Gxg (G²);66459117 said:
Being Black and seeing it in person, it;'s even less surprising that you bring it up...but the bottom line is that I am aware of the issue.
Continued from before...
And this in part brings us to Trayvon Martin. I'm not your typical Black-American. Trayvon Martin should have gotten shot. For a number of reasons. But he shouldn't have gotten shot in the sense that George Zimmerman never should have followed that kid on foot.
But Martin was no angel. And Zimmerman likely was cognizant of the fact there are different prevailing cultural traits in predominately Black-American neighborhoods that most young Black-Americans embrace as the values, behaviors, and attitudes to hold. And yes... they are often thuggish values. Sorry, but they are.
This, unfortunately, is very much reflective of the domiannt White culture more so than it is of the Black cultural reality. For when one assumes someone deserved to be shot on site simply for looking thuggish, they adopt the same mentaltity that Blacks in the civil rights era fought against when it came to noting that no one should be deemed "guilty before proven innocent."
There's no rule at all substantiated that says someone deserves to be shot because of how they look a certain way. Having a hoodie on and a grill does not make one dangerous - just as having a suit and tie does not mean one is upright since many who were serial killers did the same. People say "Well, he should not have had tattoos..." - but that is sil
ly seeing that many with tattos have jobs taking care of their families, especially within the Hispanic world.
. Last I heard, I don't have room to go out shooting all of them up because of where others who beat others up had tattoos as well....
A lot of things occurring are code-switching, seeing that many others were sterteotyped evren when they were not "thuggish" simply because they had a hoodie on - and they were white. Others were not stereotyped due to their complexion and t
hat's something that others have noted when it comes to code-switching and not realizing the reality of the media influencing more than others realize.
Anyone following you at night will make you run - and
sadly, others have been shot for doing so even without the "thug" appearance (as others blame the instance with SZimmerman on) so it's far from cultural appearances. Of course, the same thing has been present with other situations (including the Michael Brown shootings and others) - so it's not something that I take lightly - more shared in
Hatred actually traveled in waves" - St. Louis then and now and
How Racism Works in 2014
If Trayvon Martin had punched an armed, young black man odds are he would have gotten shot by that armed, young black man adhering to the values and attitudes of violence he learned in "the hood."
Seeing the extensive numbers of men from the hood who do not react to violence with lethal intent (another stereotype often promoted by others in White culture), there's no basis really saying another young black man would have shot Trayvon. THIS is the basis behind why other black men protested his death and that of others when it came to slotful generalizations others made without even understanding how young black men in the hood act universally.
It's no different than saying someone who grew up in a trailer park or in the country would be a KKK member - or that someone with a Confederate Flag in the South, if getting into a fight with a black man, would seek to ensure his deaht. The facts are simply not there - but of course there is one version of STREET culture in the hood that other blacks in the hood have long spoken against.
Rules of the street do not automatically lead to the death of someone simply because of where they disrespect you - that level of senseless violence has occurred in many cities/lower-income communities but it is not the general rule of the street. But it is present - Even Blacks have n
oted this situation in humorus shows such as Boondocks
And the fact is my views must in part be understood from my own background as a Black-American male in Generation X in a post-industrial Midwestern city. That's basic to literary criticism--inspecting and understanding the background of a writer, interpreting what they write through an understanding of that writers background.
And I don't care about being accused of
"stereotyping." Making generalizations are a basic part of the social sciences be it sociology, anthropology, economics, or Africology. No one can speak about every single individual on planet earth.
None of that - as it concerns the very background behind literary criticism - deals with where one makes sweeping conclusions based on samples that are not inclusive of all. This is basic when it comes to the issue, seeing that other Black American males in Generation X have never come close to advocating any of the views you espoused - be it in the Midwestern city you're from or other Midwestern cities as well. It is a moot point - if one wanted to claim a background as being the basis for how they saw an issue, they would deal with ALL factors inherent in that background rather than selective examination. I have family born in the same background - and as said before, it doesn't do anything saying "Well, I'm a Black male from Generation X IN The MidWest" since even my family on my father's side live in the Mid-West - in Missouri., to be exact.....from Generation X and prior to that generation. They nor many others are in your schema and have come from the lower classes experiencing the same classes.
To do otherwise would be as erroneous as saying "Older women tended to vote for Obama" and yet it was NEVER qualified what defined "Older" and how many women were actually sampled - women from the lower class, women from the upper class, women born in the U.S or women who immigrated....you have to stay consistent with the categories. The same goes for trying to claim "I'm a Black American in Generation X" for your views when there are already exceptionally larger categories of males in that same group in the North/Mid West who are from that generation and do not fit the conclusion made. All of this has been noted within the world of Anthropology as well as Sociology when it comes to categories made for differing camps and doing them accurately.
Whether or not you care on steretotyping is not really relevant to the issue since that was never asked nor a factor - anyone can make stereotypes - but validating them is a different matter.
And I have no time for that. I won't even entertain such foolish or childish idea. I save time simply generalizing about women, politicians, men, homosexuals, Christians, Orthodox, Catholics, whites, blacks, Puerto Ricans and so on.
I know every Puerto Rican isn't poor or isn't heterosexual. But a lot are. Yeah, you can find a minority of Black-Americans that are Buddhist and vegetarian. But the vast majority aren't. So, if I say, "Northern Black-Americans have a culinary tradition that is derived from Southern roots, which consists of a lot of fried foods," I really don't care if some people want to accuse me of "stereotyping."
Sorry - but stereotyping, in/of itself, is always foolish - and never something that has EVER been accepted within the world of statistics or any other camp. If one cannot understand that, they can never understand how to deal with people based on the groups they are actually in - no different than someone saying "Well, generally all Black people love fried chicken and all Asians love fried rice!!" as if that in any way is either qualified or verified. It is based on an assumption of ignorance and will always carry a degree of racial profiling that is not warranted. The same goes for any other camp.
To assume "Well, of course not all are like this in a camp - but the minority doesn't mean that one can't say most are like that" is always without basis when no facts were given to show a stereotype was even the NORM - it can never be and will never be taken seriously as it concerns the reality of facts.
And the fact is Black-American males of Generation X, not only in Milwaukee but in most cities of the United States, were on a whole as a group (not individuals as exceptions) ravaged by unemployment, prison, jails, drug addiction, alcoholism, homicides, and gun violence. Period. No Politically Correct pointing to metaphorical lottery winners as some indication of the norm is going to change that.
As said before, speaking on Black American males of Generation X in sweeping terms is without basis when it comes to the majority NOT being in those categories as it concerns unemployment or drug addiction, etc. Moreover, depending on the branch of Black American males from Generation X, you'll either see the things you listed or otherwise.
Talking on "Politically correct pointing" is an argument of emotion since it doesn't take anyone doing any kind of politically correct- motivation in order to address where facts do not support a claim and facts HAVE to be brought to bear. The reality is that the generation hurting the most are Young, Black Men - not those from Generation X.
I can sit in a biology lab in university (UW-Milwaukee) and not see a single black face. And I'm old as dirt. Didn't enter college until age 35. Started at community college and graduated from there. (As you can tell I've taken numerous semesters off) But there are always a plenty of white faces--of both sexes--in those labs. A few East or Southeast Asian face. But there are plenty of blacks in Milwaukee.
And that goes radically different from other Black males in class during Biology class in the same areas. The same dynamics go for Blacks living in North Dakota and South Dakota
or Wisconsin - an area heavy with blacks.
Now among the youth the City of Milwaukee is even a majority racial "minority" city. So, where are all these black males? Most black males in my neighborhood have felonies. I have absolutely no problem meeting black males my age that have been shot or hooked on crack or unemployed or that have been to prison. It's nearly impossible to run into one that is in university studying a science. But you can occasionally run into some that are attending college (even not running into them socially, I do see black faces in the student body of UW-Milwaukee passing through the halls of campus).
As a rule of thumb--a rule of thumb I said not a universal truth for every individual--if you're a black male of Gen X you went to jail, or you go to prison, or you get murdered, or you end up shot and possibly in a wheelchair for life.
And as said before - although that is a common occurrence, it is more so within the realm of annectdotal rather than 100% verifiable as representing ALL or even the MAJORITY of how all Black Males from Generation X have experienced.
If you want to bring up statistics, of course, that is a different issue as it concerns men from Generation X in general and the issues they tend to go with.
All that said... I do appreciate the fact you share some of my racial make up, racial experiences in the USA, and I generally do like your posts. They have a bit of a unique view and theme to them often, and I always can appreciate that.
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As said before, I appreciate you taking the time sharing some of your experiences
