# 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:** 85
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1683 "2020-05-28T06:10:05Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > Sweet, now apply your logic to letting an unleashed dog run around and approach strangers. Far closer to assault than offering a dog a treat. > > Please, please, please, tell me you’re joking, and not doing literally everything possible to put blame on the birdwatcher. Because it reeks. I am not seeing the racism here. She said an African American man was threatening her life. How is that wrong? He’s African American, and she’s lost her job and lost her dog. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1684 "2020-05-28T06:12:36Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Of course that’s true. It just seems unlikely that in a nation full of people who either worship the state (the left) or, bizarrely the state’s enforcers (the right) that justice and accountability are going to be universal. The left doesn’t worship the state. The left worships equality and feels the state is a useful means to achieve that end. > [@octopus](#): > > Looting Target probably isn’t a good first step in the quixotic battle either. You’re not going to get far with convincing people you’re not a racist when you throw in lines like this. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1685 "2020-05-28T06:29:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The left doesn’t worship the state. The left worships equality and feels the state is a useful means to achieve that end. The left worships power and preaches equality as a ruse to convince the naive to vote. > [@](#): > > You’re not going to get far with convincing people you’re not a racist when you throw in lines like this. I’m not the one grabbing TVs and vacuum cleaners in response to police brutality. Just saying. And really, if one of my kin were out looting and they brought home a vacuum cleaner I’d be so disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1686 "2020-05-28T07:15:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In my opinion, that’s not the issue. It shouldn’t matter if other countries were welcoming people in with open arms. The issue is nobody should feel they have to leave this country because they can’t get fair and equal treatment here. Agreed; however, I was merely addressing the logistics of the inane, asinine, and ludicrously flippant comment so many bigots toss out, to wit: “They can migrate to another country”. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1687 "2020-05-28T07:42:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > “We?” Speaking hive again? Ooh, I bet you giggled when you came up with that _k_orny _k_rac_k_… ---
**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:** [May 28, 2020, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1688 "2020-05-28T10:14:30Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > People occasionally offered my dog a treat while we were out (back when I still had my dog). In no universe would I have considered it a threatening move. Yes, but were any of them black? > [@monstro](#): > > I’m a strange woman who goes to the park alone a lot. > > Yes, if a man came up to me and said he was about to do something that I wasn’t going to like, I wouldn’t like it. I wouldn’t like it if anyone said that to me. Especially if I was minding my own business, not doing anything wrong. He’s a fair ways off to be “coming up to her” anyway, and in fact in the video **he** tells \*\* her\*\* to stay back. > [@Monty](#): > > So the octoid is still pounding that “all they have to do is migrate to another country” nonsense, huh? Look, fool. Migrating from a place that does not require an exit visa is simple. The issue is migrating to another place. That other place very well may have requirements attached to incoming prospective citizens, not to mention the logistics of getting there. I for one am pleased to see him supporting all those immigrants fleeing violence and persecution in Latin America. > [@octopus](#): > > The left worships power That is some spectacular projection in a week when the right are trying to control or block social media for daring to correct overt and vicious lying, are deliberately undermining the electoral system and are using their power to block investigations into - and convictions of - their cronies. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1689 "2020-05-28T10:51:40Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > IN the Minneapolis case, I just wonder, what where the cops thinking? This wasn’t someone resisting arrest, or even “resisting arrest”, he was cuffed. What did kneeling on him accomplish? It hurt and in this case killed a black person; that’s what the police have always largely been _for._ Terrorizing and killing black people has always been one of their central functions in the US. Law enforcement is a distant second in priority for the police (at _best)_ to enforcing racial and class divisions. And these cops specifically belong to the “occupying army” school of policing I understand; they are a bunch of white racists who don’t even live there, but live outside the city and have no connection to the community. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2020, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1690 "2020-05-28T11:13:42Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > However, I never offer a biscuit to a dog without the owner’s permission, because there are some butt-hurt owners who don’t want their dogs to eat it – dietary restrictions or other :dubious: reasons --perhaps irrational, but I respect their wishes. Yeah, if you asked if my dogs could have one of your biscuits I’d say no thanks. The reason being you’re likely offering Milkbone brand biscuits, which my dogs would graciously accept, then drop and walk away. Mine are choosy beggars.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1691 "2020-05-28T11:20:09Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Yes, but were any of them black? Those dog treats come in black? > [@](#): > > He’s a fair ways off to be “coming up to her” anyway, and in fact in the video **he** tells \*\* her\*\* to stay back. Not to mention that in the video the woman actually tells him she’s going to make a false report. > [@](#): > > I for one am pleased to see him supporting all those immigrants fleeing violence and persecution in Latin America. 😃 ---
**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:** [May 28, 2020, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1692 "2020-05-28T11:29:16Z")
Look, all **octopus** is saying is that if racists are making the US too dangerous for black people, the black people should leave. But note that **octopus** is only saying this out of concern and admiration for those black people. Not for any other reason. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1693 "2020-05-28T11:38:04Z")
I wonder why people like **octopus** don’t tell white people who are angry they can’t get a haircut to go find another country if they are so unhappy with this one? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1694 "2020-05-28T11:45:35Z")
Let me be the third person to apologize for engaging with the racist, disingenuous troll in this thread and appeal to others to stop it as well. Rather than arguing over bullshit statements like “the left worships power”, can we instead discuss the continuing stream of horrendous news regarding black people in America? ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1695 "2020-05-28T11:46:25Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I wonder why people like **octopus** don’t tell white people who are angry they can’t get a haircut to go find another country if they are so unhappy with this one? That one is easy! He understands white people that need haircuts. He doesn’t understand people that need to be black. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1696 "2020-05-28T12:34:30Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > That would be the ideal solution. Yet, until that occurs each individual needs to make rational choices. It’s not rocket science. That thought should be dismissed out of hand, for the simple reason that it puts the responsibility to act on the victims and not the perpetrators. Black people in America, as a class and as an ethnic group, have been victimized, and yet we’re somehow suggesting that it’s their responsibility to consider leaving as an option. Shit, it wasn’t even their ancestors’ choice to come here in the first place. They are the descendants of a race-based underclass in a racist and political system. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1697 "2020-05-28T12:43:46Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I wonder why people like **octopus** don’t tell white people who are angry they can’t get a haircut to go find another country if they are so unhappy with this one? He probably would, but his suggestion misses the point: white people generally enjoy greater protection in this society than black people. White fugitives who are armed, assumed to have murdered multiple victims, and on the run like Peter Manfredonia can murder multiple victims are typically taken alive while black men suspected of committing very minor crimes are choked to death. You’d have to be fucking blind, deaf, and dumb (mostly the latter) not to see the disparity. Black people die because police culture assumes that their relationship with black people is inevitably adversarial, which probably has a lot to do with the history and role of police in American society. There’s a long history of local law enforcement and militias being used for the express purpose of keeping black people and minorities in their place. There’s a reason that black people assume that police officers are either racist or agents of racism - because historically, the evidence points to this. We cannot solve the problem of police brutality until we stop allowing police to claim that “I was scared” was an excuse to kill or overreact, and until we untangle and really get honest about the historical relationship between agencies of white power and their impact on minority communities. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1698 "2020-05-28T13:05:48Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I am not seeing the racism here. She said an African American man was threatening her life. How is that wrong? He’s African American, and she’s lost her job and lost her dog. Are you really as fucking stupid as you would have to be to ask this question? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1699 "2020-05-28T13:58:08Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Are you really as fucking stupid as you would have to be to ask this question? [I say, it’s, I say, it’s a joke, son.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JtnEUPvpus) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1700 "2020-05-28T14:16:33Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > [I say, it’s, I say, it’s a joke, son.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JtnEUPvpus) You’re probably right. I’ve seen dumber comments posted in all seriousness on this message board, so you never know. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1701 "2020-05-28T14:58:09Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You’re probably right. I’ve seen dumber comments posted in all seriousness on this message board, so you never know. I’ve seen that exact comment posted in all seriousness elsewhere. She was just describing him! ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1702 "2020-05-28T15:40:04Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I wonder why people like **octopus** don’t tell white people who are angry they can’t get a haircut to go find another country if they are so unhappy with this one? It’s amusing how foolish you all look when you argue against a fictional point of view. Not that I expect better from a site where harpy is hate speech but I digress. To address your ridiculous assertion… would I advise a white person to leave over a haircut? Yes. Just like all the so-called white celebrities should have left after Bush got elected. Funny they are still here. With your logic and the logic of a few of the other dishonest fools on this site you’d advise the Syrian refugees to ask Assad for an extra strong dose of his special chemicals lest they be thought of as cowards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=84) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=86)