# 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:** 69
**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:** [January 18, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1363 "2019-01-18T16:57:26Z")
> **['She's Black. I Hate That': Dance Coach Told Student Her Skin Was 'Too Dark,'...](https://www.theroot.com/shes-black-i-hate-that-dance-coach-told-student-her-s-1831845016)** > > Before reading this any further, allow me to inform you that this is not one of those cases that can be whitesplained away by people who purchase their motor oil and clothing from the same place. It wasn’t a “simple misunderstanding.” These people... Dance coach tells black student that her skin color clashes with the uniforms. Also, she doesn’t get picked for the best performances. Also, the coach had text messages that said “I hate that she’s black”. That sucks. What’s far, far worse is that the rest of the team, and parents, stood by the coach, even when the racism was undeniable. Just imagine how often this happens, and has happened, and it’s not reported, or it’s reported and ignored, etc. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1364 "2019-01-19T19:30:11Z")
This is [whiteness](https://www.mediaite.com/online/video-of-maga-hat-wearing-teens-taunting-native-american-vietnam-vet-goes-viral-sparking-outrage/). I have no words. If you doubt the monstrous nature of white folks, watch that video in full. There is no humanity there, just a soulless husk in human form. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1365 "2019-01-19T20:06:49Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > This is [whiteness](https://www.mediaite.com/online/video-of-maga-hat-wearing-teens-taunting-native-american-vietnam-vet-goes-viral-sparking-outrage/). I have no words. If you doubt the monstrous nature of white folks, watch that video in full. There is no humanity there, just a soulless husk in human form. Standing around a Native American (Vietnam veteran) chanting “Build that wall.” Their school is really doing a good job of teaching. But then, I guess the school sending all of these upstanding young men to participate in an anti-abortion march shows where their priorities lie. The school has shut down their Twitter account and their phone number. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1366 "2019-01-30T00:30:35Z")
Black gay actor assaulted in possible hate crime. I guess money doesn’t necessarily protect you if you don’t use it to have bodyguards around. > **[Police Say 'Empire' Actor Jussie Smollett Attacked In Possible Hate Crime](https://www.npr.org/2019/01/29/689758253/police-say-empire-actor-jussie-smollett-attacked-in-possible-hate-crime)** > > The star of the Fox drama was reportedly assaulted Tuesday in downtown Chicago. His attackers are said to have poured a chemical substance on him and wrapped a rope around his neck. To be fair, the assailants haven’t been apprehended yet so their motivation is not definitely known. However, at some point they wrapped a rope around his neck (as he reports). ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1367 "2019-01-31T02:49:34Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Black gay actor assaulted in possible hate crime. I guess money doesn’t necessarily protect you if you don’t use it to have bodyguards around. > > [Jussie Smollett, 'Empire' Actor, Reportedly Attacked In Possible Hate Crime : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/01/29/689758253/police-say-empire-actor-jussie-smollett-attacked-in-possible-hate-crime) > > To be fair, the assailants haven’t been apprehended yet so their motivation is not definitely known. However, at some point they wrapped a rope around his neck (as he reports). Hate to say it, but this looks like a Tawana Brawley. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1368 "2019-01-31T04:13:30Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > Hate to say it, but this looks like a Tawana Brawley. Based on what? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1369 "2019-01-31T04:29:36Z")
Lol who carries a noose around for just such occasions? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1370 "2019-01-31T04:49:43Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Lol who carries a noose around for just such occasions? Lol who said anything about a noose fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1371 "2019-01-31T04:59:32Z")
Hey it’s ok pull the anal beads out of your ass there buddy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1372 "2019-01-31T05:24:10Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Lol who said anything about a noose fuck off. Is that a whoosh? The victim said that the assailants put a rope around his neck and threw bleach at him. He still had the rope around his neck when the police arrived at his apartment. So who walks around Chicago at 1:00AM with a pice of rope and bleach looking for someone to attack? My bet is there was some kind of scuffle about something embarrassing, and then the cover story got out of hand. I hope I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1373 "2019-01-31T05:26:44Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > Is that a whoosh? The victim said that the assailants put a rope around his neck and threw bleach at him. He still had the rope around his neck when the police arrived at his apartment. > > So who walks around Chicago at 1:00AM with a pice of rope and bleach looking for someone to attack? My bet is there was some kind of scuffle about something embarrassing, and then the cover story got out of hand. > > I hope I’m wrong. Exactly that was my point, noose, length of rope whatever, seems like an odd thing to be carrying around on your person. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1374 "2019-01-31T12:40:12Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Exactly that was my point, noose, length of rope whatever, seems like an odd thing to be carrying around on your person. You seem to have made up your mind. **Batano** has left a sliver of daylight to escape through. Neither of you has any evidence for your assertions except “seems odd.” On the basis of that (i.e. completely nothing at all), you seem to think that this actor doused himself with bleach and wrapped a rope around his own neck. That doesn’t seem odd to you at all. You’re just reinforcing the point of this thread. Or you could wait for the results of the investigation. Plenty of time then, if you’re right, to jump up and down with glee. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1375 "2019-01-31T12:45:57Z")
> **[Could Black English Mean a Prison Sentence?](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/stenographers-need-understand-black-english/581671/)** > > Court stenographers often misunderstand Black English, and their mistakes could affect people’s lives at crucial junctures. Less personal than most examples here, but talking about a persistent issue in criminal justice: stenographers who struggle to understand AAVE or even just accents comment in black communities. > [@](#): > > The Black English gap, as one might call it, matters: It can affect people’s lives at crucial junctures. In 2007, a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dissent claimed that when a black woman said, in terror, “He finna shoot me,” she may have been referring to something in the past, when in fact “finna” refers to the immediate future. “Why don’t you just give me a lawyer, dog?” Warren Demesme asked the police when accused of sexual assault in 2017. The statements one makes to law enforcement after requesting a lawyer are inadmissible—but Demesme’s rights were ignored because, it was argued, he’d requested a “lawyer dog,” not an actual attorney. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1376 "2019-01-31T13:05:44Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Less personal than most examples here, but talking about a persistent issue in criminal justice: stenographers who struggle to understand AAVE or even just accents comment in black communities. What makes you think it’s limited to black communities? I defy you to transcribe Weegie or Doric. The former is the Glaswegian accent / dialect; the latter Aberdonian ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1377 "2019-01-31T13:40:37Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Lol who carries a noose around for just such occasions? Racist assholes do. [Acid and bleach attacks are certainly a thing](https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/acid-attacks-cambridge-police-law-15628685)- they’re rare, but they’re not imaginary. Carrying a noose when one is looking for someone to use it on is hardly an implausible scenario. Whether what happened to Smollett was real or faked (and I’ve not seen any reason to assume fakery thus far) is a separate issue to whether some people will attack random strangers for reasons of racism or homophobia. They will, and they sometimes do. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1378 "2019-01-31T14:25:14Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Hey it’s ok pull the anal beads out of your ass there buddy. 🙂 Sick burn bruh. I mean, it doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense, but sick burns don’t have to. I got told, and am abashed. Abashed! So now that I’ve been mocked and ridiculed within an inch of my pathetic life, you can go back to mocking and ridiculing the more important targets: gay Black guys! ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1379 "2019-01-31T17:12:05Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > What makes you think it’s limited to black communities? I defy you to transcribe Weegie or Doric. > > The former is the Glaswegian accent / dialect; the latter Aberdonian Interesting. So the existence of strong regional Scottish dialects means we shouldn’t bother to have the American legal system understand black folks? I admit that I’m not seeing the causal link. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1380 "2019-01-31T17:15:32Z")
I wasn’t claiming the story was fake I’ve only glossed over the vague details in the story, I’m sure he was attacked, I was more thinking out loud about whether it was premeditated or not. Did they have any relation to the guy, did they just happen to see him, or did they set out to attack a black guy and left the house with rope and acid and he was the unlucky first guy they came across. Any other reading of what I said is just your own biases coming through. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1381 "2019-01-31T17:19:32Z")
> [@pool](#): > > I wasn’t claiming the story was fake I’ve only glossed over the vague details in the story, I’m sure he was attacked, I was more thinking out loud about whether it was premeditated or not. Did they have any relation to the guy, did they just happen to see him, or did they set out to attack a black guy and left the house with rope and acid and he was the unlucky first guy they came across. Any other reading of what I said is just your own biases coming through. I apologize; I had inadvertently conflated **Batano** ’s “Tawana Brawley” comment with your comment. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1382 "2019-01-31T17:25:08Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > What makes you think it’s limited to black communities? I defy you to transcribe Weegie or Doric. > > The former is the Glaswegian accent / dialect; the latter Aberdonian And there are so many of those folks in US courts, it’s a real problem! In fact, most immigrants whose English is not good (or is non-existent) can get translation help in court and with the police. People who are “supposed” to speak “regular” English don’t, and also (as in the second case cited in the original quote) can be willfully misunderstood. You’ve taken a lot of trouble to make a bogus point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=68) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=70)