Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'

[SummerMadness]

Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'

As protests continue around the country against systemic racism and police brutality, black Americans describe fear, anger and a weariness about tragic killings that are becoming all too familiar.

"I feel helpless. Utterly helpless," said Jason Ellington of Union, N.J. "Black people for generations have been reminding the world that we as a people matter — through protests, sit-ins, boycotts and the like. We tried to be peaceful in our attempts. But as white supremacy reminds us, their importance — their relevance — comes with a healthy dose of violence and utter disrespect for people of color like me."

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'

But too many times white people tell black people that they don't belong.

 

[Tone]

The crazy thing is, there is also an unprecedented amount of acceptance and acculturation happening too, as is evident in seeing the young crowds showing solidarity in the protests and even lootings.

 

[Hammster]

I’m sure he speaks for all black people.

 

[Greengardener]

Here are some thoughts for what they might be useful to you. Just thoughts. I'm not ranting.

I'm usually the only white person in business meetings at my work. All my supervisors to the very top are black. I celebrate this since I also remember a time when there was definite and planned discrimination against non-whites (black, oriental, and Native American) by those good ole boys. Even as a child I knew innately that people were people and that there was no inherit differences in who could fulfill what kind of work. At my job, we don't need to have riots. We frankly don't have issues. People were hired who could do the job and people do the job. We work together. A far as I know we don't have a reversed discrimination either: I'm treated just as I was by many other non-black managers in my past. This is normal, as it should be. It should have been this normal all my life. I didn't make the inequalities: that happened long before our days.

There are many folks who have a difficult time getting to a place of security. I am all for leveling this field we all stand on and I've seen half a century of change, most of it for the better in the job market and opportunities for college for black people. By the way, it's also changed for other non-white people and it's changed for women in the job market too. I celebrate all those changes.

Our most effective change will be from honest communication and hard work. There are no easy answers for good results. Life takes work. I missed my opportunity to go to college to be a doctor or an orthodontist, and I totally blew the opportunity for a full grant to college back in the day before I came to my senses. We need to help young people to figure out how NOT to miss their chances, and if they do, to be honest about the facts. I had to face up to my messed up past and go to college later, and it took work to complete the courses and take the exams for what I do now. And I had to pay back a loan. I'm glad I finally did, even if I'll never have the position or salary of a better profession at this late stage because it got me well beyond minimum wage and into something I love to do, so work has been a joy rather than a burden these last three decades. We can help all young people to get further in life if we can help them use or create opportunities for the best they can be.

That free opportunity for college that I missed wasn't missed by a lot of other low-income people back then. But it didn't always generate jobs and a better society or better life. In some cases it only used up taxpayer dollars for useless degrees. We have to stick with reality and to that end we have to figure out how to help people get training or degrees that actually result in a useful end.

I know it has helped many people to be successful who came from successful parents. I didn't have that, other than my dad was a self-made man and my mother raised us with decent language skills that it wasn't like learning a second language to communicate in the business world. They didn't help with my homework. They didn't even know how to enroll me in college. We became quite low income after their divorce, although we as kids were blissfully unaware of how well off we were before. Somehow we have to help the kids to do better than we did. I can see my adult kids doing that with their own kids. They are focusing on security for their families. And most of mine have managed to attain degrees that helped them earn a decent living and hopefully keep the poverty chain broken. Having two parents involved in my success could have made a big difference, so I can buy into the idea that the lack of dads in homes is a big cause for less desirable outcomes for our kids. I can tell you for me it took a lot of effort to overcome inertia. There were times that a life of drugs might have won out.

Overall, there are no magic cures. I suggest if we aren't careful in how we handle the liberties we have had and the gains we have made that we are in jeopardy of losing more than we know across society. Social stability is really important, and there are always tyrants waiting in the wings to overthrow us in the US if we don't stick together. It would be wise to be on guard against the advances of those opportunists. It would be wise to determine to think for ourselves and not be swept away into some sort of false narrative, especially one of destruction. I'm really shaking my head at the number of black police injured or killed, the number of black businesses targeted for looting, but then, I simply don't see that there is a benefit in destruction of property when what I want is to see that we all have opportunity to have our own property, our own successes, regardless of color. Let's tear down lies, but let's not tear down the dreams others have worked to achieve, regardless of color. Let's tear down barriers, but let's not tear down each other.

I'm on the watch for opportunities to encourage successes in young people of all colors because it looks to me not so much a color thing as it is an opportunity thing. My prior life as a teen was a way of life that would have eventually brought me opportunities of police brutality, but it's just not something that I would expect with the life I now have because I am quite happy being lawful. I have job skills I can use to take care of myself, which took care of my family, I have skills and a heart to offer help help to others, and life has been a satisfactory experience. And that any person of any color could do this is evidenced by the totality of the beautiful brown skinned individuals (all ladies but one) in leadership above me.

I have no desire to make my experience the narrative for you. You have the unique set of eyes that you have and nobody can be you better than you. I need you to be you. What else can I learn from you, because I'd like to learn from you. And how can I help you succeed?

 

[durangodawood]

I’m sure he speaks for all black people.

Its not easy to gain a correct apprehension of the typical feelings of a whole population.

You must have put some hard work into this, and it kind of shames me to do better.

 

[Hammster]

Its not easy to gain a correct apprehension of the typical feelings of a whole population.

You must have put some hard work into this, and it kind of shames me to do better.

Um... okay?

 

[Chesterton]

Although not a news story, that's the dumbest thing I've read all day. So Mr. Ellington feels helpless. I'm here for him. I can give him help in two simple steps.

1. Don't commit crimes. According to 4 out of 5 dentists, if you don't commit crimes, you lower your odds of being arrested for committing crimes by about 98%.

2. If you find yourself being arrested, whether you're innocent or guilty, don't physically resist.

You're welcome, Jason. Now if only I could find a way to get paid by giving such sure-fire, mindlessly simple advice.

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

Although not a news story, that's the dumbest thing I've read all day. So Mr. Ellington feels helpless. I'm here for him. I can give him help in two simple steps.

1. Don't commit crimes. According to 4 out of 5 dentists, if you don't commit crimes, you lower your odds of being arrested for committing crimes by about 98%.

2. If you find yourself being arrested, whether you're innocent or guilty, don't physically resist.

You're welcome, Jason. Now if only I could find a way to get paid by giving such sure-fire, mindlessly simple advice.

Breonna Taylor followed your advice and was shot eight times by police while she was in her own bed.

 

[Chesterton]

Breonna Taylor followed your advice and was shot eight times by police while she was in her own bed.

So was Duncan Lemp.

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

So was Duncan Lemp.

Tis another example of the danger of no-knock warrants. There was a warrant for Lemp though he didn’t deserve the death penalty for what he was accused of. Taylor was even more tragic. With Taylor the police went to the wrong address. Taylor wasn’t being investigated for anything.

 

[Chesterton]

Tis another example of the danger of no-knock warrants. There was a warrant for Lemp though he didn’t deserve the death penalty for what he was accused of. Taylor was even more tragic. With Taylor the police went to the wrong address. Taylor wasn’t being investigated for anything.

Not true. Taylor's address was included in the search warrant. But if you want to argue that she was targeted by mistake and not because of race, you're arguing against yourself. But I agree they're both tragic.

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

Not true. Taylor's address was included in the search warrant. But if you want to argue that she was targeted by mistake and not because of race, you're arguing against yourself. But I agree they're both tragic.

She was targeted by mistake. I never mentioned Taylor’s race. Her race had nothing to do with what happened unless you would like to argue this would never happen to a white person. It was an over zealous police force using a tactic that was going to get someone killed who shouldn’t be killed. A tactic that the police shouldn’t be allowed to use.

Busting down the door unannounced in the middle of the night and not identifying yourself as police is a recipe for someone dying. If it isn’t police filling someone with bullets in their own bed, imagine this happening to someone who legally has enough guns to take a small Caribbean island. A couple of police officers and the home owner are going to be dead.

These protests aren’t exclusively about George Floyd, he just happened to be the straw that broke the camels back to get things in motion. Breonna Taylor is another example of police brutality and carelessness with people’s lives, people who are paying their salaries. Lemp was another victim of questionable police tactics.

 

[Chesterton]

I never mentioned Taylor’s race.

You posted your comment in a thread about race.

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

You posted your comment in a thread about race.

Does Breonna Taylor’s race make the policing around her murder any more or less problematic?

 

[LostMarbels]

Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'

The thing about this "white supremacy" it has been built up into a specter. White people of today do not tolerate it. Yes, there are fringe groups, but they are on the fringe because they are not accepted by main stream society. As a whole, or even vast majority.... where are these roving gangs of scary white people in pointy hats lynching blacks and beating them in the streets? They are not there. They do not exist except in one faction. The authorities.

 

[98cwitr]

Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'

Amen!

 

[Chesterton]

Does Breonna Taylor’s race make the policing around her murder any more or less problematic?

No, I don't see why it would.

 

[MIDutch]

But too many times white people tell black people that they don't belong.

It's not only black people. I don't want to have anyone think that I am equating the bigotry I have experienced in my life with what African Americans experience, but I've been told plenty of times to "go back to China". Actually I'm Dutch and immigrated from the Netherlands, but all those idiots could see are the Asian features. The jist of the matter is that there are lots of people who have been told by white Americans that they aren't welcome or don't belong. Fortunately for me, we unarmed Asians don't often get murdered by police for merely existing.

 

[Chesterton]

The jist of the matter is that there are lots of people who have been told by white Americans that they aren't welcome or don't belong.

No. Wrong. The gist of the matter is that humans are infected with sin, and it manifests in many different ways, such as cruelty, sadism and the love of power. I'm white and I've suffered police brutality not once but twice, once at the hands of a white cop, and once at the hands of a group of white and latino cops.