaten up and maimed and killed by protesters. There was one fatal shooting that night, but the focus was property damage and not violence towards humans. That second level is what has happened after the white supremacists and other extremist groups showed up.

This is no small point. The quarantine protestors brought guns and there are pictures of them getting into police officers' faces and yelling - which, considering they weren't wearing masks and the whole point of quarantine is to not potentially transmit the infection - should have merited a stronger reaction than silence and ignoring them. But the point here is that they were met with passive restraint (even though they were potentially putting the lives of the police officers in danger by shouting into their faces), and this is what the president tweeted about it:

“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry,” Trump tweeted. “They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”​

But these Floyd protests - which were actually peaceful - were treated very differently. Aggressive measures were taken to stop the peaceful protest that weren't remotely relied on for the "very good people" with guns protesting something far less incidious than systemic racism.

So I mean, on the topic of compassionate listening, highlighting this very different approach - to make clear another level of violence (which precedes any physical violence) - needs mention here because it exponentially compounds the damage being done to social fabric, and highlighting it and 'hearing' it is the only way to extinguish those flames in any kind of meaningful/enduring way.

There's something to add here about the routine gaslighting too: Trump & co. pulling an accusation about far-left extremists straight out of their own asses. Trump blamed far left extremists and it's just a drop in the bucket of all the times Trump has told his base outright fabrications that sow the divisiveness currently tearing social fabric apart. He's been doing it non-stop since before he got elected and it is *very much* a palpable layer of violence at play here that systematically exponentially compounds the underlying rancor about systemic racism that would still need to be addressed, even if there weren't an absolute psycho in office fanning those flames to make them even bigger whilst simultaneously sending the message to his base that (1) unlike the "very good people" protesting quarantine who simply need to feel heard, there's no valid reason for those flames to be there (2) the only reason the flames are getting bigger are because of the "far left extremists" (an outright lie). Not only is there a vacuum where there should be an attempt to listen, there's an aggressive gaslighter reshaping the narrative in a violent way.

 

[ceecee]

This is no small point. The quarantine protestors brought guns and there are pictures of them getting into police officers' faces and yelling - which, considering they weren't wearing masks and the whole point of quarantine is to not potentially transmit the infection - should have merited a stronger reaction than silence and ignoring them. But the point here is that they were met with passive restraint (even though they were potentially putting the lives of the police officers in danger by shouting into their faces), and this is what the president tweeted about it:

“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry,” Trump tweeted. “They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”​

But these Floyd protests - which were actually peaceful - were treated very differently. Aggressive measures were taken to stop the peaceful protest that weren't remotely relied on for the "very good people" with guns protesting something far less incidious than systemic racism.

So I mean, on the topic of compassionate listening, highlighting this very different approach - to make clear another level of violence (which precedes any physical violence) - needs mention here because it exponentially compounds the damage being done to social fabric, and highlighting it and 'hearing' it is the only way to extinguish those flames in any kind of meaningful/enduring way.

There's something to add here about the routine gaslighting too: Trump & co. pulling an accusation about far-left extremists straight out of their own asses. Trump blamed far left extremists and it's just a drop in the bucket of all the times Trump has told his base outright fabrications that sow the divisiveness currently tearing social fabric apart. He's been doing it non-stop since before he got elected and it is *very much* a palpable layer of violence at play here that systematically exponentially compounds the underlying rancor about systemic racism that would still need to be addressed, even if there weren't an absolute psycho in office fanning those flames to make them even bigger whilst simultaneously sending the message to his base that (1) unlike the "very good people" protesting quarantine who simply need to feel heard, there's no valid reason for those flames to be there (2) the only reason the flames are getting bigger are because of the "far left extremists" (an outright lie). Not only is there a vacuum where there should be an attempt to listen, there's an aggressive gaslighter reshaping the narrative in a violent way.

I think about that tweet often.

And how hypocritical all these people are. I have been out at something every day since Friday. And I got crunched by cops in military gear with their riot shields. I was walking. Not rioting, not looting, not at night. The aggressive posture of the cops and the lies, I've fucking had it.

This was Saturday. This is what's happening everywhere, no matter your color or your gender now.

As far as I'm concerned, the era of apathy is done. Systemic poverty, institutional racism and discrimination, the military state, off the rails capitalism and the ghoul policies of these fucking politicians that do not care if you live or die unless you are wealthy and powerful like them is done. I'm headed out for Day 6.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

This is an important topic to discuss - this question of racism vs. 'reverse-racism'.

I encountered the idea that racism = prejudice + power when I was taking a multicultural counseling class, and so it was expanded on a bit. I hope others will fill in the gaps of what I say.

When there is a power imbalance in society, the same motivations and actions can produce different results. To a limited degree one can reframe this larger notion of power imbalance by different individual roles that have a power imbalance. Consider teacher/student, employer/employee, adult/child, cop/civilian, counselor/client, etc. In each of these instance, if the individual holding the power commits a moral violation towards the one with less power, the result is more severe. If the teacher openly mocks a student it is different than when the student mocks a teacher. If a counselor tells a client they are a worthless piece of crap it is different than when a client says it to a counselor. Behaviors that are hurtful can always be wrong, but there is a way a student knows that their mocking has a different effect than if they were the teacher. In this way degree of social power serves as an amplifier for the behavior.

These examples are limited because one in power is dominant for other reasons than simply racial privilege. But the basic notion can extend to racial privilege. When the woman in the dog park threatened to call the police on the black man, it was a different action than if he threatened to call the police for her behavior. The assumed result is different and so the same behavior is different because of context. There is a motivation, a behavior, but then the context contributes to defining it.

At the point where a person is permanently maimed or murdered, then some of these notions change. If a student murders a teacher, it is not a less atrocity than if the teacher murders a student. In that instance the result of the behavior is the same and so in a way the power is the same. There can be different levels of this sociologically though, if the murder of one results in more similar murders because the victim has less social power, then even that could represent that difference in power, although at the individual level I still see the same line crossed and should be subjected to the same laws and punishments.

I really think this topic should be explored more comprehensively, and so I hope others will add to what I'm trying to say here.

This brings to mind Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It's been a long time since I read it, but from what I remember, it urged that power imbalances won't right themselves naturally when an oppressed population somehow gains an advantage because they'll likely simply apply the dynamic they learned (one side is dominant/more powerful, other side 'should' passively accept it) from the other direction. I'm probably not explaining this well, but he urges the importance of anyone in a 'teacher' position to abandon a dynamic which requires the 'student' to passively soak up information/education and to encourage the student to question the education (and if the teacher approaches it the same way - rather than expecting the student to unquestioningly absorb information dispatched by the teacher, and to examine the student's questions along with the student - then the teacher stands to learn and grow too in a way s/he normally wouldn't).

On a slightly different tangent though, about the 'reverse-racism' (which is, I think, a product of wanting to be empowered and simply reflecting the power imbalance rather than using a new "no one is the dominant power here" framework - if only because such a framework hasn't been learned in the way Freire describes), so long as prison contains a wildly disproportionate amount of minorities, the infant mortality rate for minorities is much higher, or any of the many clear indications of systemic racism hasn't changed, I can't help but think examples of 'black people being racist' are like someone pointing out the two times a day a broken clock reflects the correct time as some kind of argument that the clock isn't really broken.

eta: I mean, I'm not saying there isn't a valid grievance in here:

This is not including everyone who is black obviously, but goddamn it man it's just frustrating to be on the receiving end of so much racism or having my black then-boyfriend freak out like "what're you doing you can't walk to my house like that you're white" while kids in school act out then say "it's because I'm black that I got in trouble" then grow up and see the same damn thing happening with law enforcement, then turn around and see this kind of protesting.

But it can't be used to snuff out the complaints about racism that are valid, as if "because sometimes people use it as a scapegoat, complaints about racism should no longer be taken seriously."

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I think about that tweet often.

And how hypocritical all these people are. I have been out at something every day since Friday. And I got crunched by cops in military gear with their riot shields. I was walking. Not rioting, not looting, not at night. The aggressive posture of the cops and the lies, I've fucking had it.

And if you compare what he's saying to governors (not the protestors, to the governors), it's right from the pages of Freire (on how to be the shittiest authority imaginable) - in direct contrast to how to be the good kind of authority to his base ("listen to the very good people, work out some kind of deal"). With those who aren't his base: Dominate! Show them who's the boss, show them who has absolute authority. You will look weak if you try to listen, just dominate! Just use the military and plow the fuck right over them until they give up and stop even trying to use their voice - even their peaceful voice.

 

[Lark]

One thing I will say is that organized (and not so organized) crime will be taking advantage of all this, same goes for organized war, everyone who's forumers keep safe in these dangerous times if you can.

 

[FemMecha]

This brings to mind Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It's been a long time since I read it, but from what I remember, it urged that power imbalances won't right themselves naturally when an oppressed population somehow gains an advantage because they'll likely simply apply the dynamic they learned (one side is dominant/more powerful, other side 'should' passively accept it) from the other direction. I'm probably not explaining this well, but he urges the importance of anyone in a 'teacher' position to abandon a dynamic which requires the 'student' to passively soak up information/education and to encourage the student to question the education (and if the teacher approaches it the same way - rather than expecting the student to unquestioningly absorb information dispatched by the teacher, and to examine the student's questions along with the student - then the teacher stands to learn and grow too in a way s/he normally wouldn't).

On a slightly different tangent though, about the 'reverse-racism' (which is, I think, a product of wanting to be empowered and simply reflecting the power imbalance rather than using a new "no one is the dominant power here" framework - if only because such a framework hasn't been learned in the way Freire describes), so long as prison contains a wildly disproportionate amount of minorities, the infant mortality rate for minorities is much higher, or any of the many clear indications of systemic racism hasn't changed, I can't help but think examples of 'black people being racist' are like someone pointing out the two times a day a broken clock reflects the correct time as some kind of argument that the clock isn't really broken.

I agree that society needs a new framework of conception in which groups don't dominate other groups at all. Thanks for the link and your comments here. This is all very helpful.

The teacher/student reference I included in the list of individual power dynamic differentials always gives me a little pause when applying it to social demographics because that one and others implies a different level of knowledge or other kinds of imbalances that don't apply to these other social dynamic, so I was able to find a more specific example. The link is to a Facebook video.

The governor of Nebraska Pete Ricketts held a meeting that included various officials and leaders in the black community. He addresses them by saying "the problem I have with you people..."

Say a minority kid on the street says that to a white person- it is at best rude, but there isn't an entire system of social power igniting it with consequences that will affect the life of the person hearing those words. When the governor speaks to minority leaders with this language we have prejudice + power = racism. We have a serious problem that affects a great number of people. While it could be useful to tell the kid that it is a prejudicial way of stating things, that same kid also needs to hear that we will address those in power who say it to him. The foundational issue in our society falls into the hands of governors who have the power to make decisions that affect people's livelihoods, their access to medical care, their life.

St Mark Baptist Church was live. - St Mark Baptist Church

 

[anticlimatic]

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Say a minority kid on the street says that to a white person- it is at best rude, but there isn't an entire system of social power igniting it with consequences that will affect the life of the person hearing those words.

Yeah, I think this is a spot on explanation of why it's a problem.