Have you ever noticed that African Americans are told they should "get over it" on the subject of segregation or slavery? These are the same people that support the flying of the Confederate flag as "heritage."
Whoah, hang on a second. Not everone who doesn't jump in with both feet on this BLM movement is waving a confederate flag. I honestly don't consider myself as racist, but some of these "movements" go too far imo, including BLM. Seems to have an undertone of capatalizing on a "white guilt" movement. I agree with RB Perry that when you talk about black people who experienced the '60s and '70s, you have to show some respect for what they went through. But we had some "movements" back then that made some significant changes towards progress. Fast forward to 2021 and I'm not so sure we can and should go further with instituting policy with the sole purpose of advancing black people. If America is so overrun with prejudice, how is it that Barrack Obama became president ( who I thought was a great president,btw)? How is it that we have a black woman as VP? Maybe because they rolled up their sleeves, got to work and earned it? How is it that Mike Tomlin is still the coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a league that supposedly discriminates black coaches? Maybe because he's a good, successful coach? There have been several black coaches hired around the league but some have been fired. Why? Could it be because they weren't successful? And how come most players in the NBA are black? Shouldn't we be instituting policy to hire more white players? Could the discrepancy have anything at all to do with talent level? Now we have "systemic racism". A smoky theory used to enhance the white guilt experience. There may be some merit to the theory, but not enough imo to regard it as anything more than one of lifes obstacles in this day and age. Yes, get over it. I sat in school next to black kids who had the same teacher I did. Played on the same football team with the same coaches. We won championships together and considered ourselves equal as teammates. I didn't see anybody forced to pick cotton or any black/white water fountains. Didn't get the job because the rich white CEO hired his nephew? Neither did I. I don't have have an uncle whose a CEO either. Bottom line is this: life presents obstacles. Being black is one of them. I don't deny this. So is being poor, not blessed with superior intelligence, being handicapped, too fat, too short. Buck up and get past it like Obama, Tomlin and so many other black americans have done. I mean what's the goal of BLM? To end racism completely? Not gonna happen. There's always gonna be some idiot in Tennessee who'd just as soon shoot the black man than look at him, regardless of any laws instituted against this. Just like there's always gonna be serial killers and rapists despite the fact that we have laws to deter this. We jsut have to lock up the criminals as they present. A cop just got sentenced to jail and a day later we have a white cop who killed a black girl. So did that sentence imposed actually send a message that would deter cops from shooting a suspect? Apparently not. And in this instance, it might've changed the landscape had the cop froze because of this movement and allowed the victim to continue stabbing someone to death. How about black lives not create a chaotic scene of five people running around trying to stab each other? Nothing gets said about that- might detract from the movement. And nothing ever gets mentioned when a cop shoots a white person. Not the hot topic/flavor of the month so not newsworthy.
I admit that I'm not entirely up to speed with all of this. I could have some racism in me that I'm not aware of, but it would have to be pointed out. Some would call me racist for the things I've said above, but I don't think so. And I will admit that if an opportunity gets presented to me that is not detrimental to anyone, I'm not gonna stop and ask myself would a black man (or anyone else forthat matter) get this same opportunity. I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity. And I'd suggest that any black man would do the same if the roles were reversed.
I'll also admit that I got an eye opener when I recently watched ESPNs 30/30 documentary on Micheal Vick. Watching that I started thinking, "well, yeah, there's a legitimate example of systemic racism". Sheesh, threw the man in jail and ruined his life and career. I remember thinking it was BS back then and still do. I'm not saying what he did wasn't wrong, and I would also believe he knew it was wrong. But I also believe he probably thought if he got caught, the punishment would fit the crime. Which would be something like a 10K fine and social work with PETA. Not a ridiculous jail sentence. You could see from the documentary that racism was involved, but then, Vick was facing a double-whammy. He also had the "dog people" against him, who can be equally as rabid because they're under the illusion that dogs are people, or at the very least should be treated as such.
I'm not saying we shouldn't acknowledge and deter racism, and I'm not completely against BLM. I just think with today's media competing for and needing stories to sell advertising, that any "movement" that currently has legs is going to get overexaggerated and blown out of proportion prompting hordes of lemmings who are more interested in being a part of something than the cause to jump on board. I think it's obvious as we look back that the we're moving in the right direction, especially as inter-racial marraiges become more prominent. It just takes time. Some day, probably not in our lifetime or even the next, skin color won't be an issue. Of course that won't end prejudice. Humans always need a reason to choose up sides so we'll probably have a prejiduce against people with a certain eye-color, or hair color, or from what part of the country you're from etc...
