# 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:** 43
**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 25, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/843 "2018-08-25T03:03:40Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Speaking of sibling marriage, the current trumpeting line against a Muslim candidate is “She committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother to enter tbe US”. How long befoe Epic repeats that malarkey here? Never. He gone, gone, gone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/844 "2018-08-25T18:14:26Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Awesomely done. > > No. America was worse. We literally enslaved people based on nothing other than their race. We fought a war over it and the losers managed to recreate slavery in essence based on racial prejudice. > > Other minorities were not slaves in the US. o.O “The oldest known record of a permanent Native American slave was a native man from Massachusetts in 1636.[20] By 1661 slavery had become legal in all of the 13 colonies.[20] Virginia would later declare that “Indians, Mulattos, and Negros to be real estate”, and in 1682 New York forbade African or Native American slaves from leaving their master’s home or plantation without permission” [Slavery among Native Americans in the United States - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/845 "2018-08-27T07:54:39Z")
I gave Uber rides this weekend to two black immigrants from African countries (two separate rides), one from Sierra Leone and the other from Liberia, who both defended Trump. :eek: One was a medical student, planning to become a radiologist (ooh, bad choice), so I guess if she’s planning to be wealthy maybe there’s some glimmer of sense there? But she said she came here via the immigration lottery, which Trump has spoken out against! Still, she argued that he is really targeting illegal immigrants sneaking across the southern border, not highly educated folks like herself (she’s fooling herself on that IMO). And the other guy was working class—I didn’t quite understand through his thick accent what his job entailed, but it seemed to be something related to construction. He complained that he had just been hassled by the cops for no reason, but still said he liked Trump because unlike him, most immigrants are criminals and welfare cheats! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/846 "2018-09-06T12:23:39Z")
This political analysis brought some interesting poll numbers up: > **[What We Actually Know About ‘Electability’](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-we-actually-know-about-electability/)** > > Welcome to Secret Identity, our regular column on identity and its role in politics and policy. In the last edition of this column we looked at “electability” a… In short, I think it puts an absolute floor on estimating how many Americans have white supremacist beliefs – 9% of Republicans, and 4% of Democrats, respond to pollsters that they wouldn’t vote for a well qualified black candidate from their own party. That’s those that are WILLING to report this to a pollster. So at a minimum, 9% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats are very racist. There are probably a whole lot more who feel this way but are unwilling to say so, and even more who feel this way but don’t even realize it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/847 "2018-09-06T15:38:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > This political analysis brought some interesting poll numbers up: > > [What We Actually Know About ‘Electability’ | FiveThirtyEight](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-we-actually-know-about-electability/) > > In short, I think it puts an absolute floor on estimating how many Americans have white supremacist beliefs – 9% of Republicans, and 4% of Democrats, respond to pollsters that they wouldn’t vote for a well qualified black candidate from their own party. That’s those that are WILLING to report this to a pollster. So at a minimum, 9% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats are very racist. There are probably a whole lot more who feel this way but are unwilling to say so, and even more who feel this way but don’t even realize it themselves. I’d be careful about this. Extremely low poll results can mislead; let’s not forget [the lizardman constant](http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and-reptilian-muslim-climatologists-from-mars/). Imagine the situation. You’re at home, eating dinner. You get a call from someone who says “Hello, this is Public Policy Polling. Would you mind answering some questions for us?” You say “Sure”. An extremely dignified sounding voice says – and this is the exact wording of the question – “Do you believe that shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our society, or not?” Then it urges you to press 1 if yes, press 2 if no, press 3 if not sure. So first we get the people who think “Wait, was 1 the one for if I did believe in lizardmen, or if I didn’t? I’ll just press 1 and move on to the next question.”Then we get the people who are like “I never heard it before, but if this nice pollster thinks it’s true, I might as well go along with them.”Then we get the people who are all “F#&k you, polling company, I don’t want people calling me when I’m at dinner. You screw with me, I tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to tell you I believe lizard people are running the planet.” And then we get the people who put “Martian” as their nationality in psychology experiments. Because some men just want to watch the world burn. Do these three groups total 4% of the US population? Seems plausible. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/848 "2018-09-06T20:59:32Z")
Good point, BPC. On the flip side, there are plenty of Republicans who love to rally ‘round “Uncle Tom” type black candidates (or judges, like Clarence Thomas), in large part because it gets them off scot free from this kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/849 "2018-09-07T08:02:12Z")
Is there a contingency to the phrase “while black”? So stop being black. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/850 "2018-09-08T00:54:29Z")
So now black folks aren’t even safe in their own homes. [Dallas Police Officer Kills Man In His Apartment, Says She Thought It Was Her Home](https://www.npr.org/2018/09/07/645637404/dallas-police-officer-kills-man-in-his-apartment-says-she-thought-it-was-her-hom) Short version: white female police officer, coming off shift, still in uniform, kills black man in his own apartment, claims she thought she was in her own apartment. > [@NPR](#): > > Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall says she plans to charge the officer with manslaughter and has invited the Texas Rangers to investigate the shooting. This whole thing is immensely weird, and I wonder if we the public will ever know what really happened. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/851 "2018-09-08T04:31:10Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > So now black folks aren’t even safe in their own homes. > > [Dallas Police Officer Kills Man In His Apartment, Says She Thought It Was Her Home](https://www.npr.org/2018/09/07/645637404/dallas-police-officer-kills-man-in-his-apartment-says-she-thought-it-was-her-hom) > > Short version: white female police officer, coming off shift, still in uniform, kills black man in his own apartment, claims she thought she was in her own apartment. > > This whole thing is immensely weird, and I wonder if we the public will ever know what really happened. Immensely weird indeed – how the hell could she not have known immediately it wasn’t her place? One look at the furnishings presumably would have been enough. Was she drunk? High? ---
**Author:** ![Huey\_Freeman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/huey_freeman/32/251_2.png) [@Huey\_Freeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huey_Freeman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/852 "2018-09-08T05:00:32Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > So now black folks aren’t even safe in their own homes. > > [Dallas Police Officer Kills Man In His Apartment, Says She Thought It Was Her Home](https://www.npr.org/2018/09/07/645637404/dallas-police-officer-kills-man-in-his-apartment-says-she-thought-it-was-her-hom) > > Short version: white female police officer, coming off shift, still in uniform, kills black man in his own apartment, claims she thought she was in her own apartment. > > This whole thing is immensely weird, and I wonder if we the public will ever know what really happened. Yeah, I saw that this morning and was at loss of words. It’s pretty fucking egregious. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/853 "2018-09-08T14:11:03Z")
I’m thinking she was hammered, or there’s a pre-existing relationship that went bad and the wrong apartment thing was the best story she could come up with. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/854 "2018-09-08T16:41:47Z")
Let’s walk through this. Say she really did think she was at her own apartment. The door is locked, and for some reason her key isn’t working, she keeps rattling the key around and making a lot of noise. A black man opens (not) her door, fill in the missing space here for what happens next (are words exchanged at all? or is it just the first thing she could think of to do?), and then she shoots him. The question for me is whether she would have ended up shooting him if he was white? By all accounts the man she shot was completely non-threatening and inoffensive (except for being black). People are speculating she was drunk or high, which is not only no excuse, but may indicate loosened inhibitions and quicker access to gut reactions. In vino veritas, as they used to say. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/855 "2018-09-08T17:46:51Z")
I haven’t been reading this thread because I’ve been working on not feeding my Divisive Outrage Wolf these day. Besides, I may not be woke, but I am yawning and stretching, so, do I need to? Yeah, I need this. I’m through page 3 of this thread, and none of the stories are new to me, but the justification for the racist behavior is. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/856 "2018-09-08T17:51:28Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I’m thinking she was hammered, or there’s a pre-existing relationship that went bad and the wrong apartment thing was the best story she could come up with. Aren’t there rules about carrying a gun while intoxicated? Wasn’t this a cop? Shouldn’t a cop know about the rules about carrying a gun while intoxicated? Maybe this belongs in the Stupid Gun News, as well. (Probably positive gun news, too, as it sounds lie a DGU to me.) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/857 "2018-09-09T05:38:27Z")
So, I’ve read the thread, and it’s been an eye-opener. All those posts and asides that I just skim passed while frowning in virtuous disapproval have been distilled and poured in here. I had no idea the board was this racist. I wasn’t paying attention. I am surprised at the lack of historical perspective. Policies and practices for that last 350 or so years after worked to destabilize black families, so it’s a bit disingenuous to blame one parent households on some “black” culture. Citing crime statistics broken down by race without considering that blacks are more likely to be arrested, and charged, and plead or be found guilty is naive at best. Getting upset at the anger in the posts, saying it’s no way to gain allies, sounds a lot to me like “If you want a man to behave like a gentleman, behave like a lady”, i.e. my game, my rules , and there is not a damned thing you can do about it. I have sympathy for those who resent being called racist when they have never done an overtly racist act, whose own families have suffered from prejudice when they arrived - no wave of immigrants was welcomed here, and who have worked hard for their success, but that does not compare to looking at grand oil paintings of our revered Founding Fathers and reflecting that they might have owned your ancestor. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/858 "2018-09-09T15:55:36Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Let’s walk through this. Say she really did think she was at her own apartment. The door is locked, and for some reason her key isn’t working, she keeps rattling the key around and making a lot of noise. A black man opens (not) her door, fill in the missing space here for what happens next (are words exchanged at all? or is it just the first thing she could think of to do?), and then she shoots him. > > The question for me is whether she would have ended up shooting him if he was white? My instincts lean towards incredibly drunk. I had this happen in my 20s - someone trying my apt. door, and I opened to find a seriously drunk guy who thought it was his unit. Standing aside to show him it wasn’t his apartment did no good (which was hilarious - it was my first apartment and I had not one stick of furniture, just a weight bench and stacks of books; no way it looked like his place), and he kept trying to push past me. I eventually got the door shut and he wandered off after a bit. If she were drunk enough and persistent enough, it’s likely she’d have shot _anyone_. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/859 "2018-09-09T16:04:10Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > My instincts lean towards incredibly drunk. I had this happen in my 20s - someone trying my apt. door, and I opened to find a seriously drunk guy who thought it was his unit. Standing aside to show him it wasn’t his apartment did no good (which was hilarious - it was my first apartment and I had not one stick of furniture, just a weight bench and stacks of books; no way it looked like his place), and he kept trying to push past me. I eventually got the door shut and he wandered off after a bit. > > If she were drunk enough and persistent enough, it’s likely she’d have shot _anyone_. One thing she could have done, and not shot anyone, would have been to not have been carrying a firearm while intoxicated. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/860 "2018-09-10T19:23:04Z")
The officer in question has been charged with manslaughter. I am also wondering if there might be more to it than a case of mistaken identity. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/861 "2018-09-10T20:13:43Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Aren’t there rules about carrying a gun while intoxicated? Varies by state. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/862 "2018-09-10T20:22:32Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Aren’t there rules about carrying a gun while intoxicated? This is Texas. It’s probably mandatory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=42) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=44)