The Dangers of “Living While Black” in the USA

[Forest Denizen]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Sirus (here)
Can you further explain why you feel this post should go here? I really am just trying to understand your viewpoint

I can across it last night by accident, and was appalled. It seems to be that the real thread title should be The Dangers of Living in the USA. Color has nothing to do with it.

I'm really just redressing the imbalance.

I think that misses the point. Sure, everyone’s in danger to one extent or another; however, there is a danger specifically threatening to black folks (and to be honest, Latinxs, Native Americans and other non-whites) here in the U.S.

It has to do with the threat they are constantly under of experiencing excessive force and persecution from law enforcement and the legal/judicial system. I have, several times in Arkansas and Ohio for instance, been simply let go with a “you be careful now,” or at worst, some kind of warning, when I know that had I been black, I would have been in serious jeopardy.

[Jake]

As a Native American, I'd rather not be put in a box and poked with a stick. I'd rather not be be a white persons crutch. DON'T (please) victimize me. Don't Judas me. Don't chastise me, don't blacklist me. Don't , please please please, judge me by my skin. ALL LIVES MATTER. I'm not special because of the injustice done to my people. I'm special because I have endured. I have not identified as a victim. AND I WILL NOT. Black people are PEOPLE. Good, bad, ugly,,, JUST LIKE THE REST OF US. I'll always champion bringing black folk up. But I will not waste a breath bringing others down.

The BLM organization is NOT aligned with my beliefs... And I don't hate anyone...

I'm a proud Cherokee. Please don't put me in that box.

Jake

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ken (here)
I think that misses the point. Sure, everyone’s in danger to one extent or another; however, there is a danger specifically threatening to black folks (and to be honest, Latinxs, Native Americans and other non-whites) here in the U.S.

Got it, and many thanks.

But personally, I just don't believe that's accurate or correct, or able to be substantiated by statistics. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but at the moment it seems to me that reality suggests something different.

[Mike]

Black folks are in danger here in the states, but the danger is coming from other black folks mostly.

That's just a fact. I've been called a bigot, white supremacist, and a radical right winger for stating such facts here. That's the state of world today unfortunately - facts are viewed as "radical". No, don't worry, I won't be reciting my boring speech on postmodernism today. I'm in a good mood so I'll spare you all

Just recently a 5 year old white boy was shot in the face by a black man, and the major news outlets are barely touching it https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/15/us/no...rnd/index.html

It's important to ask why. Of course it's because it doesn't fit the current narrative of whites = oppressors, blacks =oppressed.

Nowhere in that article does it mention the killer's race. Normally I wouldn't care, but if a white person so much as looks at a black person the wrong way these days, there will be 5000 yahoo articles about it with similar headlines: "evil white Karen grimaces at lovely black folks who were just minding their business"

In a media that goes out of it's way to include race in every last little damn detail of every f#cking little thing now, we need to ask ourselves 1) why was this story largely ignored, and 2) why is the killers's race always conveniently glossed over in the media?

It's because we are being fed stories. And one of those stories is that white people are an existential or "systemic" threat to blacks. They're not. And just for the record, blacks aren't a threat to whites either. Both blacks and whites, statistically, kill their own at a significantly higher clip than they do each other.

Peace begins with the truth, not emotions.

[Karen (Geophyz)]

Posted by Mike (here)
Black folks are in danger here in the states, but the danger is coming from other black folks mostly.

That's just a fact. I've been called a bigot, white supremacist, and a radical right winger for stating such facts here. That's the state of world today unfortunately - facts are viewed as "radical". No, don't worry, I won't be reciting my boring speech on postmodernism today. I'm in a good mood so I'll spare you all

Just recently a 5 year old white boy was shot in the face by a black man, and the major news outlets are barely touching it (http://https://www.wsoctv.com/news/l...NY67BI4KCICY4/

It's important to ask why. Of course it's because it doesn't fit the current narrative of whites = oppressors, blacks =oppressed.

Nowhere in that article does it mention the killer's race. Normally I wouldn't care, but if a white person so much as looks at a black person the wrong way these days, there will be 5000 yahoo articles about it with similar headlines: "evil white Karen grimaces at lovely black folks who were just minding their business"

In a media that goes out of it's way to include race in every last little damn detail of every f#cking little thing now, we need to ask ourselves 1) why was this story largely ignored, and 2) why is the killers's race always conveniently glossed over in the media?

It's because we are being fed stories. And one of those stories is that white people are an existential or "systemic" threat to blacks. They're not. And just for the record, blacks aren't a threat to whites either. Both blacks and whites, statistically, kill their own at a significantly higher clip than they do each other.

Peace begins with the truth, not emotions.

I applaud your comment! Very well said.

[Forest Denizen]

Another black man killed by police, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Was he an exemplary citizen? No. Was it smart for him to ignore the cop and try to get back into his car with his kids. No. Was there another way the cops could have handled this? I don't know.

BTW, here's a video of a white guy resisting arrest; however, this was in California.




¤=[Post Update]=¤



Thanks for posting the correct information regarding this video, PurpleLama. I had originally, incorrectly stated that this also had occurred in Kenosha, WI.

[Kryztian]

Posted by Gracy May (here)
But that aside Ken, what evidence do we have besides he's had formal charges against him, in a very politically charged environment?

There have been a dozen complaints filed against this officer, and it seems everyone who filed them is black or brown.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/17/us/ge...ily/index.html

Posted by Gracy May (here)
I'll reserve initial judgment pending some body cam footage.

Good idea. It's been almost two weeks and no video has been released.

[PurpleLama]

Posted by Ken (here)
Another black man killed by police, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Was he an exemplary citizen? No. Was it smart for him to ignore the cop and try to get back into his car with his kids. No. Was there another way the cops could have handled this? I don't know.

BTW, here's a video of a white guy resisting arrest, also in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

That happened 3 years ago, in California.

http://www.kcra.com/amp/article/on-v...ounty/12790579



The suspect's name is Yaroub Assad.

[Kryztian]

Posted by Ken (here)
Another black man killed by police, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Was he an exemplary citizen? No. Was it smart for him to ignore the cop and try to get back into his car with his kids. No. Was there another way the cops could have handled this? I don't know.

Yes, there were lots of things they could have done. They could have kept the car door open and try to reason with him. If he closed the door and started the ignition, they could have put bullets in the tires. And if they couldn't stop him and he wasn't a violent criminal and immanent threat, they could have picked him up later and added "resisting arrest" to the charges. Instead, one police officer decided to act as judge and executioner.

This was on Sunday and today, two days later, Jacob Blake, the man who was shot here, is still in intensive care.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/25/us/ja...nse/index.html

In this article, Justin Blake, Jacob's article said:

This, like all the Black parents talk about, is that phone call you don't want to get," he said. "And we got it."

I know a lot of African-Americans who dread exactly this. I was thinking about how absolutely reasonable this fear is, and yet, so many on this forum have produced so much hot air to either trivialize these concerns or convince us they are not even real.

Thanks Ken, for this thread and being a bright light amongst all the dark hearts on this forum.

Mod Note:

I thought you made some good points Kryztian, right up until the needless ad hominems started at the end. No need to get personal over simple points of disagreement.

[Kryztian]

Posted by PurpleLama (here)
That happened 3 years ago, in California.

Would that make this any less tragic or horrible???

Regardless, it happened two days ago in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/25/us/ja...nse/index.html

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/...es/3431519001/

https://journaltimes.com/news/local/...9aef20bf7.html

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loca...astor/2327837/

[Mike]

Chris, if the man is being uncooperative, and then goes back into his vehicle, the police officer has no choice but to assume the worst. There's no time to assume anything else. It's very easy to judge the event from the sidelines, but when all this stuff happens in real time we're talking about decisions that must be made in a matter of seconds. What if that man was going for a gun?

Look, I hate this sh!t. I hate violence, and I hate that it happened in front of his children. The whole thing is emotionally wrenching.

And to be perfectly honest, I'm not nearly as familiar with this event as I should be as someone commenting on it. So if I say something irredeemably stupid, so be it. But for the life of me, I just cannot understand, even for a second, why anyone - black or white or whatever - would resist arrest or even be uncooperative in any way in a situation like that. It never ends well when that happens. It's like watching a horror movie, when the girl being chased by the ax murderer escapes from the house and is home free, but goes back in for some reason she imagines is noble in the moment. And you sit there thinking, BUT WHY???

These events are always horrfying tragedies, but they almost always begin with someone resisting arrest or not cooperating. It just boggles my mind.

[PurpleLama]

Posted by Kryztian (here)

Posted by PurpleLama (here)
That happened 3 years ago, in California.

Would that make this any less tragic or horrible???

Regardless, it happened two days ago in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/25/us/ja...nse/index.html

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/...es/3431519001/

https://journaltimes.com/news/local/...9aef20bf7.html

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loca...astor/2327837/

If people are being gaslit over actual lies, that is pretty tragic, too.

[Kryztian]

Posted by Kryztian (here)
Mod Note:
I thought you made some good points Kryztian, right up until the needless ad hominems started at the end. No need to get personal over simple points of disagreement.

Somehow I never thought that accepting or denying the reality that people are dying violent brutal deaths because of their skin color as a "simple point of disagreement" but a matter of life and death.

I've had long multi post personal attacks leveled at me here and the mods did or said nothing, and now I am being called out for this????

I've felt much deep disgust at the much that has been said on the forum in the last few months and if I can't express that then please feel free to mark my account "Unsubscribed" forthwith.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Kryztian (here)
I've felt much deep disgust at the much that has been said on the forum in the last few months and if I can't express that then please feel free to mark my account "Unsubscribed" forthwith.

Kryztian, I’d suggest that you request to be “Retired”. That standing allows you to peruse the forum, but you aren’t able to post. Another avenue is take a “Sabbatical”. Give yourself time to chill and recharge.

If I understand correctly, “Unsubscribe” means there’s no turning back. People that’ve been “Unsubscribe” are the unwelcome trolls.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best and Godspeed on your journey.

♡

[Forest Denizen]

Posted by Kryztian (here)

Posted by Kryztian (here)
Mod Note:
I thought you made some good points Kryztian, right up until the needless ad hominems started at the end. No need to get personal over simple points of disagreement.

Somehow I never thought that accepting or denying the reality that people are dying violent brutal deaths because of their skin color as a "simple point of disagreement" but a matter of life and death.

I've had long multi post personal attacks leveled at me here and the mods did or said nothing, and now I am being called out for this????

I've felt much deep disgust at the much that has been said on the forum in the last few months and if I can't express that then please feel free to mark my account "Unsubscribed" forthwith.

Dear Kryztian, I so value your presence here on the forum and I would greatly miss your input. I do hope that you will reconsider

[Jake]

I love you all... Good night..

Jake

[Billy Vasiliadis]

I do wonder if it possible to have an enduring and productive conversation when it comes to this issue. Or maybe it is just too sensitive a topic and the pain is still too raw? Does the medium of an internet forum really lend itself to learning about and healing issues such as these? I doubt it to be honest.

Kryztian, if its any comfort, I imagine there are many reading this thread who actually agree with many of the points you make. This forum would be less without you.

I'll second what Jake said, much love to you all!