# 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:** 71
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1403 "2019-02-15T14:21:07Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > It’s possible the Rick Kitchen’s and andros’s of the world who share baking recipes in my threads think he is trying to help, but most people know. It’s also possible that I never said a thing about Sharpton. Oh look, I didn’t! (Here’s a helpful hint, though: When decrying someone you don’t like (Sharpton) for assuming someone’s innocence for their own gain, it can quite easily look like racist hypocrisy to assume that same person’s guilt.) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1404 "2019-02-15T15:17:55Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > A black woman was pulled over in Detroit for driving with expired tags, and her car was towed. Now, the cops did offer to drive her home, but she declined, since she was only a block from her house. As she walked home in the freezing temperatures, the cops followed behind her, recording her walk, and posted it online with the mocking captions, “walk of shame”, “bye felicia", “What black girl magic looks like,” and “celebrating Black History Month.” > [White Officer Demoted for Posting ‘Racist’ Videos Mocking Black Woman Walking Home](https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-officer-demoted-for-posting-racist-videos-mocking-black-woman-walking-home)? That’s absolutely ridiculous. I hope the asshole cop is fired and sued. One question though: Had the woman previously been warned about the expired tags? In civilized states this would be a “fix it” ticket. There might be a fine, even a large fine, but the car would not be towed. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1405 "2019-02-15T15:29:03Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > You think that people should be denied their rights because of a misunderstanding? I’d understand what he said as meaning that there’s some kind of fundamental difference between an immigrant/non-native speaker not understanding standard English, versus someone just speaking the language poorly. Whether or not it’s actually spoken poorly or a linguistic division of some kind is debatable. How exactly do you advertise for stenographers who can translate, without sounding racist or mocking? ---
**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:** [February 15, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1406 "2019-02-15T19:07:18Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > Sharpton, who notoriously pushed the Tawana Brawley story including accusing an innocent man of rape: > > More recently he jumped into the Jussie Smollet case which looks like it was not as reported by the victim. > > I never understood why Al Sharpton was allowed back on the public stage after that and even is a contributor and occasional host on MSNBC. You do know that two people have been arrested in the case, right? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1407 "2019-02-15T19:21:36Z")
So, two Nigerian brothers shouted racial slurs and told him it was “MAGA country”? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1408 "2019-02-15T19:24:55Z")
I mean…_stranger_ things have happened. Not many. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1409 "2019-02-15T23:21:25Z")
Now I’m picturing a boiler room operation where Nigerian guys wearing MAGA hats crank out e-mails announcing that we’re eligible to split $10 million, if we send them our personal info. ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1410 "2019-02-16T00:52:16Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You do know that two people have been arrested in the case, right? Yes, you are right. Two black people he knew that he somehow mistook for two white people he didn’t. I guess I was wrong about it being a hoax :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1411 "2019-02-17T14:27:47Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > I never understood why Al Sharpton was allowed back on the public stage after that and even is a contributor and occasional host on MSNBC. Though he doesn’t have much truck with truth or honesty, he’s good at saying what some people want to hear. Which is enough for MSNBC and others. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2019, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1412 "2019-02-18T10:24:39Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Though he doesn’t have much truck with truth or honesty, he’s good at saying what some people want to hear. Which is enough for MSNBC and others. Again: just like Ollie North and FoxNews. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2019, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1413 "2019-02-18T10:27:49Z")
> **[11-year-old arrested after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance](https://nypost.com/2019/02/17/11-year-old-arrested-after-refusing-to-stand-for-pledge-of-allegiance/)** > > An 11-year-old student was arrested after refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and allegedly telling a teacher that “the flag is racist and the national anthem is offensive to black peopl… > [@](#): > > An 11-year-old student was arrested after refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and allegedly telling a teacher that “the flag is racist and the national anthem is offensive to black people,” according to reports. > > The boy, a student at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Fla., was charged with disrupting a school function and resisting arrest without violence for the Feb. 4 outburst, according to Bay News 9. …Charged with resisting arrest. He’s 11! What the ever-loving fuck?! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1414 "2019-02-18T11:39:24Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Racism is a form of brain damage. 🙂 > > But, people go with what they know. They laughed, their partner laughed, when they got back to the station, their colleagues laughed. > > When all your peers are laughing, it is hard to realize that your peers do not make up the entirety of the world. It is easy to take a position that only a triggered libtard snowflake would take offense to these actions, and, along with wanting to make like minded people laugh, they wanted to make their political enemies cry. > > They forgot that the vast majority of people are mostly decent, and, while they may not seek out racism to root out, if it is shoved in their face like this, they will react, and usually not in the racists favor. Not just forgot. The more blatant racists tend to think that other people in general are more racist than they actually are. People don’t tend to think they themselves are all that bad of people. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1415 "2019-02-18T12:14:08Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I really don’t understand how the cops think this is a great idea. And even if they don’t realize how bad it is, why would they post it on social media? Do they really think they aren’t going to get caught? I just don’t understand. It has to be some sort of brain damage. They posted them to Snapchat. I don’t know exactly how that medium works with how long videos and photos stay up and privacy settings as I’ve never gained access, except it does all seem to be ephemeral. Therefore Snapchat doesn’t save any of it. I’m surprised because I thought Snapchat was mostly used by teenagers. The only adults I know of who use it are amateur models. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1416 "2019-02-18T18:23:21Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > They posted them to Snapchat. I don’t know exactly how that medium works with how long videos and photos stay up and privacy settings as I’ve never gained access, except it does all seem to be ephemeral. Therefore Snapchat doesn’t save any of it. > > I’m surprised because I thought Snapchat was mostly used by teenagers. The only adults I know of who use it are amateur models. I know snaps are ephemeral, but not exactly how long. But I do know you can send them to someone else. So, even if he only sent it to some people, they could easily send it to others. You can also use external software to take a screenshot, which is why you are told repeatedly never to actually trust that a snap will be deleted. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1417 "2019-02-20T00:35:36Z")
[Alabama newspaper publisher says KKK should clean out Washington DC](https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/695903336/publisher-of-an-alabama-newspaper-calls-for-the-kkk-to-clean-out-washington), and bring their hemp ropes and hang “all of them.” Note that thi publisher was too cowardly to put the thing online, but folks have posted photos of the newspaper page that you can look at. The trigger for this, apparently, is the fear that the Democrats and RINOs in Washington are fixin’ to raise Alabama’s taxes (not sure how that would work, exactly, but I guess he’s afraid that federal taxes will go up and only cares about himself and his friends in Alabama). What makes this item appropriate for this thread, notwithstanding that the target doesn’t seem to be black people, is that he defends the KKK as “only violent when they needed to be,” claims that some early Klan members were recently freed slaves, and compares it with the NAACP. If his readers didn’t immediately cancel their subscriptions and boycott his advertisers, who then immediately withdrew their advertising from the paper, then we have to assume that the attitude expressed in this editorial is not disagreeable to its readers. Is this representative still of the deep south? Is this what black folks in that area live with every day? ---
**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:** [March 5, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1418 "2019-03-05T22:56:17Z")
[NPR has studied](https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/696995788/search-the-thousands-of-disaster-buyouts-fema-didnt-want-you-to-see) tens of thousands of FEMA records to come to this conclusion: > [@NPR](#): > > Federal disaster aid is allocated based on a cost-benefit calculation meant to minimize taxpayer risk. That means money is not necessarily doled out to those who need it most but rather to those whose property is worth more — and to those who own property in the first place. That mirrors the existing racial wealth gap in the United States. [Here is the embedded link regarding the racial wealth gap](https://socialequity.duke.edu/sites/socialequity.duke.edu/files/site-images/FINAL%20COMPLETE%20REPORT_.pdf) (long PDF). Cost-benefit calculations will always favor the haves vs. the have-nots. There must be a more equitable way of doing this. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1419 "2019-03-05T22:56:53Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > [NPR has studied](https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/696995788/search-the-thousands-of-disaster-buyouts-fema-didnt-want-you-to-see) tens of thousands of FEMA records to come to this conclusion: > > [Here is the embedded link regarding the racial wealth gap](https://socialequity.duke.edu/sites/socialequity.duke.edu/files/site-images/FINAL%20COMPLETE%20REPORT_.pdf) (long PDF). > > Cost-benefit calculations will always favor the haves vs. the have-nots. There must be a more equitable way of doing this. Basically, modern Redlining. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1420 "2019-03-06T03:20:28Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Basically, modern Redlining. Or at very least, perpetuating the old redlining. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1421 "2019-03-06T15:38:46Z")
Colorado cops detain black man at gunpoint for picking up trash: ‘This is my house — I live here’ > **[Colorado cops detain black man at gunpoint for picking up trash: 'This is my...](https://www.rawstory.com/amp/colorado-cops-detain-black-man-gunpoint-picking-trash-house-live-2649267419)** > > Police detained a black Colorado man who was picking up trash outside his own home.A Boulder police officer questioned the man after spotting him Friday morning picking up trash with a clamper in a partially enclosed patio behind a "private property"... ---
**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:** [March 6, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1422 "2019-03-06T17:38:02Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Colorado cops detain black man at gunpoint for picking up trash: ‘This is my house — I live here’ > > [Colorado cops detain black man at gunpoint for picking up trash: 'This is my house -- I live here' - Raw Story](https://www.rawstory.com/2019/03/colorado-cops-detain-black-man-gunpoint-picking-trash-house-live/amp/?__twitter_impression=true) Has there been a Colorado crime wave of people breaking into other people’s homes and picking up their trash? Is “tidying up the patio” normal burglar behavior? Because otherwise this is incredibly fucking stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=70) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=72)