05.29.2020 07:41 AM

Things I can do because I am white

[From Michael Maynard.]

I have privilege as a white person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it.

I can go birding (#ChristianCooper).
I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothamJean and #AtatianaJefferson).
I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).
I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
I can play loud music (#JordanDavis).
I can sell CD’s (#AltonSterling).
I can sleep (#AiyanaJones)
I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
I can go to church (#Charleston9).
I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .
I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott).
I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
I can run (#WalterScott).
I can breathe (#EricGarner).
I can live (#FreddieGray)
I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED. (#GeorgeFloyd)

Educate yourself.

18 Comments

  1. Christian says:

    You can also join a gang of other white guys, put on hawaiian shirts, heavily arm yourselves, storm a legislature, threaten elected officials and not be bothered.

  2. Mark D says:

    We need to do a Canadian version, but concerning our historically poor treatment of Indigenous Canadians.

    Not that I intend to denigrate or downplay what is happening south of our border.

  3. Steve T says:

    I am watching with interest how wrapped up we Canadians are getting in this U.S. story.

    It is, of course, tragic evidence of an underlying problem that exists in many places. However, there are equally problematic injustices here in Canada that have resulted in deaths.

    Specifically, our revolving-door justice system that allows convicted murderers and major felons to be released after very short stints in jail, or to avoid jail time altogether for various flaky reasons. Here in Manitoba, there have been at least two examples within the past year where these criminals have been released and killed someone else in a very short time thereafter.

    Why are these domestic injustices not as galvanizing as those occurring south of the border?

  4. Let’s get down to brass tacks: are these cops allegedly an accurate reflection of the undercurrents of their own society? You bet they are. Racism in 2020 has gone from an art to a perfected science. And most people on juries don’t fucking care.

    Greatest country on the face of the Earth? Not even remotely.

  5. Fred from BC says:

    I don’t care for this type of race-baiting. It’s not helpful, at all.

    (especially if you’re going to include known thugs like Brown and Martin in there; the news media at first tried to portray them both as gentle souls and innocent victims, remember? But then the real truth came out…)

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Fred,

      Neither is shooting first and asking questions later — for all the others listed, with Brown and Martin excepted if the so-called real truth is entirely accurate, which it may or may not be.

      Cops who act like that, with their training, are the ultimate cowards in society. And juries who pat them on the back are even worse.

      • Fred from BC says:

        “Neither is shooting first and asking questions later ”

        Ironically, it is the Democrats and Liberals who are most responsible for that. First because these shootings almost always occur in Democrat-run and controlled cities, where Democrats hire and train their own police force. Remember when being a police officer was a dangerous job and the people who chose it as a career were willing to put their lives on the line to protect the public? Well, that has now been changed to doing everything possible to protect the lives of the police even if it puts the public at risk. They are TRAINED to shoot to kill if anyone makes a move that could be considered the least bit suspicious (like reaching into a pocket, for example). The left wing did this to themselves with their hearts-and-flowers approach to crime and criminals, whom they consider to be “victims” of society or some such tripe. Right-wingers consider the people who are being robbed, beaten or murdered to be the *real* victims.

        “for all the others listed, with Brown and Martin excepted if the so-called real truth is entirely accurate, which it may or may not be.”

        Yeah, I didn’t check any others once I saw Brown and Martin in the list.

        “Cops who act like that, with their training, are the ultimate cowards in society. And juries who pat them on the back are even worse.”

        Agreed, but like I said above…that’s *how* they are trained, and those are the people who trained them who are now sitting in judgment of them. I know there are always bad apples who slip through the cracks despite the extensive testing and screening during the recruitment process, but for the most part the police are not thugs and cowards.

        For the record, twice as many whites are killed by American police as blacks, three times more blacks are killed by black officers than whites, and police officers in general are 18.5 times more likely to be shot by blacks than they are to shoot a black person.

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          Fred,

          I especially appreciate your last paragraph as it adds considerable perspective, but I reject both the standard left and right boilerplate as totally incorrect. In other words, all cops are bad, corrupt, gun-happy, etc. (many on the Left) and it’s only a few bad apples across various police departments (many on the Right).

          In fact, for the problem to be THIS BAD, it logically flows that there are a hell of a lot improperly trained or psychologically flawed cops out there but they don’t represent the majority of police officers.

          As for party labelling training, that’s solely a political argument. Is it not the chiefs’ responsibility to intervene with mayors and councils to make sure that police training is all that it can be to protect lives of all residents??? Surely, chiefs are across the board impeccably qualified to do that?

          • Fred from BC says:

            “In fact, for the problem to be THIS BAD, it logically flows that there are a hell of a lot improperly trained or psychologically flawed cops out there but they don’t represent the majority of police officers.”

            I’m going to go with improper training due to rampant Political Correctness, and I have to question, with all due respect, just how bad the problem really is given the hundreds of thousands ( if not millions ) of police interactions with black citizens every year.

            “Is it not the chiefs’ responsibility to intervene with mayors and councils to make sure that police training is all that it can be to protect lives of all residents???”

            You’d think that, right? And in a perfect world, you’d be correct.
            The reality though is that the police chiefs are politicians first and police officers second: they serve solely at the pleasure of their respective mayors, and consequently do exactly what they are told.

          • Ronald O'Dowd says:

            And I imagine some are also pension coasters.

      • Bill says:

        Typical right wing apologist tactics. Find a rare exception (if in fact true) and rant about it, discounting the vast majority of incidents.

    • Mark D says:

      Fred:

      If we are carefully scrutinizing the list to pick out the exception, then are we paying attention to the majority?

      The African-American community is hurting.

      And how can they be otherwise when a man’s life is taken from him because of the mere suspicion of a $20 forgery?

      Over the weekend Christianity Today published a beautiful tribute to George Floyd, referencing the hardships he faced and overcame early in his life and outlining his involvement and contributions to the Christian peacemaker movement. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has also published a story sharing the ups and downs he faced throughout his life.

      He was not a thug. He did not deserve to die. He deserved to be treated with the same dignity and respect as every other human being.

      • Fred from BC says:

        “If we are carefully scrutinizing the list to pick out the exception, then are we paying attention to the majority?”

        If we’re going back so many years to make the list, are we acknowledging reality, or merely exploiting rare tragedies for political gain? Does anyone stop to think about the sheer number of police interactions with black people that must occur *every day* in a country of 335+ million people? If the police are as racist as many would have you believe, why aren’t we reading about these incidents *every day*, then?

        As for George Floyd, the media seem to be doing their usual fine job of downplaying the facts in order to make for a more sensational story. This guy was a 6’7″, 200+ pounds bar bouncer who reportedly WORKED WITH the guy who killed him. They therefore knew each other both personally and professionally…who says this wasn’t a personal grudge gone wrong? He also was struggling, laying down and refusing to get into the police car after his arrest for passing counterfeit money. Oh, and the club that they both worked at is rumored to be a front for laundering money, too. None of this condones or excuses his death, but why are so many pertinent details being left out by the news media?

        Let’s not forget that the “gentle giant” Michael Brown was first reported to have been shot in the back while running away with his hands in the air, when in fact he was actually leaning through the open window of a police car *punching an officer in the face* repeatedly when he was shot.

        I believe NOTHING that the news media reports anymore until I have confirmed it through multiple sources. I just can’t.

        “He was not a thug. He did not deserve to die. He deserved to be treated with the same dignity and respect as every other human being.”

        Agreed. The question is, WHY was he killed? Simple racism doesn’t make sense here, sorry.

        • Mark D says:

          Fred wrote: “If the police are as racist as many would have you believe, why aren’t we reading about these incidents *every day*, then?”

          Because, sadly, this is much more “normal” that many of us would like to admit. I suspect the reason Floyd’s death has captured people’s imagination is due to a unique set of social circumstances:

          1 – The video seem so obvious that even other police felt compelled to denounce publicly the actions of the police recorded. Typically, the police response will be: “The incident is under investigation. Let’s wait and see what facts emerge/ what the investigation concludes.”

          2 – The issue of police-on-black violence was already in the general consciousness because of the shooting of Mr Arbery by a retired police officer in Georgia while jogging.

          3 – Coronavirus social isolation means a lot more people had a lot more time to pause and reflect upon Mr Floyd’s killing.

          4 – Immediately following Mr Floyd’s killing, a popular African-American journalist with an internationally renown cable news network, is arrested on air for carrying out his journalistic duties, while carrying out his journalistic duties, despite having identified himself and his press crendentials to police, and having been more than polite and accomodating to the arresting officers. His white colleague is not arrested and is free to continue reporting.

          5 – Several other incidents of police-on-civilian violence are videotaped or reported. Victims include a young child, the elderly, three black officials elected to higher office (congressional representative, state representative, state senator), journalists while carrying out their duties, average people relaxing on their front porch (This last incident, caught on tape, drew a very angry response from one America’s most respected recently retired generals who had overseen peacemaking operations in Bosnia.)

          6 – As this controvery is erupting, the president, during an election year, publishes a tweet quoting the justification of a notorious segregationist police chief from the 1960’s as to why the latter used violence to crack down on the Civil Rights movement.

          The “perfect storm” of the above-mentioned circumstances and incidents is why I believe this issue has suddently exploded in the popular conscience.

          Now as to why we are not reading about these incidents *every day*, here is where a bit more reading has shocked me, as well as many other conservatives and Republicans with whom I associate regularly. *JUST BECAUSE I DON’T READ ABOUT IT EVERY DAY DOES NOT MEAN IT IS NOT HAPPENING EVERY DAY.*

          Al Jazeera, who along with the British dailies has provided some of the more comprehensive and non-partisan coverage of this issue (I find them much more reliable than CNN or Fox News) has published the following interactive map reporting where African-Americans have died at the hands of law enforcement over the past five years:

          https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2020/05/mapping-police-killings-black-americans-200531105741757.html

  6. Escrotolum says:

    I am a Nazi. Here’s my IP: 193.37.252.48

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