Rampant Racism in America

The best way I have heard it expressed (sorry, was searching for the tweet but could not find it), went somehow like that:

You should stop saying

"Too bad that Floyd George was killed by the police, but the looting has to stop".

Rather, change your point of view, and reformulate the sentence:

"Too bad that shops get looted, but the killing of unarmed Black people at the hands of police has to stop".

That way, you have made the comment about the real and more important problem.
 
See how white folks are starting to wake up and realize they've only been given privilege to be used as pawns to keep the elite in power? If everyone of middle and lower economic class would wake up to the charade of racial privilege and come together in unity - kinda like what's starting now, now that we've been slapped around more than usual--we could actually demand change.
It's one thing for white people to say they're against discrimination, it's another to see white people treated as other races are, simply because of their class level. As long as there's a divide between lower class whites and anyone else they're allowed that sense of privilege. They'res nothing they need to acknowledge if they don't want to- they can pretend it doesn't exist, and we all have the same rights. Or they can kinda know it but squirm at the thought of not having it--what if we were all treated with such inequity? But what happens when white people fight it--what's happening now? We're being retaliated against. Martial law is threatened. We are faced with choices I don't think most white people ever had to recognize before.
tramp has pulled the curtain back. Now we have to chose.
Why do you think the lower class are allowed to protest with rifles and storm government buildings? What do they get for that? Do they ever really ask for anything but what is already the status quo? Does it ever put any strain on the government elite?
As long as people are allowed to alter their actions due to a perception of inequality they're placated. White middle class and lower class have been complicit in racial divides forever. As long as there are people that have it worse than yourself you have a sense of betterment.You can pretend you don't, after all, you have analogies that back you up- like all lives matter, you don't see color.
The elite needs this division. When we come together there are more of us than them.
 
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I am not proud of this. I have discriminated against groups of people based on race, ethnicity, and political affiliation. I suspect that I will continue to discriminate in the future.

Those crazy vegans were near the top of my list of people that I disliked. I have become part of the group that I disliked most. I also learned that God has an excellent sense of humour.
 
See how white folks are starting to wake up and realize they've only been given privilege to be used as pawns to keep the elite in power?

That's more or less what "Woke" means. Was used as a slur for progressive people for a long time.

My fear is that it is too few people who wake up, a large group is quite comfortable condemning violence mainly as long as it comes from looters.
 
That got me wondering how it is in Cleveland now, and I came across this very powerful photograph-

Saw that in my newsfeed this morning. This is getting crazy.
also started reading about the "Race Riots" of 1919.
We have been here before but what everyone is saying is that this time it feels different. One thing that is different is that there are more white people involved in the protests.
 
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It looks like Trump is specifically going for the racist vote. It was interesting he shared then deleted a video of a supporter saying "white power". His spokesperson claimed he hadn´t heard that, and yet it was very clear, and it was said 2-3 times in the video. A possible interpretation of this is that he did hear it, he lied about that, and he planned all along to post and then delete the video as a way of getting racists to vote for him. He may even have deliberately made his lie that he hadn´t heard this (assuming he told his spokesperson to say this) an obvious lie so people know he did hear it. It wasn`t very subtle.

And there are other things going on here, like the defence of statues and speaking in front of Mount Rushmore shortly after it has been highlighted as being a monument to people some of which have a dubious past in slavery. None of which is racist on its own, but it sort of adds up to a picture.

In some ways, the Presidential election could be a referendum on racism.

Just thinking strategically for a minute, and leaving aside the ethics of it, I think Trump may have miscalculated here and gone a bit too far? I don´t think a majority of Americans will support this kind of approach, certainly hope not.

Meanwhile Joe Biden is probably considered racist by the far left and the progressives, but a majority of Americans are not likely to be bothered by much in his record. Even some of those far left and progressives might vote for Biden as the lesser of two evils.

 
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It looks like Trump is specifically going for the racist vote. It was interesting he shared then deleted a video of a supporter saying "white power". His spokesperson claimed he hadn´t heard that, and yet it was very clear, and it was said 2-3 times in the video. A possible interpretation of this is that he did hear it, he lied about that, and he planned all along to post and then delete the video as a way of getting racists to vote for him. He may even have deliberately made his lie that he hadn´t heard this (assuming he told his spokesperson to say this) an obvious lie so people know he did hear it. It wasn`t very subtle.

And there are other things going on here, like the defence of statues and speaking in front of Mount Rushmore shortly after it has been highlighted as being a monument to people some of which have a dubious past in slavery. None of which is racist on its own, but it sort of adds up to a picture.

In some ways, the Presidential election could be a referendum on racism.

Just thinking strategically for a minute, and leaving aside the ethics of it, I think Trump may have miscalculated here and gone a bit too far? I don´t think a majority of Americans will support this kind of approach, certainly hope not.

Meanwhile Joe Biden is probably considered racist by the far left and the progressives, but a majority of Americans are not likely to be bothered by much in his record. Even some of those far left and progressives might vote for Biden as the lesser of two evils.

I do fear that more racists than not will show up to vote and thus give us another four years of this monster. I certainly hope this isn't the case.
There is no way he didn't hear the "white power" exclamations in that video. I, too, think he deliberately did it to let his base know he's still with them. He made his point by retweeting it, probably knowing full well it would draw outrage. I also think he is stoking divide so that it will take attention off the wretched job he has done in response to the pandemic. If he can't hang his hat on the economy, he'll continue this divide-and-conquer approach. I just so hope that enough people in the swing states come out to vote to defeat him.
 
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I do fear that more racists than not will show up to vote and thus give us another four years of this monster.

That seems to suggest Trump voters are racist and non-Trump voters are not. We're all flawed by racial bias and I doubt most Trump voters deserve to be defined by that. HRC's "basket of deplorables" comment helped galvanize the opposition to her and I think that's worth learning from.
 
I do fear that more racists than not will show up to vote and thus give us another four years of this monster. I certainly hope this isn't the case.
There is no way he didn't hear the "white power" exclamations in that video. I, too, think he deliberately did it to let his base know he's still with them. He made his point by retweeting it, probably knowing full well it would draw outrage. I also think he is stoking divide so that it will take attention off the wretched job he has done in response to the pandemic. If he can't hang his hat on the economy, he'll continue this divide-and-conquer approach. I just so hope that enough people in the swing states come out to vote to defeat him.
Geez... I will sound bizarre, but i'd never really understood what "divide-and-conquer" means, but having read you post, i suddenly realized it. And i didn't like it. Perhaps i couldn't understand it because in russian, it sounds like "Razdeljay ee vlastvuy" (which can be understood differently). To me (and to many others), "Razdeljay ee vlastvuy" sounds like "Share and rule". If "Divide and conquer" is its real definition,- then i don't like it at all...😼
 
That seems to suggest Trump voters are racist and non-Trump voters are not. We're all flawed by racial bias and I doubt most Trump voters deserve to be defined by that. HRC's "basket of deplorables" comment helped galvanize the opposition to her and I think that's worth learning from.
If people support Trump, they knowingly or unknowingly support a white nationalist/supremacist/racist. He doesn't even try to hide his racism. He is spouting the same white supremacist message about "heritage not hate" and "erasing our history" about all the various historical statues being removed, which once again shuts down any conversation about the perspective of people of color. I agree people are flawed by racial bias all along the political spectrum, but this is how white America maintains the status quo, by quashing dissent and dismissing the concerns of anyone who isn't white.
 
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Geez... I will sound bizarre, but i'd never really understood what "divide-and-conquer" means, but having read you post, i suddenly realized it. And i didn't like it. Perhaps i couldn't understand it because in russian, it sounds like "Razdeljay ee vlastvuy" (which can be understood differently). To me (and to many others), "Razdeljay ee vlastvuy" sounds like "Share and rule". If "Divide and conquer" is its real definition,- then i don't like it at all...😼
It's a strategy to stoke dissent among the masses to maintain control. They're too busy fighting one another to unite and defeat a leader.
 
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That seems to suggest Trump voters are racist and non-Trump voters are not. We're all flawed by racial bias and I doubt most Trump voters deserve to be defined by that. HRC's "basket of deplorables" comment helped galvanize the opposition to her and I think that's worth learning from.
If I read that in 2016 I'd give a pass, even halfway I'd concede that there were those who felt so strongly about his other agendas they would be willing to overlook it, but today there is no way I wouldn't speak loud and clear that a vote for trump is a vote for racism.

Far too many lower income whites have been silent because just having that little step up. They've also had chains but they were never seen, never even acknowledged, unless of course they would break those invisible bonds by speaking up for equality. So so many hadn't. But, just as rump said, "what have you got to lose?" Now those same silent whites are so surrounded by the injustice they've been conditioned to accept they can no longer accept it, and they're seeing, and feeling, a bit of what it's like. Before they could opt out of the bumper sticker promoting BLM, they could avoid the city council meeting that addressed racial issues, they could be silent at racially charged conversations. It's over now. It's that time to decide what side you're on because it is on.,

rump stood in front of land pillaged from Native Americans, given back as a token, then stolen again when it was deemed profitable. he stood in front of a mountain that was desecrated by a racist who demolished the stone and inserted the images of the men who victimized the people who lived their. He stood there and pledged his loyalty to racists, he pledged his loyalty to images and pledged that history would be written to place the rich, the powerful, the white patriarchs as the good and erase any wrong doing. Just as he's silenced anyone who would dare question his impropriety he's silencing those who would fight for what is rightfully is theirs. Instead of enforcing justice he's making it legal to be unjust
His wealth and power were ill gotten gains, his family and friends by far the worst of the looters
Want to get started on his Tulsa rally?

If you say you know American history and don't scream for justice you're either--
lying, and really ignornant
were home schooled and taught a tailored agenda
are racist
 
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Trump's use of racism is a strategy, and getting one side to call the other side racists is how the strategy is designed to work. We can advocate for a more equal society without playing into that.