Let's focus on fixing problems, and not prejudice

Yes, that is the case. I’m asking this genuinely; does that mean we should treat people in that demographic with prejudice? If so, to what end?

Will you choose who to put up against the wall by skin color?

Honest question. Do you believe this effort has to use retaliatory racism as a mechanism or something else, and if it’s something else, I’d like to know what, if you wouldn’t mind explaining.

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Yep, except that it didn’t happen coincidentally. The elite among them highlighted those supposed markers of superiority, in order to justify their dominance over and abuse of others. (Not that I think you don’t know that. Some people, OTOH…)

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I gotta go. Sorry if I haven’t answered something addressed to me… work and family call…

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We will choose solidarity.

image

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I love that. Very elegant.

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Of course it’s not a coincidence that a bunch of European settlers found America to be a rich haven for Slave owning and Resource Extraction; that’s why we started the American Revolution after all.

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And @DixonHill right above your comment –

And so we get right back down to it, the thing that’s REALLY the issue for so many white men: “The rest of you are out to get me, just because of who I am!”

Where does this fear come from, boys?

NVRMND, rhetorical question, I know exactly where it comes from.

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So did the CPD and the FBI

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That would be a fair thing to happen. I guess I think that ending select kinds of racism/sexism is actually racism/sexism in itself, and would cause a cycle of hatred to continue.

If I were being oppressed, I would also want it to end now, so I’m not sure why this is controversial.

[ETA]

tng-riker-what

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I’m not sure what [ETA] means.

rseLHF2
thanks for all the Star Trek gifs.

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Edited to add…

voyager-janeway-what

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Then I am pleased to join your efforts!!

You get angry if another person says anything that could be interpreted as claiming to know what your issues are based on your color and gender.

And I support you in that.

And I really, really have to go now. G’night all!

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Right, I’m “irrational,” so what I have to say can be summarily dismissed. Never heard that before!

Meanwhile, the irrationality of a common white male fear continues, unacknowledged by most of those who hold it.

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You know us wimmin!

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There are still minorities who do attain higher education and entering the workforce. Affirmative action can help them. At the same time, we can continue to push for changes within the public school system for future generations and everyone’s benefit.

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No no, you don’t get it. The big problem with AA is it (supposedly) sticks employers with unqualified workers, and cheats qualified white men out of jobs! Why, just about every white person knows someone whose sister knows someone whose uncle’s cousin was cheated out of a job that way. Never mind that minorities tend to know they’re perceived as unqualified, and in response, tend to work harder and more carefully as a result! How can you expect facts like that to get through to white men who are convinced that they’re the real victims these days?

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I agree with you that ignoring past oppression is wrong. To me, equity is the opposite of racism, and is an anti-racist activity. We need more equity.

If we were to say, “black people deserve this, and white people deserve that”, we’re still being racist. Hear me out on this:

Education is a good example. If we said, we’re going to give black kids bursaries, and charge white kids more to go to school, that is a racist idea.

If we said, we’re going to look at family income, and award bursaries to students from less wealthy families, that isn’t racist. No doubt, it would benefit black students more than white students on the whole, and more white taxes would go into paying it, but the issue is kids not getting into school for not having enough money, not race.

I should add, I’m a socialist at heart. I think we need to start accepting that we’re not all born the same, and aren’t given the same opportunities, so everyone should be given the same basic services, at very least healthcare, collage level education, and probably a basic living income.

Since it’s there are more white rich white people, and black people are disproportionately poor, services like this are equitable, but not racist. We’re pretty complex beings and don’t all fit neatly into a category of white men or black women for example. Some people are mixed race, some were born into affluence, some have disabilities some are transgendered. Pointing fingers at groups of people based on colour just continues the hate.

I’m guessing that’s a typo for “amnesty”, but please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not sure it’s that simple, again many of us are mixed race at this point and not strictly on one “side” of history or the other. As for privilege, there are countless exceptions, for example gay white men, white men with disabilities, and countless other unique cases.

One idea that’s been brought up is that the best way to determine who has benefitted most from this system is to look at those who are the wealthiest and most powerful, increase their taxes and use that for public services. Redistribution of wealth and ending prejudice are what I think to be the fastest ways to start repairing the damage caused by racism and sexism. This isn’t me telling anyone what to do, these are ideas that have been brought up by people smarter than me in the past. I think it’s more constructive than continuing to take sides. To repeat Fred Hampton’s quote from earlier, “We don’t fight racism with racism. We’re gonna fight racism with solidarity”. All sides need to say that, white people too.

It’s never been about sides.

Mixed race people benefit or suffer depending on how they are perceived or present, and how well they fit in to white patriarchal America. There are varied levels of privilege, but white male is still the easiest place to be, even though a lot of white men can’t see past their own economic anxieties.

Redistribution of wealth that ignores gender and race in favor of social class preserves the status quo. The people who have always benefitted more will continue to enjoy the cultural bias that favors them, while those who do not will enjoy less.

Solidarity means using your privilege to raise those without it up. It means listening to them and working with them. It does not mean erasing the past and present social discrimination in favor of a solution that keeps privilege in tact and unexamined.

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