# "Black Brunch" protesting in "white spaces" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 5, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038 "2015-01-05T14:50:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/201 "2015-01-16T14:26:06Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > No, the actual definition, which I have provided, and which a one-time reading to a room full of people does not meet. > > Correct. You get targeted for messages every day of your life that are tailored to specific races, genders, religions, income levels, educational levels, and countless other variables. These aspects of your identity are part of how other people perceive and engage with you. That’s how our brains work, that’s how marketing works, that’s how society works. It’s a one-time reading because some members of society publically object to being harassed by racist protesters. Society has provided a plethora of socially accepted places and times where protesting is allowed. Society has also established where and when protesting is not allowed. These racist protesters crossed over that line. Society has also set standards for what is acceptable marketing and what isn’t. These racist protesters have also crossed over that line. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/202 "2015-01-16T14:27:41Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > If **doorhinge** had been there, and said “I felt I was being harassed”, I’d have no objection. Instead, he’s reading an account of what happened, and declaring the conduct to be harassment. Those are two different things. What **dba Fred** said. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/203 "2015-01-16T14:45:21Z")
> [@dba\_Fred](#): > > So you were there and determined nobody felt they were being harassed? No? You just read an account of what happened and are declaring the conduct **not** to be harassment? So your position vis-à-vis harassment has the same basis as **doorhinge** ’s, isn’t that true? > (I’d like my scrambled eggs with bacon, hash browns, rye toast and no side of protesters) Well, I have the dictionary definition on my side, but fundamentally, yes, this has just turned into a subjective disagreement about what is or isn’t harassment. That’s not the discussion I was interested in (I wanted to know what made **doorhinge** decry the protestors as racists, which I’m still unclear on), and it’s a dead end. > [@doorhinge](#): > > It’s a one-time reading because some members of society publically object to being harassed by racist protesters. No, it was one-time because they visited multiple establishments, spending just a few minutes in each. It was never a sit-in. > [@doorhinge](#): > > Society has provided a plethora of socially accepted places and times where protesting is allowed. Society has also established where and when protesting is not allowed. These racist protesters crossed over that line. No such rules exist. The sit-ins of the '60s, for instance, were unacceptable at the time, and lauded now. > [@doorhinge](#): > > Society has also set standards for what is acceptable marketing and what isn’t. These racist protesters have also crossed over that line. No such rule there, either. Many people supported this protest, so you can’t declare that it broke society’s rules, as if that was a monolithic thing. But in any case, we’re about out of steam here, just quibbling over subjective impressions. You can have the last word, and I’ll retire. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/204 "2015-01-16T15:08:57Z")
> [@dba\_Fred](#): > > Why do **you** get to decide if **I** feel I’m being harassed? Who died and made you _Chief Harassment Decider_? You could always call the cops if you feel you’re being harassed, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/205 "2015-01-16T15:34:34Z")
If **magellan01** wants to know about racism in the USA, I suggest he begin with Jeffersons’s [Notes On The State of Virginia](http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffvir.asp). In which TJ used his considerable intellect to “prove” that there was no place for free blacks in the USA. Then follow the Southern slavemasters convincing poor whites to fight & die for a “way of life” that only benefited the slavemasters. And continue with efforts to encourage racism so the poor whites & blacks won’t realize they ought to be on the same side. Through Jim Crow & the Southern Strategy to the Teabaggers. Still, most of today’s racists seem to feel so massively inferior in every area of their lives that they think a melanin deficiency makes them “better.” (See **doorhinge**.) While agree that there’s plenty of demonstrating to be done, why pick on “brunches”? In what podunk communities are they anything but middle brow? Even the higher toned brunch spots in Houston will not have lily white patrons. Lily white restaurant owners, managers & employees? Get real. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/206 "2015-01-16T20:48:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Working class whites are more likely to be on the side of the cops in these cases than upper class whites are. Not to mention that the working class white guy is much more likely to have a friend or relative who is a cop. There is plenty of residual racism among working class white Democrats, especially men. Plus, there are a LOT more of them than there are rich folks. Do you know how many beat cops in NYC are NOT white? Over half. Slightly less than half of the entire NYPD is not white. It’s not a “white” organization by any means. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/207 "2015-01-17T21:08:22Z")
Protesting that black lives matter to affluent whites seems a little pointless when in fact those who really need convincing of this are black youths, by far the main killers of other black youths. I guess it’s far easier to go after the police and the white middle classes though and pretend they’re the ones who hold black lives cheap. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038/208 "2015-01-17T23:50:48Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > …Still, most of today’s racists seem to feel so massively inferior in every area of their lives that they think a melanin deficiency makes them “better.” (See **doorhinge**.) (post shortened) What was it that you wanted to see **doorhinge** about? Your inability to post without resorting to impotent name-calling? I can’t help you with that. Please stop asking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-brunch-protesting-in-white-spaces/709038.md?page=10)