# 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:** 95
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1883 "2021-01-11T01:18:54Z")
I made excuses for them, well all of them except Trayvon. I went off on that, but that wasn’t police. I always looked at it as it has nothing to do with me. I got caught up in the dirty details of the victims lives. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1884 "2021-01-11T01:42:00Z")
Mind if I ask, are you African American, descendant of slaves or a more recent immigrant from West Africa or the Caribbean? My brother was some minor muckety muck in the county Republican Party in California. All the Black Republicans he knew were either Nigerian/Jamaican/Cabo Verdan/etc. immigrant or children of immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1885 "2021-01-11T02:01:07Z")
Descendant of slaves, but know a little bit of the history of the family back to the the 1890’s. My grandfather was born in 1919 and lived to 1999 so I heard some history of his father. ---
**Author:** ![CoconutPete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coconutpete/32/5294_2.png) [@CoconutPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoconutPete)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1886 "2021-01-11T02:17:31Z")
What should they have done, shot and killed the person? ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1887 "2021-01-11T02:44:44Z")
I think this may be the wrong thread but, no that’s not what I’m saying. Anyone that got in to the capital building was open to being shot though. They should have never been allowed to get in in the first place. We know LE can deal with crowds like what we saw that day. They mobilized way more force for the BLM protests than the did for this, so we know they can do it. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1888 "2021-01-11T02:53:04Z")
What we are seeing now is no response, people that would have been killed if they were black are walking away scot free. The US is saying its ok to storm the US capitol, if you are white. That’s the message and it is being received loud and clear. There is, without question, two systems of justice here. I never really noticed it until now, and that is my failure. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1889 "2021-01-11T02:58:30Z")
You did not get that message from the Bundy brood’s stunt a couple of years ago? ---
**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:** [January 11, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1890 "2021-01-11T03:05:42Z")
> [@split\_p\_j](#): > > That’s the message and it is being received loud and clear. There is, without question, two systems of justice here. I think Kyle Rittenhouse made that pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1891 "2021-01-11T03:11:11Z")
Now, now, @split_p_j just got woke, don’t expect him to have actually been paying attention the world he’s lived in for all that time before! ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1892 "2021-01-11T03:15:07Z")
I’m not woke ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1893 "2021-01-11T03:15:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think Kyle Rittenhouse made that pretty clear. > **[Kyle Rittenhouse Has Beer at Bar with Shirt that Says 'Free as F\*\*\*'](https://www.tmz.com/2021/01/08/kyle-rittenhouse-has-beer-at-bar-with-free-as-f-shirt-on/)** > > Kyle Rittenhouse was spotted having a beer in a bar while wearing a "Free as F\*\*\*" shirt. (piggybacking on Little\_Nemo) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1894 "2021-01-11T03:20:58Z")
> [@split\_p\_j](#): > > I’m not woke Nope, and I’m not sure the Glasgow Scale even has a number for you. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1895 "2021-01-11T03:25:34Z")
I never defended him, but yes I thought the protesters were going about things the wrong way. I agreed with the message about the police brutality and thought we could build off that. I thought BLM got hijacked by some, well I guess communists. I was worng ---
**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:** [January 11, 2021, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1896 "2021-01-11T03:27:26Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Now, now, @split_p_j just got woke, don’t expect him to have actually been paying attention the world he’s lived in for all that time before! > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Nope, and I’m not sure the Glasgow Scale even has a number for you. How about we don’t dogpile the guy? Some people choose not to follow the news. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1897 "2021-01-11T03:29:28Z")
Heck right now I’m not sure the conviction of Timothy McVeigh would be a slam dunk these days. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1898 "2021-01-11T03:33:18Z")
No, I’m black. I’m not a hostage in the white world, I made my own way. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1899 "2021-01-11T03:33:44Z")
> [@split\_p\_j](#): > > I was born into a upper middle class family and have maintained that status through my life. I never really thought anyone was holding me down, always thought it was up to me to do my thing. I never really had dealings with the racisim on that level. You can see in my posts I was against BLM as an organization but agreed with the message that the police are too brutal. I literally said its not open season on black people. > > I was wrong. The confederate flag was flown in the US capital, and the the police did nothing. I don’t think we can pretend that it is about law and order anymore, which I used to actually believe. Law enforcement is actually on the other side. BLM was right. > > I feel ashamed that I was so naïve. As someone who has IIRC argued with you on these issues before, I sympathize. I still feel very embarrassed that even for me, a lifelong self-identified liberal, it wasn’t till the shooting of Philando Castile in 2016 that it actually hit me “wow, black people in the US have serious cause to worry about being arbitrarily SHOT STONE DEAD BY POLICE OFFICERS, to a far greater extent than people like me have ever had to worry about it”. Duh, right? While I respect and honor the people who didn’t take as long as I did to get hit upside the head with that clue stick, I don’t think the slower people like you and me should feel personally ashamed about our naïvete. Naïvete among people of good faith and good intentions is a huge part of what systemic racism is meant to create. Systemic racism is constantly deluging us with the messages “this is normal, this was an isolated incident, the individual victim should have behaved differently, few bad apples”, and so on and so forth. We are always being told, on multiple different levels, that denying the problem means that we’re actually overcoming the problem, putting it behind us, getting closer to the goal of colorblindness. And that recognizing the problem, on the other hand, is actually creating the problem, conjuring up racism where none really existed. That’s why so many people who’ve internalized the messages get so angry on hearing that systemic racism is still a problem. They think that they’re the ones actually moving forward, and the “woke” people are trying to hold them back. The opposite of “woke” is not “unconscious”: the opposite of “woke” is “dreaming”. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1900 "2021-01-11T03:49:15Z")
Thank you for that. I won’t lie, my whole worldview has been broken after the events of last year. I’m kind of old, but I think I can move on in the new reality. ---
**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 11, 2021, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1901 "2021-01-11T05:36:14Z")
> [@split\_p\_j](#): > > What we are seeing now is no response, people that would have been killed if they were black are walking away scot free. The US is saying its ok to storm the US capitol, if you are white. Don’t give up on this yet. It’s true they weren’t shot down, but it looks like some of them may end up serving time. That they weren’t arrested on the spot may have been a logistical issue (or maybe not) but federal authorities are out there looking for them and making arrests. The percentage of arrests will almost certainly be small, but we can hope some of the most prominent and destructive will suffer for their crimes. Don’t discount being woke, it just means you’re not asleep any more and your eyes are open. Sounds like you have moved in that direction recently. By the way, 49 isn’t even remotely old. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1902 "2021-01-11T17:58:47Z")
We have just had someone straight out say on these boards that they were wrong, not just about a matter of detail, but about an entire underlying worldview. That’s rare enough that I don’t think we should be jumping on the person who did so. Such behavior – both the changing of minds based on further evidence, and the admitting to it – should be encouraged, not discouraged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=94) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=96)