The rage against critical race theory

[wtburnette]

There is a cottage industry if you will that depends on keeping racism alive (see Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for examples).

Not to mention the "professors" like Ibrim X. Kendi (Sp) who teach their racist / Marxist rhetoric. Oh and all the new Chief Diversity Officers springing up in corporations around the nation.

 

[jamil]

Don’t forget ESG.

 

[Magyars]

 

[BugI02]

It's a power flip. It's the only way to turn the West Marxist. Tear down all the cultural institutions and rebuild them. And at some point they'll have enough power to win their revolution.

Not if the next epidemic is lead poisoning

 

[grillak]

i love this!

this is the kind of dialogue that opens minds.

i agree with most of what is said. but most people are still focus on the outright, in your face, card carrying racism.

my concern at this point in the development of this country is the closed door racism. the unintended racism. the racism that ignores the content of a person's character without people realizing it is there.

as humans we are well on our way to rooting out the blatant racism. we have a ways to go to overcome the unintended racism.

these conversations right here on this forum prove that we can discuss race and all of it's issues. but let's not forget that until we look within ourselves, a lot of us will miss the racism of actions.

i can give you a very solid view into the racism i see daily but because of my need to keep my job at the this time, i won't air it publicly. the racists actions don't cut nowhere near as deep as the fact that the people commiting said act don't recognize how it could be racism.

 

[grillak]

i think a lot of the push back against crt is a knee jerk, taken to the opposite extreme reaction (i am not in anyway defending crt). so we miss the nuances of the everyday racism that is part of living in america. i'd rather have the racists in my face spouting their trash than hiding in the boardroom making policy.

i don't care about the card carrying kkk member. the guy who says "let them go back to africa". or the ones who think because a certain race's ancestors did a horrible thing. the ones who cry practice racism as revenge. the idiot who believes out loud that one race is inferior to any other.

i want to educate the ones who see nothing wrong with the toed line whether they are white or black.

 

[wtburnette]

i love this!

this is the kind of dialogue that opens minds.

i agree with most of what is said. but most people are still focus on the outright, in your face, card carrying racism.

my concern at this point in the development of this country is the closed door racism. the unintended racism. the racism that ignores the content of a person's character without people realizing it is there.

as humans we are well on our way to rooting out the blatant racism. we have a ways to go to overcome the unintended racism.

these conversations right here on this forum prove that we can discuss race and all of it's issues. but let's not forget that until we look within ourselves, a lot of us will miss the racism of actions.

i can give you a very solid view into the racism i see daily but because of my need to keep my job at the this time, i won't air it publicly. the racists actions don't cut nowhere near as deep as the fact that the people commiting said act don't recognize how it could be racism.

I agree with a lot of this, but wonder about the unintended racism you mention. I wonder if that is more perspective and sensitivity on your part? Not saying it is, but since you don't have any solid examples it makes me curious. For example, I've heard the example before, if you're white and walking down the street and see a black guy, or black guys coming from the other direction, if you cross the street to avoid them, you're being racist. I disagree with that. With statistics on crime being what they are, it's less racism and more avoiding the possibility of being a possible victim.

I see examples of racism daily and I'm white. I see my company hiring on a quota system, hiring women and POC because of their sex and skin color and not due to merit. I see fellow employees given more advancement and more opportunity due to their skin color, sex or age. I see the government and other institutions calling me out for my whiteness, even though I've never done anything in my life but keep my head down and work hard. I'm also not at all racist and could care less if someone I'm working with or have to be around is white, black, Indian or something else. I've always taken to heart the "content of character, not color of skin" statement. I have found POC (sorry, hate this myself, but it's a nice catch all) to be much more sensitive to anything and everything than anyone else.

I remember back when I was working the night shift as a mainframe operator. I worked with a black gentleman in a similar position to my own, we were both college students working the job to get by while going to school during the day. He was up for a promotion and lost out to a white woman who had been there longer. He started spouting racism as being the reason he wasn't promoted. In actuality, the woman had been there longer, worked days instead of nights so had more visibility with management and we found out later, was sleeping with the boss. Racism had nothing to do with it. Often I think that the racism boogie man is invoked when there is absolutely nothing racist going on.

This is my own experience and certainly may not match your own. Just giving my perspective...

 

[rob63]

The question was asked earlier what the end of racism would look like?

I had an incident while boarding a subway train in a large city in which a guy was acting like a jerk and then began cussing at me, I responded, without thinking, with FU. The guy then went ballistic, calling me a racist against POC, etc.

The irony was that until he started saying that, I genuinely hadn't even noticed that he was black. To me he was just a guy being an ***hole. I have no idea what the guy experiences on a regular basis, perhaps that assumption is just another facit of him being a jerk, but it may have been a reasonable assumption based upon his past.

I relate all of this because it makes me think that it contains the answer to what the end of racism looks like. It is when the life experience of POC is such that racism is no longer a reasonable explanation, in their minds, for the things that happen to them.

I also think it is a worthwhile part of the discussion to illustrate the different life experiences that impede the ability of even having a discussion. POC experience racism that is invisible to white people, and white people all get accused of racism for everyday occurrences that have nothing to do with race.

 

[grillak]

I agree with a lot of this, but wonder about the unintended racism you mention. I wonder if that is more perspective and sensitivity on your part? Not saying it is, but since you don't have any solid examples it makes me curious. For example, I've heard the example before, if you're white and walking down the street and see a black guy, or black guys coming from the other direction, if you cross the street to avoid them, you're being racist. I disagree with that. With statistics on crime being what they are, it's less racism and more avoiding the possibility of being a possible victim.

I see examples of racism daily and I'm white. I see my company hiring on a quota system, hiring women and POC because of their sex and skin color and not due to merit. I see fellow employees given more advancement and more opportunity due to their skin color, sex or age. I see the government and other institutions calling me out for my whiteness, even though I've never done anything in my life but keep my head down and work hard. I'm also not at all racist and could care less if someone I'm working with or have to be around is white, black, Indian or something else. I've always taken to heart the "content of character, not color of skin" statement. I have found POC (sorry, hate this myself, but it's a nice catch all) to be much more sensitive to anything and everything than anyone else.

I remember back when I was working the night shift as a mainframe operator. I worked with a black gentleman in a similar position to my own, we were both college students working the job to get by while going to school during the day. He was up for a promotion and lost out to a white woman who had been there longer. He started spouting racism as being the reason he wasn't promoted. In actuality, the woman had been there longer, worked days instead of nights so had more visibility with management and we found out later, was sleeping with the boss. Racism had nothing to do with it. Often I think that the racism boogie man is invoked when there is absolutely nothing racist going on.

This is my own experience and certainly may not match your own. Just giving my perspective...

it seems we are on the same page.

i won't give a direct example publicly because i need my job for at least a few more nonths.

i check myself on a regular basis to ensure i don't call something racist that is not.

please believe me when i say, i wish i could share my current experience publicly. i think it would go a long way to opening eyes and maybe make a lot more sense as to some of the things i say regarding racism.

i will share an experience from a previous job...

i ran a janitorial crew at fedex. our company contact (the facilities manager at this particular fedex. a white guy for reference). was openly racist when noone in authority was around. he would make comments about only people of color. he did not like me because his cooments didn't p*** me off. in fact, i would five hime the business when he would direct his comments at me.

we had a dispute about what we actually doing vs what we were contracted to do. he had not read or didn't understand the contract.

he insisted that he was going to hold us to the letterof the contract. i said fine. it cut out a lot of what we were doing for free. his comment was "i'm not going to make my guys do that work when we have the n*****s here". when i laughed and told gim "the n*****s will do it if you pay the cost, you're boss has already approved the addendum to the contract to cover the cost". mind tou this was in front of his maint crew: 11 white guy, one black guy, and gis black admin assistant.

his exact words were "you think you're a smart n*****. i'll get my boys together and we'll drag you in the woods and hang your big @ss from a tree!".

i laughed in his face. i told him "they'd be fools to drag a n**** like me in the woods. you've seen deliverance. all of yall will come out pregnant. how would yall explain how yall got pregnant by a big hairy black man."

the only person (besides him) that was offended was his admin assistant...at what i said.

i was not offended by what he said. what bothered me was the fact that fedex knew what he was about but did nothing to change it.

i don't get offended by what people feel or say. every one is afforded protection under the 1st amendment. and everyone has the god given right to feel how they feel.

maybe one day soon we can do a meet & greet and i will relay my current situation in person.

 

[wtburnette]

Sorry to hear you had to go through that. It's hard to believe that kind of racism is still around.

When I was in first grade, my best friend was a black boy. I just thought of him as my best friend James and didn't even consider the fact that he was black. He lived in the projects that were right across the playground next to the school. One day while we were on the playground he was called over to a group of kids playing basketball. The guy asked James, why you hangin out with that white boy? I wasn't close enough to hear James' response, as he spoke quieter than the other kid. We went back to doing what we were doing, but I was a bit upset by it as it was the first time in my life I'd ever considered anything by race.

Experience a lot more in the Army. Blacks separated themselves from the rest of us on their own. Never heard any of them complain about racism, but they all stuck together.

Other than that, no personal experiences other than what I mentioned about work, seeing people promoted over me due to factors other than work ethic and productivity.

Personally, I feel that the racism is on all sides. It is what it is, but gets exaggerated by the Left into more than it is and then everyone is looking for and blaming racism for everything.

 

[grillak]

I also think it is a worthwhile part of the discussion to illustrate the different life experiences that impede the ability of even having a discussion. POC experience racism that is invisible to white people, and white people all get accused of racism for everyday occurrences that have nothing to do with race.

this is where i'm coming from.

passing laws & arguing about crt/anti-crt is not going to solve the problem of low key racism.

sharing personal experience is the only way to understand each other. people who are willing to be open and honest with themselves will understand that there are very few, if any differences, between us. we all have families to feed, clothe, house.

the only ones who won't understand are the people who prefer to be brainwashed for the sake of getting "free ****" from the true racists

 

[wtburnette]

passing laws & arguing about crt/anti-crt is not going to solve the problem of low key racism.

I agree with what you're saying, although I feel passing laws against the teaching of CRT and other racist garbage in schools is 100% necessary to prevent increased racism in the future.

 

[grillak]

I agree with what you're saying, although I feel passing laws against the teaching of CRT and other racist garbage in schools is 100% necessary to prevent increased racism in the future.

i do believe that would help as part of the solution.

i encouraged my daughter to homeschool. i know that's not an option for everyone but it is an option.

 

[Keith_Indy]

This isn't a comment on anyone's personal experience... Yes, I'm looking at you @grillak That does sound like an outright racist supervisor, and you shouldn't have had to put up with it.

I recall hearing this sometime ago, don't recall from where or who.

Black man after getting sh!t from a white man: You're racist...

White man: nah, I'm an @sshole to everyone...

Sometimes it's just perspective and context. If you look for a thing, you begin seeing it everywhere. If you're a negative person, then you will see negativity around you everywhere. The slightest slight becomes a personal tragedy. You start taking everything personal. That person who cut you off in traffic, the worst person in the world.

A popular way of combating this is to ask the slighted person what the motivation was behind the person cutting you off. Could it be they were rushing to the hospital, to their children's school, or some other reason they were careless, besides intending to cause you harm.

I'm not saying that would be the case for outright racism/bigotry, but for the casual things people do that others take offense.

Heard recently that Michelle Obama thought it was racist for someone to ask her to pick something off the top shelf at a grocery store.

Hate to tell her, me being 6'4" I've gotten these requests all of my adult life.

Is it "heightist" of me to offer my help to a shorter person struggling to get something off the top shelf?

Context is everything to me. I've always said, if you look like a punk, I'm going to treat you like a punk. Doesn't really matter to me what race/ethnicity you are. If you look like you're a predator, I'm going to treat you as a predator.

Now, this changes as you get to know a person. Maybe you see that punk pick up a trash, or help a lady with their groceries. Your perspective changes as you develop context for the INDIVIDUAL.

Wasn't that the great dream of one Martin Luther King, Jr., judge people by the content of their character.

I'll end this with this quote by Viktor Frankl, because I think it helps to empathize with people when you realize what might be a minor slight to you, could mean a whole lot more to another. What rolls off your shoulders can be crushing to another person, based on their unique history.

“A man's suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative.”​

― Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Some examples:

Nod, say good morning/good day on passing:


Probably going to avoid interacting with these fellows:



Avoid like the plague:



Avoid and check wallet/bank account after passing:


Back in the day I would have asked to hit it (in fact back in the day I got in the backseat of a car with 2 black gentlemen to smoke a blunt with them.)

 

[cbhausen]

My twin son and daughter are in kindergarten together in Brownsburg. They are completely colorblind when it comes to race. They attend class and play at school and in the neighborhood with kids of all ethnicities. They play soccer, tee-ball and hockey, gymnastics and dance class with kids of all ethnicities.

It’s a beautiful thing to behold and gives me hope for the future we will all find a way to get along someday. We are getting there, one generation at a time.

But it’s hard to not be cynical when the local school board gets infiltrated by leftist wackos and next thing you know SEL and although they deny it, CRT are in the classrooms there.

I guarantee you this will change come November, when the **** hits the fan come election time. With props to The Who, “Won’t get fooled again.”

 

[grillak]

Black man after getting sh!t from a white man: You're racist...

White man: nah, I'm an @sshole to everyone..



lol. i once told someone to if he was going to call me an @sshole to use my full name...@sshole hemerhoidus!

 

[phylodog]

There will never be an end to racism unless the races eventually meld into one via interracial relationships.
There will always be stupid ignorant morons walking around who aren't capable of comprehending that every human being is an individual and until you know them, you don't know them.

 

[jamil]

this is where i'm coming from.

passing laws & arguing about crt/anti-crt is not going to solve the problem of low key racism.

sharing personal experience is the only way to understand each other. people who are willing to be open and honest with themselves will understand that there are very few, if any differences, between us. we all have families to feed, clothe, house.

the only ones who won't understand are the people who prefer to be brainwashed for the sake of getting "free ****" from the true racists

Passing laws and arguing about CRT is not gonna solve racism. That's correct. CRT is straight up rooted in Marxism. CRT, Critical Gender Theory, Critical Feminist Theory, and so on, are all flavors of Critical Theory. A serious, truly healing discussion about fixing the relationships between people of different races should absolutely not bother with CRT.

CRT does not solve racism. Its goal is not to solve racism. Like all "critical theories" its goal is to deconstruct the institutions of power and rebuild new institutions with the oppressed group holding all the power. If you believe one racial group should not have power over any other racial group, obviously CRT is not the right mechanism. Cultural revolutions are how people become oppressed, and not how people of diverse races learn to treat and regard each other with trust and respect.

A serious, truly healing discussion of racial issues should involve trust and honesty and listening to each other.

 

[phylodog]

Passing laws and arguing about CRT is not gonna solve racism. That's correct. CRT is straight up rooted in Marxism. CRT, Critical Gender Theory, Critical Feminist Theory, and so on, are all flavors of Critical Theory. A serious, truly healing discussion about fixing the relationships between people of different races should absolutely not bother with CRT.

CRT does not solve racism. Its goal is not to solve racism. Like all "critical theories" its goal is to deconstruct the institutions of power and rebuild new institutions with the oppressed group holding all the power. If you believe one racial group should not have power over any other racial group, obviously CRT is not the right mechanism. Cultural revolutions are how people become oppressed, and not how people of diverse races learn to treat and regard each other with trust and respect.

A serious, truly healing discussion of racial issues should involve trust and honesty and listening to each other.

Best post of 2022 thus far. If there were a super-uber-mega-turbo-nitrous-limited edition-Eddie Bauer Edition-Signature series like button I'd be hammerin it.

 

[jamil]

There will never be an end to racism unless the races eventually meld into one via interracial relationships.
There will always be stupid ignorant morons walking around who aren't capable of comprehending that every human being is an individual and until you know them, you don't know them.

There's a lot of truth to that. This is how ethnic groups started not caring so much about ethnic differences. In the US, Italian, Irish, British, German, whatever, immigrants did not get along at first, but generations of intermarrying kinda solved that.