I feel like I want to get into some history here...
Firsthand, yes America had slaves. For a very long time many places had slaves, and they were not strictly of color. Irish people faced slavery. Egypt had slavery for much of their pyramid building. The biggest reason America had black slaves was that trans-atlantic slave route.
African countries at the time had a lot of tribal wars, and they would sell their prisoners of war. These are what became the slaves. We cannot even account for the countless lives who didn't even make it to shore, just thrown overboard. The trade was cruel and inhumane at best. And I do not deny the horrors of any sort of human trafficking of this manner. Human trafficking in any form should be ended. But the issue is slavery still exists in ways today. It exists in farming communities who bring hispanics up to do harvesting and barely pay them. It involves China and their literal sweatshops THAT INCLUDE CHILDREN.
There's no denying forms of racism still exist today, and education is a very important part of it. However, sadly, since racism is taught, these people have to be willing to look at their biases and see where their prejudices exist. But here's some of my issues.
1. Why are we using the term privilege? Yes I realize [MENTION=9811]Coriolis[/MENTION] you state that white poor still experience white privilege, but what even qualifies as that? We're using this term, that's actually very racially based in itself when we're trying to remove racial biases, and most can't properly fathom what that is. I've heard so many different definitions of "privilege". I've had people send me quizzes and I am considered unprivileged to most. Maybe it is because I'm a small framed woman. But I don't see where fearing the police is something white people don't do. Whenever I see a police officer I get a lot of anxiety. That's called acknowledging authority. When you do something bad and you are worried your parents will find out, it'll give you anxiety. If you have some sorta conscience. Up my road, I saw a squad of police, with one of those military looking vehicles, break down the door of a house to arrest the men inside. They were white. I see a lot of white people in Idaho that seem as scary as any description of a "ghetto" individual. Prejudices are not always skin color. If I see anyone with a gun I'm nervous. If I see some dude with gang tats of any race I'm nervous. When I see these idiots walking with their pants hanging half down and think its sexy I judge them all equally, black white or hispanic. Although the blacks here usually know how to wear their pants... You are claiming I have a privilege of "knowing" the police will not kill me and that isn't true. You absolutely CANNOT predict any person and the police could very well have a bad day and decide to kill me. We got white guys pulling up to churches with fucking katanas waving them around. A privilege that is very inherent is money though. If you have wealth, you can afford the best degrees, you somehow have this power to speak whatever and not face the same consequences. You can do all kinds of illegal drugs and not get arrested, literally post it anywhere you want, brag about it. You can get off with small time because you can afford the greatest lawyers and the greatest of everything. You can buy this fancy security to protect you from any low level shit. These seem like the people we should be targetting. The thing is too, I have grown up without a father. I have grown up with shitty circumstances. My older brother was aggressive and at times physically violent to the point I had to protect my little siblings FROM HIM. Both of my little siblings are disabled. My mother lives on disability and without grandpa we'd all be homeless. On top of that he's shit with his finances so growing up I constantly had to worry about homelessness and I never asked for much at all because I didn't want to be the reason we had NOTHING. My oldest brother died. We cannot afford most medical care. All our teeth aren't in great condition because dentists are pricey as hell. I am using student loans to go to the same shitty state colleges these people often have to go to, or maybe not since some of them are sports talented. I reported a sexual predator online to CPS through my therapist because he emotionally abused me along with sending me explicit pictures and having some of me (not bare nude) which since I was 14-16 could equate to having child pornography and absolutely NOTHING happened to him. He is still on the fucking internet. Tell me about my fucking privilege again. When you start telling people they have privilege when they don't even feel or acknowledge a "privilege" they can attribute to their overall shitty quality of life you begin to get PISSED OFF and feel like they're actually being pretty fucking racist themselves. It seems to me because of history, blacks have a privilege to say all white people are racist bigots who keep them from being better people. Which in some ways, they have. There's other people who are prevented from getting places too, because of people with more privilege elsewhere. Growing up the most iconic celebrities I knew of were black: Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder. Seem to me some of them have a lot more privilege than I do. I don't think we should start getting into arguments of privilege because privilege exists outside of race completely. It has way more to do with where you were born, who birthed you, and how much money they have. I was born of some west virginia country hicks and I don't experience this "privilege" I'm supposed to have. Can someone ship it to me? I was at a welfare office to get a background check for an internship and the cop there glared me down the whole hallway he walked up and it gave me enough anxiety I wanted to leave. Fuck this argument. Fuck the privilege shit. All this does is divide people and piss them off because NOT EVERYONE HAS PRIVILEGE BECAUSE THEY'RE WHITE. Go to a very poor white community and tell me where you find their privilege when they also have no jobs, also turn to drugs, and live similar lifestyles to these black ghettos. Don't tell me about privilege if you've only seen that one part of it. I'm not ignoring the issue of racial disparity but I am absolutely sick of being told to care and be on their side I have to get on my knees and apologize, basically, for being a white person. How is THAT not racist as all fuck? How is THAT okay? If you want to END THE RACE ISSUE, you cannot fight it with RACIAL BIAS. It sounds like you do not just want equality, police reform, or aid. It sounds like you want the power and control you feel white america has. I want power and control too. God I wish when I said something everyone hailed me like a saint but hey, only 1% of people here really get to experience that level of life excitement. Most of us just go get our 9-5 shift jobs where we slowly hate our lives, hate the world we live in, never get to follow any of our real life dreams, and barely get by and having to constantly worry about bills, tickets, mortgages, and sometimes work more than one job. Hell, a huge portion of people get a degree now and never touch the field of their major. I feel for them, for their fear, for their bad experience. I am not gonna act like they're the only people to ever experience anything horrible. I see Native Americans TODAY RIGHT NOW still being horribly disregarded. Not one person screams their life matters. Not one of these people cry Black lives matter when that black man kills their own brother. No one is crying white lives matter when a stupid fucking redneck with a deathwish gets shot by the police (and for good because they don't deserve that). I have grown up in a way that I have heard racism around me. It exists. Absolutely. I hear very little of it from the outside world. We had a black president. A bunch of these protestors? White. I hear some black americans telling some of these people they're getting too fucking crazy and to chill some. 62% of the police force in New York isn't even white now. They went into the occupations to create change and their own people call them uncle toms, coons, and all kinds of horrible shit. I've seen stories of black people discussing going to school to better themselves and get an education only to be disowned by their families for not being "black enough". If you're not going to change your own negative cultures how do you expect to see results? My parents struggle to get by but they let me focus on schooling because they want me to have a better life than they have. I want to be able to provide. My family is going to need someone's care and minimum wage is not enough. These big corporations care for no one, and it isn't about race. I got hurt at walmart and got treated like shit. I reported someone for harassment 3 fucking times. Nothing happened until my mexican coworker went to the store manager because she felt if they didn't stop him I would quit. I experienced a form of sexual harassment from another coworker that went untouched. According to white privilege, I shouldn't be afraid of police. When I cry to authority that something is happening to me they will listen and handle the issue promptly since I am "white". According to white privilege no one ever judges me for my race, yet I'm hearing a lot of that. According to my white privilege, I should have all kinds of opportunities that I don't really have. I should easily get that job and things like that. No, I gotta rummage through the mess of the world too. And the middle class person has it really bad. Why? Because they're not poor enough to warrant the same level of loans or aid, but they aren't rich enough to afford the things like education or maybe even their food after paying the rent. I think I'd be more sympathetic to this plight if everything stopped being about how dirty and bad every fucking white person is. I've never hurt a black person in my life. I befriended a couple refugees when I was in college, both very kind and sweet people. A couple of the most loving people I'd met. Both were of color, one definitely black, and they were also islamic while I am a devout Christian. We just loved each other because that is what God, whoever we see Him as, wanted us to do. Fuck people who use religion for any sort of bigotry too.
2. I have an issue with certain cases within BLM. Not so much this one, because, he did not do something that warranted this response from the officer. Maybe if it was the case back when this same exact man put a GUN to a PREGNANT WOMAN'S STOMACH that it would possibly be even remotely warranted. I dislike people crying police brutality if you resist arrest, you spit in a cops face, etc. If you fight the law the law will fight you. I am not at all for stop and frisk or anything of this nature, certainly black people do not deserve to be singled out. There are plenty of white druggies, gangsters, and thugs. I think they're pieces of shit too. Crying racism if a cop stops you for anything if you are a person of color is ridiculous and makes the officers have less and less civility. I think honestly sometimes, they bring this on themselves. Not racism, not what happened here, but when that cop throws them to the ground for not listening. I've seen people not black face similar repercussions and that doesn't get a giant headline. Is that police brutality too? Or does it only matter if you are of color? Some of the people facing charges DESERVE THEIR CHARGES. Some of these people, news flash, ARE ACTUALLY BAD PEOPLE. The cops are here to protect and serve. They actually don't get paid shit, they get 8ish weeks of half assed training usually and shoved out into a very traumatic job where they receive little mental health aid. To make real reform, actually pay them right, train them right, and give them the mental health treatment they need to cope with the harassment of being an officer. I sympathize with the plight of blacks but I don't think this is a reason to suddenly state that the police should in fact not exist and are all racist. Are the minorities who are police officers racist toward themselves? Does a young black man in the army hate himself? I mean do I hate myself if I complain how a few people abuse the metoo movement to get revenge on men that pissed them off? No, I just want an equal justice that is FAIR. I am not condemning any and all blacks. I'm not gonna condemn any and all cops. My therapist said all or nothing thinking is very bad for you. This is all or nothing prejudice related to groups and it is just as unhealthy and unfair.
3. I am sick of these movements really just being someone's woke points. Honestly, I wish we'd really investigate the root of many of the issues existing, with critical thinking, and try to make positive changes. Like removing the immunity law, or making things easier for victims to come forward. Having internal investigations to weed out bad cops and work things back together in a correct manner. Right now people get their social media likes by jumping in a protest for 5 minutes, acting like they give a shit by screaming words they give 2 shits about, then go back to their every day life like nothing happened. All they do is find ways to feed their narcissism and using the plight of other people to do it is absolutely disgusting. Stop it.
4. I'm beyond sick of if you question ANYTHING of ANYTHING happening you are automatically a racist bigot. I'm not racist. I took the stupid test, although I think the test is messy at best. Prejudices are usually learned. If you grew up seeing black people shoot other people and deal drugs and do horrible shit you'll probably think black is bad. If your parents told you they do that shit you'll think black is bad. If you saw these exact same things from whites or hispanics or any group of particular people you'd judge them too. I faced bullying from my own church youth groups so honestly, I view youth groups as a negative place I do not want to be in. I view youth group leaders as being complicit to the problems. ITS SO EASY TO DO. But as time went on I realized NO. Not every youth group is bad and not every youth minister is bad. THOSE people were bad and THOSE ministers were complicit. I hold the people who did it accountable. But I sadly realize so few people take the time to objectively look at a situation and realize any, all, every group has bad people.You can find bad people anywhere, anytime. They may even be hiding in plain sight. A lot of bad people don't actually look like bad people until you see it, happening, or it is happening to you. This is an issue of prejudices as well, and social classes and how people are treated within classes. Let me tell you, most people think I am dumb. Why? I was homeschooled. There's a serious stereotype about homeschoolers. We are considered to be sheltered kids enlightened by our overprotective likely christian cult parents who halfway abuse us and we're actually dumb and cannot socialize. Guess what? I'm outgoing, my mom is a christian but she is a staunch feminist who believes people should choose whatever the fuck they want so she didn't even make us choose religion, she just told us about it and then said its up to us if we believe in anything, and we're actually allowed to have opinions. Oh by the way I did actually do homework, get passed,a nd become a straight A student in college. And I admit, totally, some of my ambition to do that, was being called dumb and sheltered by so many people. I was out to prove I was not just able, but I could be fucking smarter than them. Now I realize from psychology, learned helplessness is also a thing. I'm gonna get into that next.
5. Now let's do that. Learned helplessness is in fact, when you have been in a bad situation such as poverty, abuse, or addiction for SO LONG, that you do not feel you can overcome it, so you merely become complacent to it. This is why I absolutely am for sending more aid to these communities. Not only that, but all impoverished communities. It has been proven that poverty becomes like a mental state. You get obsessed with surviving and you never really find a way to escape that mental state. These people need aid, they need therapists and social workers to help them up and back onto their feet. They need those with the blessings of the privilege of wealth to go to these communities and truly help them. Not just make a tagline on their website to make it look like they give a shit when they don't. They need people in these occupations to care. They need their own to go into these occupations to highlight their very real experiences. But although we acknowledge it, no one funds helping them. I wonder why...well if we helped them then we wouldn't need this giant budget going towards the police. There'd be less crime. We wouldn't need this giant budget into things like welfare as much because more people would have stability to get by on their own. Instead, the wealthy and polticians have abandoned their duty to help those with less than them, ignored their plight, and handed them some shit and said here now stop bitching. I mean, that's basically what my mother on SSI gets. Medicaid doesn't afford you a real psychologist that she would need to actually manage and treat her severe mental illness issue. They offer subpar counselors who don't really know how to handle severe PTSD and GAD mixing, along with depression and OCD. We have doctors that can't afford their student loans (where the fuck is that giant medical bill I pay going anyway? I know it isn't to their paychecks and that's just sad.) Society punishes people actually contributing to helping the world by paying them poorly, treating them poorly, and underfunding them. We give billions to some asshole who acts like he doesn't treat his employees like shit but in fact does. Companies, the wealthy, they all have a social responsibility since they are the ones that can truly create the change. I'm just a pin in a haystack. I don't have the money to do jack shit even if I wanted to. It'll take me years to get anywhere and the only reason I'm gonna have a house is because my grandfather is leaving it to me. And that's so my mother doesn't end up homeless, because guess what disability funds is barely enough to pay for jack shit. I'D LOVE TO SEE MORE MONEY GO TO THESE THINGS. FOR EVERYONE'S NEEDS. And every single person of any race, any gender, any sexuality should receive it. I would love to see a world of real equality, where men, women, white or black or hispanic or whoever, of whatever sexuality, of whatever identity, see opportunity in their life.
***I started writing this this morning, took me way too long to finish this. But I have my points to make and I made them so there.***