Steve James wrote:Poor and minority populations are vulnerable, nobody is looking out for their interests meaningfully. So for someone in a more privileged position they can serve as a kind of canary in the coal mine. The shit they pull to disempower and disenfranchise poor minorities today are the same tricks they want to extend to everyone else.
I don't disagree with your points and premises. My concern is what is done with the conclusion. If it's that "White" people should do more for "POC," I think that's fine. I just don't tell any POC to wait for White people's help. It's a trap. Of course, in terms of medicine, I'd say we need more hospitals and medical care in poor areas. Personally, I've encouraged them to get educations. It's why I went back to teach where I grew up.
Your last sentence is important. There are people who gained economically from the creation of a racial divide. It's always come down to who gets paid and how much. The more power coupons one has, the better the health care, living conditions, and everything else. Wealthy people watch the poor compete for the scraps and blame each other that they're not wealthy too. But, now I'm being anti-capitalist. At any rate, I'm arguing that it's better for me to argue that healthcare should be improved generally. But, you are totally right in pointing out that the results are the result of racism.
Afa Candace Owens, I've made it a practice not to criticize Black people for their views. It's because I know that they're just people and have as many views as any other group. It's nice to have the delusion that one person speaks for a group, though. What's funny in the case of Owens, specifically, is that she talks about Black people as if they're others. Then she can say things about them that'd be called racist if a non-Black said them. She gets to tell them what Black people think and why.
Afa Kanye, he has diagnosed mental issues, and should receive treatment. He's so wealthy, however, few of the people around him are able to control him. Afa Kyrie, hey, he's a grown man who's also an employee. I think he has the right to say what he wants, but he doesn't represent many people. He used to believe the earth was flat. But, he and Kanye have given more advertisement for the video than it would ever have otherwise. I don't understand why either of their views are considered important, or why people are outraged. BTJM.
That's a great point, and i guess i need to clarify a few things.
Something that white people sometimes find surprising is that there are black people that are not obsessed with or determined to define themselves by black suffering.
We're pretty stupid in general concerning matters of race.
And yes, I'm sure one tires of being told how oppressed they are.
As to posting it here, market research, perspective, thank you for sharing yours. I wouldn't dare to try to educate you about the subject, but the discussion itself can carry beyond our own individual enlightenment.
The chart starts with the assumption that racism exists and assigns your response to that fact to a point on the spectrum between actively supporting and actively dismantling it.
There is no outside authority checking our answer, just our own conscience. Some of us get quite defensive about this question and fall back on academic pretense. We all have a reaction.
Adding in the academic analysis and racist medical text is just providing the proof it exists in order to make confronting the question a bit more intense.
White people want to be thought of as racist oppressors even less than black people want to be reduced to the object of their cruelty.
I think, like you, that "race" is a distraction. However it's a thing that can be measured and that we can show disparity of treatment, opportunity, and outcome by isolating those data points.
So we have shown race as a social construct exists, that it can affect how fully a person is able to participate in and benefit from our society, and that there are individual perspectives and systemic iniquity that reinforce that disparity.
So what do we do?
First, as problem solvers, yes, we forget about race.
It isn't about white people saving black people or black people saving themselves. I believe firmly that one should endeavor to feed themself, being the only one that needs themself.
It's about citizens of this hypocritical nation endeavoring to live up to our own advertising in unity. You can't fix these things by framing them as a black issue or a White issue. You have to show the cost in dollars and sense, the wasted resources, the overlooked potential. Whatever the individual impact happens to be, it radiates into the rest of the community. We are not the greatest nation in the world, and that is directly related to systemic inequality based on all the standard traits. I know a PhD candidate who was forced to restart 7 years of work once they came out as trans. Why? Because prejudiced individuals are in positions of power and authority.
Ultimately that is the problem. Race is just one thing they use. If you're not in the club you're not getting in, or at least they only let you in as far as they have to in order to exploit you. The messages of division are just there to keep us thinking of these things as someone else's problem. It doesn't affect us and we're not the ones causing it so why should we care? What stake does this person have in the outcome? Can i trust their desire to be involved?
After the unite the right rally in Charlottesville, the one where a fascist drove his car into a crowd, killing a woman, i attended a rally in Austin.
It was very emotional. Everybody in their t shirts and signs. Fully 95% of the black people in attendance were the ones running the show.
They did a very moving "Say their name" ceremony, listing names of individuals who have died due to police violence. We all had a good hug and a cry.
Then this guy, community organizer, probably in his fifties, took the mic and thanked us for coming out, and then spent five full minutes laying into us. It was fantastic.
The jist was, yeah its great that we were scared/shamed into getting off our asses and doing something ineffectual for an afternoon, but where were we when it mattered? Who is showing up at city board meetings and speaking up about the budget to help get funds into these specific underfunded neighborhoods? Yeah that's a nice sign but you could have spent that time and those resources doing something that matters.
So, what is the takeaway?
It's supposed to be government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but it's really just the people that show up that get what they want.
There was a thriving black community in st paul called Rondo. Arts, business, homes. The city decided the interstate needed to run right through the middle, cutting each side off from the other, with the closest through street or on ramp miles away.
It fell apart. Went back to the standard ghettoized and isolated microculture. Now they have a yearly Rondo days celebration of community and excellence, but you know what that's good for.
They win when we're separated. Arguing over shit we don't understand from a position of fear, resentment, anger, and isolation.
The day we all realize that we're on the same team, the assholes in charge just can't sleep at night knowing we kept a nickel in our pocket and some sense of agency about our person, and that we can effectively implement change is the day that.... Will never come, but one can dream.