# Living while black in America **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 9, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611 "2018-07-09T21:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/423 "2018-08-02T17:34:29Z")
[\*\* Feeding the Homeless While Black \*\*](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/01/us/police-called-on-good-samaritan-trnd/index.html) Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson said that a Safeway employee called the police and to report a theft in progress, which was very strange because the woman never actually entered the store. > [@](#): > > Erika Martin told CNN that the incident occurred when she stopped at the store last month to help a homeless man she knew hung out there. She gave him a bag of dog food and some treats for his pit bull. Her two sisters were also there and gave two men care packages with soap, toothpaste, hand sanitizer and other hygiene products. > “I help the homeless as much as I can. I see homeless people weekly and I try help them the best that I can,” Martin said. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/424 "2018-08-02T17:34:36Z")
What highlights for me is my apparent shit internet service since about half these links don’t work for me. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/425 "2018-08-02T17:35:34Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > My mileage varies. I’m not sure discussion is the point anyway. It seems to be a good way to highlight, to those of us who don’t experience it directly or personally, the scope of the problem in the microcosm of a post. If it’s not to promote discussion, but merely highlight the scope of the problem, then yes, it is working very well. But the complaint was that I didn’t respond to all the text in the message. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/426 "2018-08-02T17:48:02Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > [Ohio judge](http://https://fox8.com/2018/07/31/cuyahoga-county-judge-orders-mans-mouth-taped-shut-during-sentencing/) orders black man’s mouth to be taped shut. First, [fixed url](https://fox8.com/2018/07/31/cuyahoga-county-judge-orders-mans-mouth-taped-shut-during-sentencing/). Certainly not a great resolution to the issue of the defendant not following “more than a dozen warnings from Judge John Russo over the course of about 30 minutes” during his _sentencing_ hearing, but I find it hard to lump this in the overt, obvious racism found in the other stories. When someone is being his (or her) own worst enemy in front of a judge, there will be consequences. Without a pattern shown by this judge of treating black defendants harsher in the courtroom than white defendants, this one should get a pass. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/427 "2018-08-02T17:59:33Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > First, [fixed url](https://fox8.com/2018/07/31/cuyahoga-county-judge-orders-mans-mouth-taped-shut-during-sentencing/). Certainly not a great resolution to the issue of the defendant not following “more than a dozen warnings from Judge John Russo over the course of about 30 minutes” during his _sentencing_ hearing, but I find it hard to lump this in the overt, obvious racism found in the other stories. When someone is being his (or her) own worst enemy in front of a judge, there will be consequences. Without a pattern shown by this judge of treating black defendants harsher in the courtroom than white defendants, this one should get a pass. Does a defendant HAVE to be present at sentencing? Wouldn’t a better option be simply be removing him from the court room? ISTR that being done in a movie. Not sure if it was based on real events. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/428 "2018-08-02T18:19:09Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > Oh, yas massah, I’s so sorry I’s not answah yo kwaushan. Is your only purpose here to accuse anyone who isn’t black of hating black and/or non-white people? Cuz if you are, just to let you know, it’s been done before, and most of them were way better at it than you. > [@raventhief](#): > > I disagree that hate speech should be used, even in the Pit. I think that this thread could be extraordinarily valuable in highlighting the POC American experience. Link dumps don’t seem to foster much discussion though. YMMV. I don’t recall anyone suggesting that hate speech should be allowed, unless I missed it. This guy, however, I suspect is just here to troll. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not even black, but just some kid from 4chan having a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/429 "2018-08-02T18:22:30Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > If it’s not to promote discussion, but merely highlight the scope of the problem, then yes, it is working very well. But the complaint was that I didn’t respond to all the text in the message. I see. It wasn’t clear to me that that particular complaint is what you were responding to in that post. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/430 "2018-08-02T18:29:34Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > Let me get this straight. I write all of that and your single question and comment is why I’ve ostensibly misgendered Grand Dragon Shodan? Want to make sure I understand before I answer the question. I, too, am curious why you’re such a hateful bigot you engage in the transphobic practice of deliberately misgendering someone. Is it something you picked up on 4chan, or did you come up with it on your own? You may answer now. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/431 "2018-08-02T18:49:44Z")
I bet he had his cat declawed, too. Regards, Shodana-nanna-no-nanna, fee fie fo fanna - Shodana ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/432 "2018-08-02T19:13:16Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > First, [fixed url](https://fox8.com/2018/07/31/cuyahoga-county-judge-orders-mans-mouth-taped-shut-during-sentencing/). Certainly not a great resolution to the issue of the defendant not following “more than a dozen warnings from Judge John Russo over the course of about 30 minutes” during his _sentencing_ hearing, but I find it hard to lump this in the overt, obvious racism found in the other stories. When someone is being his (or her) own worst enemy in front of a judge, there will be consequences. Without a pattern shown by this judge of treating black defendants harsher in the courtroom than white defendants, this one should get a pass. Uhh … no. Regardless of the frustration a court experiences, this is demeaning. If a person is in contempt you can send him back to a holding cell. This is clearly something you do to someone to put him in his place, which is an integral part of the white supremacist starem ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/433 "2018-08-02T19:21:52Z")
> [@](#): > > In December, Williams was convicted on counts of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, theft, misuse of credit cards and having weapons under a disability, according to court documents. Heaven forbid we do anything that offends his dignity. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/434 "2018-08-02T19:45:02Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > [URL=“[PSE sends racial slur to black woman – KIRO 7 News Seattle](https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/pse-sends-racial-slur-to-black-woman/803894220)”] No comment on the other of your links which seem to be legit, but this one seems to be more likely and unfortunate coincidence than racism. It seems like a lot of trouble go into the software that sends out passwords and reconfigure it to send this particular woman a racist temporary password. Given the number of random temporary passwords that are sent out each day in the US, there is a near certainty that over time some of them will happen to be personally offensive to the person who receives it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/435 "2018-08-02T19:59:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Uhh … no. > > Regardless of the frustration a court experiences, this is demeaning. If a person is in contempt you can send him back to a holding cell. This is clearly something you do to someone to put him in his place, which is an integral part of the white supremacist starem As a TRI-racial American with a wife from yet another race, I’m quite personally familiar with racism. I’m not saying that this is NOT racism, I’m just saying that absent any other information, I’m not jumping to immediately blaming racism. And, just in case I wasn’t clear, I wasn’t defending the procedure. There certainly may have been a better way to handle this, but I am unfamiliar with the rules of the court and of sentencing hearings. I’m guessing the judge was quite frustrated, and acted out of frustration. As a follow-up, [the judge responds](https://fox8.com/2018/07/31/judge-speaks-out-after-ordering-mans-mouth-taped-shut-during-sentencing/). The judge contends that asking the bailiff to gag a defendant when in contempt of court is legal. ETA: To add to **Shodan** ’s, the defendant cut off his ankle bracelet and fled at one point. And, as pointed out in this article, the defendant is known to the court and this judge in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/436 "2018-08-02T23:09:10Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > No comment on the other of your links which seem to be legit, but this one seems to be more likely and unfortunate coincidence than racism. > > It seems like a lot of trouble go into the software that sends out passwords and reconfigure it to send this particular woman a racist temporary password. > > Given the number of random temporary passwords that are sent out each day in the US, there is a near certainty that over time some of them will happen to be personally offensive to the person who receives it. Yeah, but “nigga”? C’mon. I’m white and I’D be offended if I got something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/437 "2018-08-03T00:40:36Z")
This is another story where it’s not clear that race played a factor. The female off-duty cop in question was out drinking with her sister. They got into a fight with the pregnant woman’s financé, and she seems to have been collateral damage. Additional coverage [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/07/28/a-woman-gave-birth-early-after-an-officer-allegedly-kicked-her-in-the-stomach/?utm_term=.c3bce11e976c). Without more information, it’s impossible to say that race was involved. > [@](#): > > [Black woman](https://wsvn.com/news/local/woman-allegedly-kicked-by-off-duty-officer-while-pregnant-speaks-out/) attacked by off-duty cop, kicked in the stomach and went into premature labor. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/438 "2018-08-03T00:50:17Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Heaven forbid we do anything that offends his dignity. > > Regards, > Shodan So if you characterize him as subhuman you can do anything you want to him? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/439 "2018-08-03T00:51:55Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > [Gay man](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Gay-man-believes-he-was-targeted-in-Montrose-13125981.php) beaten in Texas with rocks and belt. Blessed Be the Fruit, I guess. Blessed Be the Fruit. It’s hard to tell if this is a POC. The article doesn’t say and it’s hard to tell from the picture. Also the police are not considering it a hate crime because the suspect says he beat the guy up because he exposed himself to his girlfriend. So does this one belong in this thread or another one? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/440 "2018-08-03T01:02:34Z")
I’d like some clarification on the “blessed be the fruit” bit too, while we’re at it. What is meant by that? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/441 "2018-08-03T01:34:23Z")
Racism exists. This thread serves a good purpose by reminding people of this and presenting deniers with an ongoing wave of examples that overwhelms them. The question is what should be done about it. I say racism is the enemy and we should oppose racism and work on eliminating racism. Judging from what he has posted, the OP has a different view. He sees white people as the enemy. I don’t support that cause. I oppose anti-white racism just as much as oppose anti-black racism or any other kind of racism. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/442 "2018-08-03T02:22:49Z")
Police called on black student for eating lunch in a school common area. > **[Smith College employee calls police on black student that 'seemed to be out...](https://sports.yahoo.com/smith-college-employee-calls-police-195654484.html)** > > A Smith College employee called the police on a black student who was eating lunch in a common area because she “seemed to be out of place,” the school said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=23)