Warning: This post does not claim I do not say stupid things myself!
White Americans say plenty of stupid things. In no particular order, these are the ones that make me wonder the most about their intelligence (those with links have posts of their own):
- “I’m not racist but…” followed by something completely racist. Who does this fool?
- “Not all Whites…” – said even when I just said “some Whites” or “many Whites”.
- “Some of my best friends are Black.” – said to prove they are not racist. I thought this was laughed to shame in 1968, but people still say it with a straight face. (I have, *cringe*, used this myself in regard to Indo-Caribbeans.)
- “All lives matter.” Then what is so wrong with saying “Black lives matter”?
- “My grandmother…” followed by something racist she said or did, as if the person telling the story cannot possibly be racist too. As if we all have those grandmothers.
- “I don’t see colour.” Said by people who can see colour. Said by the very people who are made uncomfortable by your colour. Said as if there is something wrong with being a different colour.
- “You’re racist for saying I’m racist.” Pointing out racism is not racism.
- “It’s heritage not hate.” It’s both.
- “It’s not racist. It was a joke …” It was both.
- “It’s not racist. It’s true.” No, it just means you are probably racist. Racists, like everyone else, only believe in stuff they think is true.
- “It’s not racist, you’re just being oversensitive.” That statement is itself racist since it tells a person of colour how to feel.
- “Blacks imagine racism.” Millions of them all at the same time?
- “By talking about racism you are keeping it alive.” I would not have to talk about it if it was not already alive.
- “If Blacks can say the N-word, why can’t I?” Because Whites have used it as a racist word for hundreds of years and still do. Is that fair?
- “Mexicans should go back where they came from.” Sure, as soon as Whites do.
- “You have BET. If we had WET, we’d be racists.” You do and you are. What do you think ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MTV and the History Channel are?
- “I’ve been jumped by blacks.” Said as if this is somehow equal to slavery, Jim Crow and structural racism.
- “Where are you from?” Said to people with an American accent as if they come from a foreign country. How does that make sense?
- “Anyone who works hard can get ahead.” Said by people old enough to know better.
- “Slavery was 400 years ago. Get over it.” As soon as Whites pay reparations. Or as soon as they get over 9/11 and the Holocaust.
- “It’s not like YOU were ever a slave. I don’t understand why race is even an issue for you.” Because racism did not end with slavery.
- “But my black friend wasn’t offended” If he were, would you still be friends? Are all Black people the same?
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
- many of these are:
- BMA: Black Mental Age
- Stuff White People Probably Shouldn’t Say
532
my momma told me we all bleed red…
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Statements like: I don’t care if you’re red, green, yellow, black or purple…
I really hated when people make that statement. It’s the opposite of “I don’t see color.”
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Oh and another hated phrase, said with surprise and/or delight : You’re so articulate!
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Reblogged this on Boycott and commented:
Jusqu’ici, tout glisse …
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“Blacks are more racist than whites” is my favorite
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To be fair, I get the “where are you from?” question an awful lot from Africans and Caribbean people in my area. I speak proper, but they think I have some kind of accent. I get mistaken for African all the time. One time, on the red line, a woman thought I didn’t speak English.
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@LoM,
Does Bernie Sanders care about the South?
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“I don’t give a f-ck about the South.”
.
As a self-professing ally, you probably know that the South is where most of the Blacks in Amerika reside.
Are you recanting/reneging your self-professed – cough, cough – *ally-ship* with Black people?
Or, are you unabashedly proving the point of this post??
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“It’s about class not race” and then point to other white people as the source of racisim
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“As soon as WHITE people get over the Holocaust”?
What an obnoxiously stupid comment.
99% of the European countries handed over
their Jewish citizens to the Nazis.
The US closed its doors to Jews fleeing genocide.
White people recognize both the holocaust and slavery as evils in the official social record, but
Neither one is THEIR tragedy.
You make a list of racist insensitivity and display it yourself.
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Reblogged this on Mothers Against Mass Incarceration .
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“I’m just a guy who’s mindful of Civil War history, and who has nothing but contempt for the Southern traitors. General Sherman showed ’em, all right. He showed ’em good.”
.
How is this “f–k the South” attitude helpful/beneficial to your supposed Black allies who live and work there today?
It seems that your passionate disregard for the South exceeds your inclination toward being (or becoming) a passionate anti-racist.
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@ Human M
““As soon as WHITE people get over the Holocaust”?
What an obnoxiously stupid comment.”
.
It’s about as obnoxiously stupid as,
“Slavery was 400 years ago. Get over it.”
Don’t you THINK?
(smh @ “stupid things …” & selective reading & proving the point!)
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@ A
I deleted your comments as off topic. There is already a thread on Holtzclaw:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/daniel-holtzclaw/
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
I deleted your comment. No calls for violence are allowed on this blog.
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I don’t think you get the point of this comment.
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@agabond,
Add to your list the following:
“I’m 1/32 Cherokee.” — Not sure if you can even measure that.
“People come to America because they aspire to be like Americans.” — This quote ignores the people who the country of America was forced on. And it also forgets that most immigrants were economic immigrants…..including the ones from Europe.
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Ahhh…the drunk white uncle at Christmas quotes…I’ve heard them all in some context. You know what I REALLY hate “Oh you are not like those other blacks. Yeah when I say them I am not referring to you”
Yeah that one.
You know, this is a true nurtured psychosis in white America..(Canadians to some extent).
When I was young, I assumed white people were not very intelligent from what I saw around me…the attitudes overt and subtle made no sense. I would say to them “Of course I am human you dingbat…can you not see that?” Yes, I grew up in the south. They were afraid of me from that point.
When I became an adult and lived in different areas of the country…I realized it had nothing to do with intelligence….and everything to do with mob mentality , apathy, spiritual blindness and intellectual laziness that is quite beneficial if you keep quiet and …. just…..go…along
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“…the attitudes overt and subtle made no sense. … I realized it had nothing to do with intelligence….and everything to do with mob mentality , apathy, spiritual blindness and intellectual laziness …”
.
Exactly! All of the above.
More words: DELUSION, mental block, fantasy, willful misconception, hoodwinking, facade, deliberately obtuse, lack of empathy, forked tongue and deceit.
As such, the benefit of the doubt ought to be withheld until it is (without a doubt) earned.
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“But you’re black!” usually said when a black person does not know the latest hip hop song or dance or hasn’t seen friday.
“Do u make kool aid?” usually said by a dumb newsanchor on fox news to a black woman doing something completely unrelated, making peach cobbler.
“you’re so ghetto” usually said to someone they think is loud outgoing and black
“why are u so quiet u should speak louder, ur black” usually said to people that are not deemed “ghetto” and are shy, because u can’t be black and shy.
“are u mad” usually said after they have said something offensive or because they can’t read ur facial expressions.
Clapbacks to these
“But you’re black” yep and ur white so u would know how to whip
“do u make kool aid” u mean the kind yall stay drinkin courtesy of fox & Donald
“you’re so ghetto” naw i’m boho and chic according to ur magazines
“why are u do quiet u should speak louder, ur black” well I didn’t know color indicates how loud u are, well since u are white and lack color does that mean u should be silent?
“are u mad?” https://vine.co/v/edO3DE5jPjp
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“Can I touch your hair?” A phrase commonly uttered by white women to Black people they do not know. Often times they fail to wait for an answer and proceed to touch us without permission.
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What tickled me this past week was white folks feeling some type of way about the NBC televised version of The Wiz calling it racist. I hope this was a joke or some crazy internet meme.
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Don’t forget the utterly outrageous: White people are more discriminated against than Black people!
When questioned directly, Euro-Americans can never back that claim. Yet, it has great appeal to Whites who say it and believe it. It also justifies ugly behavior against Black people in the minds of many Whites.
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#15 “Mexicans should go back where they came from.” That one is priceless.
From 1846 to 1848 the US invaded Mexican territory in the Mexican-American War. In addition to the Mexican colony of Texas, the US took 525,000 square miles of Mexican land, including the states of California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/reform/jb_reform_guadalup_1.html
Here is a link to an pre-Mexican-American War map:
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/reform/jb_reform_guadalup_1_e.html
Chicanos often say that they did not cross the border, the border crossed them.
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The Wiz…racist? Hmmmmmmm
Then Downton Abbey is racist…Masterpiece Theater is racist too!
Oh and EVERYTHING on TV and in cinema is racist if you follow that logic.
And don’t forget 90% of the commercials…RACIST COMMERCIALS !!!!
A moment of silence for our clueless, melanin challenged, fellow humans….they need the prayers.
Ahem. um….Amen?
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@ Jacque
I was just about to say that myself. It would mean the Judy Garland film, “The Wizard of Oz”, was racist too.
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Reblogged this on League of Bloggers For a Better World.
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“Love has no color.” My favorite lol
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@Lord of Mirkwood
Your hero Sherman went on to oversee atrocities against Native Americans in the West. He called for the complete extermination of the Sioux: “men, women, and children.”
“my great-great-great grandfather, who was killed by a SOUTHERN BANDIT on the Wheatfield at the Battle of Gettysburg!”
And one of my great-great-great-grandfathers was lynched by Yankee soldiers in front of his little children when he tried to stop them from stealing his family’s food and belongings. This happened in Kentucky, which you may recall was a Union state.
Why are you still fighting that war? It was 150 years ago. Get over it.
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Worst one is:
You’re Racist One.
A white girl tries to hook me up with a white homey guy. I told her- I love black guys. She called me racist for liking black guy.Meanwhile, she married to a white man.
Me- Are you racist for marrying a white man?
She told me-You’re performing reverse racism on me.
I’m pointing out her contradiction statement
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Whenever they attempt to say, expound, debate, e.t.c., on anything about race.
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One of my best friends tells me about how white people tell her she’s not like other black people in the way she speaks and the way she carries herself. This causes me to roll my eyes and grind my teeth to powder. I tell her that is not a compliment. I think she knows this, but respectability doesn’t save black people from the racism of white supremacy.
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@bluestbibliophile: Subscribed to your book blog.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
Slavery was legal and practiced in three Union states during the Civil War. The northern states also have slavery in their past. Many abolished it through gradual emancipation, which meant that the 13th Amendment freed a number of elderly black slaves in the North.
If your ancestors were in the North during colonial days up to the early 1800s, chances are at least some of them were slave owners.
The famous abolitionist Sojourner Truth was born a slave in New York.
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This is a great post yes to all 22 bullet points.
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Another one should be “I had it so hard…“
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Never mind. I think that may already be included: “Anyone can get ahead who works hard”. Oh well.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
I’ve been lurking long enough to know not all of your ancestors were Irish.
My Irish ancestors left during the Flight of the Wild Geese. Are you sure none of yours left that early?
“There is no way you can say that the South was right or the North was wrong.”
You’re putting words in my mouth. I never said that.
I do think you have a habit of scapegoating Southerners to deflect attention from your own racism.
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Wow. Apparently you didn’t get my comment on the Holocaust. It was perpetrated on Jews. White people didn’t need to get over the Holocaust. It’s Jews who commemorate it and Jews who lost family in it. It’s nice when others empathize, but you might as well have said when white people get over slavery. The people who really understand are people whose families/ancestors suffered. It’s the same with Jews and the Holocaust.
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@ Human M
We are told to never forget the Holocaust or 9/11 but we are supposed to get over slavery. That does not make sense, unless you assume a racist double standard.
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@ Solitaire
I agree. He does the same with the Republicans.
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I think only White people differentiate between Whites and Jews. To people of color, it’s two sides of the same coin.
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“Racism is over because we have a black President.” Say what?
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“I’ve never had anything handed to me because I’m white.”
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It’s hilarious when they say these things with a straight face!
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I am so tired of the casualness of white racism.
Another is where they expect you to prove something is racist; except no evidence you offer is ever sufficient.
They must cling to their stubborn belief that nothing they’ve ever said or done short of the n word could possibly be racist and not even that if their intentions were good or they were only joking.
The willful ignorance of white people is hurtful and angering.
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White women asking black women who wear braids or locs or other natural hair styles how often do they wash their hair. That’s very stupid and insulting.
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The willful ignorance of white people
There is nothing ignorant in their utterances. They are quite aware of what they are saying. Claiming ignorance after making these remarks is a built in defense mechanism should the person they are asking these stupid questions react negatively to them. You can either ‘educate’ them, or don’t respond at all. Since they already know, educating them is an exercise in futility. I get a good chuckle out of their artless stupidity and gift them with stupid rejoinders. Remember, laughter is medicinal!
The whites who are cognizant to a greater degree than their brethren will run interference on themselves before such dumb questions/statement run through their mouths. They recognize their own racism and try as they might combat it. Some are more successful than others. I rarely come across a white person who has even a cursory understanding of racism in all its’ permutations.
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Mirkwood.
It doesn’t matter what “side” you see yourself on in history. That’s why Hollywood makes historical movies with white saviors so that people like you can feel good about themselves.
What matters is the social construct that you accept today as valid.
“The liberal North is running things now! (Seriously, this still has relevance today. The Republicans are strongest in the South and chock-full of neo-Confederates.)”
A “White elite” is running things now made up of both political parties.
“1865 might be my favorite year of American history. Good triumphed over evil. God, and his Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and His Army (in the form of the Union) triumphed over the Pharaohs of Dixie.”
1490 is my favorite year. Good triumphed because the colonizers hadn’t showed up yet along with their “God, and his Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and His Army”.
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The south isn’t too bad their cookery is delicious!
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Well Mirkwood maybe it’s about ratings. Bernie resembles a bowl of Oat meal and Trump has the road kill factor.
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“What do you want me to do” ?
Question your core beliefs that you use to deflect away from the very real observations and experiences POC here on this blog have. Understand their life experiences are valid and that something like a singular solution like “class” does nothing to solve systemically entrenched racism within every institution in Western society.
So while your intentions may be “good” your willingness to remain obtuse is no different then that of a self aware racist who believes in maintaining and expanding white supremecy.
The question is what are you looking for here ? Solidarity ? It’s not going to happen. Approval ? That answers means feeding your own ego.
You should be here looking for KNOWLEDGE.
This blog isn’t so much about telling you WHAT to think as it is HOW to think in a world where the accepted social construct is rooted in white centrisim.
I’m here to learn and challange my own prejudices and to incorporate many of the concepts here within my own world view. I’m not here promoting my paticular brand because that is not the answer, rather coexistence is.
In regard to Bernie you think someone individuale riding in on a white horse is going to change everything and make right the many wrongs in our society. Your just setting yourself up for an emotional implosion.
My apologies for ridiculing you. You have been here for many months and haven’t learned anything. Your answers are always the same that most people no longer bother to repond to. So my ridicule is about shaking you out of this comfortable zone you have created for yourself. I’m like “wake up” and throw water on your face.
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@Herneith
“There is nothing ignorant in their utterances. They are quite aware of what they are saying…whites who are cognizant to a greater degree than their brethren will run interference on themselves before such dumb questions/statement run through their mouths.”
So very true.
I’ve learned to pay attention to the behavior of their children. A lot of times the parents have learned to “run interferance on themselves”, but their kids have not. The kids words and actions can sometimes become unintentional mirrors to the true feelings and words the parents say behind closed doors. This only works until about age nineteen. After that time, they tend to mimic their parents.
I love how you handle such situations: “I get a good chuckle out of their artless stupidity and gift them with stupid rejoinders.” Thanks for that gem.
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@Mary Burrell
“White women asking black women who wear braids or locs or other natural hair styles how often do they wash their hair. That’s very stupid and insulting.”
I would also add intrusive and provocative. Asking the wrong Black woman at the wrong time might result in a very unpleasant reaction.
Sometimes I wonder why White women who are prone to asking such questions don’t just look the answer up online. Haven’t they ever heard of Google or YouTube? YouTube, in particular, has a vibrant natural hair community. Nearly any question about Afro-texured hair can be answered there, without being stupid or insulting.
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Is the entire Trump post an addendum to this one?
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Mirkwood.
You could start by explaining how being a radical leftist makes your life uncomfortable.
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@ Mirkwood
I may have butted heads with Michael Jon Barker recently, but I have to say he is far more willing to question and examine his own beliefs, experiences, and knowledge.
“I am on the side of William Lloyd Garrison! I am on the side of his publication The Liberator.”
What about Frederick Douglass and The North Star? What about Martin Delany, Sojourner Truth, Henry McNeal Turner, James Forten and family including Charlotte Forten Grimke, Frances Harper, Maria W. Stewart, and the Langston family? Even when you name your heroes, they’re all white.
“The liberal North is running things now!”
Then why are white cops killing–and getting away with killing–unarmed black adults and children in Illinois (Land of Lincoln), Michigan, Ohio, and New York?
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@ Herneith
There’s not all that much difference between soul food and what white southerners call down-home cooking. It’s a fusion of African, Native American, and European foods.
I grew up eating cornbread, turnip greens, okra, black-eyed peas, etc. We kept a grease jar on top of the stove and used corn pone to sop up the pot likker.
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“I grew up eating cornbread, turnip greens, okra, black-eyed peas, etc.”
Yum.
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@Afrofem: I agree
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Me too, but now living in a place where it is not available.
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@ Solitare – I had to Google ‘corn pone’ and ‘pot likker’. When we’d come down South to visit for summers or holidays we’d scoff at most of the meals and not eat that ”slavery food’.
Since moving here I’ve grown to like a lot of the dishes – being close to Louisiana the Creole twist adds a little extra flavor to many Southern dishes.
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@King: You made me hungry with the cornbread and turnip greens,okra, black eyed peas.☺️
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@ Mary
That was me quoting Solitaire!
And I hope that orca was fried and breaded! 🙂
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@ Uglyblackjohn
“I had to Google ‘corn pone’ and ‘pot likker’.”
I actually grew up in the Midwest in a very German area. Most of the white kids had no idea what grease jars, okra, corn pone, or pot likker were. Most of the black kids did.
The Louisiana Creole twist definitely spices things up! Also a lot more emphasis on seafood, I think?
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@ King
Yes, it was! Except when it was stewed with tomatoes.
@ jefe
Did your family ever mix the cuisines together? I’m thinking about how my partner likes southern cooking but adds steamed rice and teriyaki sauce.
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Well then… you’re all right!!
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Mirkwood.
I don’t detest religious people who attempt to live good lives based on a set of values that moves humanity forward. All religions have the capacity to do good but often times religions can be manipulated and history shows that evil can come from religion just as much as good can come from the personal experiences people have within a tradition.
A lot of horrible things have been done in the name of religion including, murder, rape, genocide and erasing the indigenous ways of people and replacing their identity with one they don’t want nor ever asked for.
When a religion does that then those atrocities need to be called out and hopefully not repeated.
Their are millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus ect who live their lives peacefully without interfering with the lives of others.
Self reflection and the willingness to question your own assumptions and actions is a spiritual process. That is how you become a better person.
Its easy to point fingers, choose sides and seek political solutions for social problems. It’s easy to latch onto an ideology and see it as an end all solution not just for yourself but for everybody else as well.
It is in this space that most people reside because its comfortable, familiar and what they grew up with. But it doesn’t call for reflection and it can deflect away from personal responsibility. It is always the “will” of something greater then ourselves that justifies atrocities throughout human history.
It is in this box that moral blindness resides and that often leads to the devaluation of other human beings thus resulting in oppression based on race, religion ect.
It is what is behind the social construct that is rooted in white centrism and what we call Western civilization.
I don’t claim to have the answers. I can claim that I do see certain things now that I didn’t see when I was younger because of how I was raised and what I was taught. Thus I asked you to question your “core beliefs”.
I can’t extract myself from what I represent both as a white male and as an American to the world.
I can attempt to live my life without blinders on.
I can attempt to coexist with my neighbor. I can respect my neighbor beliefs even if I disagree with them. I can respect those who garner respect and call out those who willing oppress those around them. I can stand up and call for peace when others call for war. I can protect those around me to the best of my ability whether they are my family or my neighbors. And I can continue to question myself, both my intentions and outlook, as a means of being a better human being.
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@ King
Thank you kindly, sir.
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Double Yum.
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@Solitaire
Oh yes, my mother is from Alabama, but learned cooking from my Chinese grandmother. Then we started eating cornbread with Chinese dried sausage or making congee (rice porridge) by adding ginger and scallions to the turkey carcass and other Thanksgiving leftovers, as well as stir-fried collard greens or turnip greens or southern kale (instead of Chinese kale) or adding some preserved bean curd. I grew up on fusion food and sometimes have trouble distinguishing between different cuisines.
Have you heard of the movie Catfish in Black Bean Sauce?
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162903/)
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Kale greens, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, beet greens… I’d heard of differences but to this day I still can’t tell.
Most foods I didn’t like in California became more edible with the Cajun holy trinity of onions,celery and bell peppers. The Creole addition of garlic and some type of smoked pork and/or pork fat makes even the most bland meals better.
It’s odd that what some once thought of as being scraps are now required ingredients in many sought after dishes.
I’ve eaten some pretty rough meals from my tenants (‘coon being the most difficult to swallow) but it was the best they had and there was no need to be ingracious.
@ Solitare – Yes, lots of seafood. The thing is: the best or most popular seafood places in many predominantly Black areas are run by Asians. Eating boiled crawfish (crawfish, potatoes, sausage and corn on the cob) is a social activity.
The popularity of seafood and the willingness to purchase it from the best places (regardless of one’s race) has created wealth and friendships between different ethnic groups.
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@ MJB – Religion (to me) is just like a vehicle used to more easily arrive at a destination. People drive different cars and come from different places and the type of car driven varies depending on one’s requirements and resources.
If everyone on this blog were told to get to… let’s say Amsterdam.. as soon as possible to receive some great reward – some could catch a flight, some could drive, some could take a train, some could take a boat while others would swim walk or crawl.
Others would not even bother to take the trip at all.
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‘ The Wiz’ was racist? That’s odd. All the characters were distinctly Black and represented both good and evil and other human failings fairly.
‘ The Wizard of Oz’ ? Well the whitest whites were the good people (Auntie Em, Dorothy, Glenda, even the Wizard himself (even though he was a charlatan) while anyone who was lacking in character was non-white (green witches) or not quite human (flying monkeys, cowardly brown lion, cooning straw man,…).
The thing that cracks me up is when white people ask me what I’m mixed with. As though there has to be some reason that I’m better than them as a Black man.
I used to swim as a, kid. At one meet a boy’s father asked what we were mixed with and that we (my brothers, sister and I) could not really be all only Black. I was surrounded by a group of white country club girls who looked down at the Speedo I was wearing who said, , ‘Oh, he IS Black.’ The father was livid upon hearing theselittle girls saying this. The boy was pretty good but I’d always beat him. My friends and I happened upon his family’s motor home (we’d hop between campers between events) when he was being scolded for ‘letting a ni@@er beat you’. The kid wanted to be my friend so I wasn’t mean to him but I’d make sure to always be polite to his parents as a way to taunt them. My friends and their parents would laugh as they would tell me, ‘ They hate you’. I’d laugh and say, ‘I know, and they hate me more because I’m still nice’.
In a sundown town I’d beaten kids in the IM so badly that when they finished I was sitting on the starting blocks in my warm-ups with two blonde girls at my side while eating a hotdog. I just shook my head, looked at them and then just chuckled and then walked away before they had even gotten out of the pool. Before the race the boys had looked at each other and then at me and laughed – even though I was in lane 4.
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@ jefe
Oh my goodness, that all sounds so good!
No, I have never heard of that movie and now I’m going to have to watch it. Looks very interesting, thanks!
“I grew up on fusion food and sometimes have trouble distinguishing between different cuisines.”
I can relate a little bit. I have trouble sometimes figuring out what is Midwestern and what is Southern, although more with vocabulary than food.
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@ Uglyblackjohn
“The Creole addition of garlic and some type of smoked pork and/or pork fat makes even the most bland meals better.”
Well, in my family the greens (and most other vegetables) always did have a bit of bacon or fatback thrown in “for seasoning,” but it was otherwise very bland compared to Creole (no garlic, no peppers, etc.)
“It’s odd that what some once thought of as being scraps are now required ingredients in many sought after dishes.”
My great-grandmother went up to Vermont to meet her husband’s people. When they got back to Memphis, everyone asked my great-grandmother what it was like. She said, “They ate the turnips and threw away the greens!!”
“I’ve eaten some pretty rough meals from my tenants (‘coon being the most difficult to swallow) but it was the best they had and there was no need to be ingracious.”
My mother when she was growing up ate both ‘coon and ‘possum. She knew someone who once ate skunk, but that was by mistake.
“The popularity of seafood and the willingness to purchase it from the best places (regardless of one’s race) has created wealth and friendships between different ethnic groups.”
That’s really neat!
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Herneith
That’s why I said “willful ignorance”. That changes the meaning altogether.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=willful%20ignorance
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@ Uglyblackjohn
That’s another stupid thing white people say: “Blacks can’t swim.”
Stupid question: what is the significance of being in Lane 4?
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@ solitary – Lane 4 is the middle lane. I was seeded first with the fastest qualifying time.
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What’s so funny is that turnip greens taste so much better than turnips! Lol! I mean sure, you can put turnips in soups or stews for that “earthy” background flavor. But the greens are the best part. Beet greens are really good too! The old folks always had a little garden out back next to the clothes line. Not too big, just enough to grow some greens and yams. Solitaire known what I’m talking about!!
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@ Uglyblackjohn
I figured from context it was something like that. Thanks for the explanation.
@ King
My parents were insane gardeners. We lived in the country and had a piece of land, so they went nuts growing everything they couldn’t find up north and then some. What we couldn’t eat, put up, barter, or give to neighbors got donated to food banks, homeless shelters, nursing homes. It’s only recently that they’ve cut the garden back to less than an acre.
I know the type of little garden patch you’re talking about. But for the longest time I didn’t realize that’s what normal people did and that my parents were fanatics.
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It seems that everyone in my neighborhood has something growing. I don’t have time to garden but I have lots of fruit and nut trees. We don’t have fences between yards, only hedges, so people tend to pick what they need from any neighbor (after asking, of course) and canned fruits and vegetables just show up on my front porch this time of year. Everyone seems to have a farm somewhere in the country and when animals are slaughtered, game is hunted or fish are caught – neighbors freeze and drop off meats to other neighbors.
This past Thanksgiving I received 22 plates of food from neighbors.
It’s funny when white friends come over. To a person they all seem to say, ‘I didn’t even know this neighborhood was back here. And everyone that lives here is Black?’.
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^Oh see now that’s a step up from what I was saying. Ya’ll had land! And maybe a well or a river nearby. See, that was before anybody knew to call it “Organic” and charge $6 a pound! It’s amazing how much you can get out of even a little patch of ground. And don’t let anybody tell you those people weren’t smart. Honestly, today they would be teaching classes on “Sustainable Horticulture.”
There really should be more of us in the forefront of that kind of thing. We lose a lot of knowledge.
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^addressed to both Solitaire and John
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@ John & @ King
I believe this used to be more common in white neighborhoods a long while back, at least in the more humble parts of town. For instance, my father grew up during the depression in a poor neighborhood of Memphis. His grandparents raised him, and they had not only a garden and a grape arbor but a chickenhouse. Their next-door neighbor kept a milk cow.
I can’t imagine livestock would be allowed under city ordinance anymore. And all these suburban neighborhoods that have sprung up since the 1950s have so many rules. You can’t even put up a clothesline in most of them–as if the sweetest-smelling thing in the world isn’t sun-dried bed linens.
Out in the country there’s still some hint of it. My parents didn’t get 22 plates of food at Thanksgiving (that’s impressive, btw). They did, however, wake up Saturday morning to find four buckets of rabbit droppings on their front porch (to use as manure for the garden). They intend to reciprocate with a couple jars of honey, except they haven’t figured out who left it yet.
I wish I had land of my own. I would love to try to keep some of this knowledge going, but I’m starting to think it isn’t going to happen.
And John, I would love to live in a neighborhood like yours. It sounds so friendly and, well, neighborly.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
I’m still waiting to hear who your POC heroes are.
Also, you sure are missing some good eatin’.
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@ solitaire – Actually, it IS neighborly. This weekend is when families take their kids caroling. I have to load up on hot cocoa and bags of tea cakes (Whatever those are. I’ve been giving them out for years but have never even bothered to taste them.) to pass out while families are singing and checking out each other’s lights.
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@ John and Solitaire,
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w)
OK Abagond that’s the last I’ll post on it!
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@ King
That was an awesome video. Thank you.
It’s funny, because after I wrote that, I have been mulling over in my mind the thought that one of the tragedies of the high-rise projects is they removed the ability for people to grow their own food and share that food with their neighbors, like they did in their old neighborhoods those projects replaced.
It’s good to see people like Ron Finley reclaiming and championing that right. He’s a true hero.
Speaking of which…
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
Aw, c’mon, not even one?
How about Tecumseh? Not your boy Sherman, but the real deal, the original?
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Okay, Ab – I’m done after this comment as well.
@ King & Solitaire – Back in ’06 I had a bunch of houses damaged from a hurricane. I had the houses torn down and used the land for a community garden. Everything was going a’ight until I had people fighting over food I’d planted. When two elderly women came to blows over okra I’d had enough.
I’m planning on restarting the program but with more oversight. I think I’ll get Black frats/sorors to administer all the stuff I don’t really have time for.
The guy in the video had one important advantage.
He LIVED in and was from the neighborhood he was trying to transform.
Maybe all sustainable progress has to start from within.
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@ Uglyblackjohn
Thanks.
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@ John
I hope your new community garden is a success.
@ Abagond
I apologize for veering this thread so far off-topic. It wasn’t intentional; it just kind of happened. Thank you for your patience.
Also @ Abagond
About Lord of Mirkwood’s comment above, I appeal to your judgment as Lord of This Blog. I called him out once for naming only white heroes and requested twice that he name one POC. I didn’t follow him into any other threads; all comments happened here, in response to his comments here. If this constitutes trolling in your eyes, please let me know and I will desist.
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“Stupid things white people say” is the topic of the thread.
WP gets called out and asked a question and can only answer “why are you trolling me” on a Black blog.
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@ Michael Jon Barker
It’s not like I made it difficult for him. I’ve given him several examples and would accept a copy-and-paste.
I’m finding it increasingly disturbing that he can’t or won’t say: “[PoC’s name] is one of my personal heroes.”
Next I suppose he’ll accuse me of discriminating against him because I’m anti-Irish.
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Solitaire
“Next I suppose he’ll accuse me of discriminating against him because I’m anti-Irish.”—-ROFL.
Personally I don’t see what you did as trolling. LOM will throw out anything to draw attention away from his ridiculousness.
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@ sharinalr
Thanks.
Now he’s just ignoring me because he’s too busy fighting the War of the Rings over on the Irish thread.
I thought as a self-proclaimed ally and anti-racist, he’d be falling all over himself to display his knowledge of PoC history and accomplishments.
Silly me.
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Nailed them!
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I don’t know if this is another one, but I thought I throw it out for fun. There are variations of the phrase, but it goes, “Anti-racist is code for anti-white.” Just thought I’d share it.
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Another favorite: “My Grandpa came to this country with ten dollars in his pocket and worked hard…what’s wrong with you people?”
Persons who say this generally neglect these things:
*Grandpa was a White male with a knapsack of privileges fresh off the boat.
*Grandpa may have faced some minor (immigrant) discrimination, but his sons and grandsons were White and free to move around, get hired anywhere and go to fully provisioned schools.
*Grandpa didn’t face daily police harassment and humiliation in front of his family and neighbors.
*Grandpa had access to union jobs with union wages.
*Grandpa had access to FHA home loans in neighborhoods that were not redlined by banks and the government.
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“My Grandpa came to this country with ten dollars in his pocket and worked hard…what’s wrong with you people?”
@AfroFem
Yep. Grandpa may have been an immigrant, but as you said Grandpa benefited from a very long list of cultural and historical yet unacknowledged Affirmative Action benefits – given to WHITE people.
Grandpa may have worked hard, but Grandpa got lots of help that simply was denied to other people’s grandparents – because their skin color was different.
Amerika won’t come to terms with these past and present disparities, but the Universe will. The correction (justice) will not be pretty.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexandros-orphanides/affirmative-action-has-go_b_8800190.html
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@Fan
I wonder if we will see justice in our lifetimes?
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@ Afrofem
With the speed and direction the world is moving in of late, justice is probably closer than we think.
We all reap what we sow, and someone has been keeping score…
Whether or not I see it is moot. There’s been many corrected injustices I have not personally witnessed in my lifetime. The not seeing doesn’t hinder the correction (or justice) from happening. Justice is going to happen whether I see it, or not.
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“I’m not racist but…” followed by something completely racist. Who does this fool?
At least this phrase shows a shred of civilization. The speaker knows he/she is saying something that is wrong, but tries to save his/her reputation by saying “I’m not racist.”
Things would be worse with whites who do not feel any shame when saying something racist.(See #10)
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Abagond.
I agree with you on nearly every single one of these.
Mostly, I appreciate your disclaimer:
“Warning: This post does not claim I do not say stupid things myself!
I applaud your willingness to share your humility. That’s a wonderful trait!
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