Not looking to start an online fight but …

[Julie Fern]

who did you say won?

[Julie Fern]

yeah, yeah.  that dog ever going to take poop, or what?

[jnc18]

I'm am very pleased with the responses given by the BLSD advocates.  Thank you all for expressing many of the things that were going through my mind and doing it so throughly and articulately.


Anyway, these thoughts are not comprehensive, but just a few things:

Imagine feeling like you have to constantly prove your intelligence because your race is considered to be intellectually inferior by nature. 

Imagine walking down the street trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible because the color of your skin makes you a potential danger.

Imagine getting pulled over IN FRONT OF YOUR OWN HOUSE because "there's been some suspicious activities in the neighborhood."

Imagine getting pulled over because "your license plate looked a little funny".

Imagine someone saying, "you're really smart for a woman."

Imagine everything you do being a reflection and causing judgment on millions of people.

Imagine standing outside in 20 degree weather and watching 3 cabs pass by you to pick up people 100 feet behind you.

Imagine celebrating "Independence Day" as July 4, 1776, when most of your ancestors where still property for another 100 years.

Imagine it being impossible to trace your ancestry beyond the late 1800s, and only that far if you're fortunate.

Imagine being followed around a store by someone waiting to catch you steal something.

Imagine your parents grew up attending poor, segregated schools.

Imagine that they weren't allowed to eat in most restaurants, use most bathrooms, flirt outside their race, go to the movies, etc., etc.

Imagine how this would make you feel.

Imagine if someone said the country was bending over backwards for your race.

Imagine someone saying this is all hyperbole or fiction, when you know it to be absolute truth.

Imagine if you were denied a loan because of your skin color.

Imagine if everytime you moved into a nice neighborhood, property values decreased.

Imagine if your neighbors knew this and resented you for that.

Imagine being undatable to a large segment of the population because of your race.

Imagine being constantly made aware of the color of your skin.

Imagine feeling an enormous obligation to others in your race to fix all of this.

(I could unquestionably go on for hours)

[Julie Fern]

julie imagined.  now she exhausted.

[jnc18]

julie imagined.  now she exhausted.

Julie make 14,000 posts on internet message board.  Julie need to get some fresh air.

[ScoopNY]

FWIW, no African-Americans are claiming for special rights, that's a term invented by the Right to denigate the efforts to make sure that African-Americans at least have a foot in the door in the nation's elite institutions.

As for hate crimes, while assault is assault, what about when someone paints a swatizka on someone's door? Is that not the definition of a hate crime? Or what happened to James Byrd? The man who was lynched in Texas, should the law recognize when someone's race is making them a target? Sometimes "color neutral" laws are anything but.

Color-blindness doesn't mean you have to ignore the obvious racial realities of the world because to do that would maintain the status quo. I mean if you think the way the world is now is perfect and non-discriminatory, then by all means advocate the eliminate of hate crime laws and affirmative action. Just say straight up what you mean, don't agree there's discrimination in the world and then say we shouldn't do anything about it.

[Julie Fern]

julie imagined.  now she exhausted.

Julie make 14,000 posts on internet message board. Julie need to get some fresh air.

julie just bask in breeze blowing out of your ear.

[jnc18]

Can we stop comparing the experiences of Asian Americans to those of African Americans?  Yes Asians are subjected to negative stereotypes, but they are nowhere CLOSE to as crippling as the ones placed upon black and Latino Americans.

Is there a problem that there is a sufficient number of black citizens that makes sure Black History Month fairly well known? 

May is Asian-American and Asian-Pacific-American History month.  I know that and I'm not Asian.  If you don't, then that it is on you.  I would fully support an Asian American movement to make the month more widely acknowledged, just as would for any other ethnic group  (FYI, there is American Indian Heritage month is in November, Latino Heritage is in September, and there are certainly others.  That's one of the beautiful things about living in New York).  Notice I said ETHNIC group, not race.  See that's the problem with the "White" group.  It's purely racial and it's completely unnecessary.  Celebrating Italian, Irish, Jewish, Polish-American culture, that is all great.  But you have to understand, most black Americans can't celebrate "Nigerian-American Heritage Month" or their "Angolan-American" roots.  So what you find is that being "black" in America is much more about culture and ethnicity than about race.

Asian and Latino American groups are very diverse within themselves, but they are formed this way to increase their visibility, amplify their voice, and maximize the base of support.  At only 4% of the population, an Asian American community is going to have much more power than say, a Korean American one.

I'm not a woman, but I fully understand idea the behind Women's History Month, which is coming up next month.  The contributions that women have made to this country's history and society are often marginalized and underappreciated.  And I know that having a "Male History Month" would be grossly superfluous.  I feel the same way about the Gay Pride month, which I believe is in June because that's when they have that absolutely outrageous spectacle known as the Gay Pride Parade.

this is the part that really bugs me...i thought the goal WAS to have a poor white man treated the same as a black man?  i mean, clearly you seem to want to be treated differently or do you ONLY want to be treated differently when it is advantageous to you?

No no NO!  I think it should be obvious that this goes beyond economics.  No one here should be comparing the experience of a poor white man to that of a middle class black man.  The experiences are totally different.  The two men are treated differently.  You see that long-ass post I made with all the "Imagines"?  Do you notice that most of those have nothing to do with economics?  Are you actually reading these posts or are you already preparing your rebuttal?

Allow me to quote Chris Rock:
"There ain't no white man in this room that will change places with me— and I'm RICH!  That's how good it is to be white.  There's a one-legged busboy in here right now that's going: "I don't want to change. I'm gonna ride this white thing out and see where it takes me."

[jnc18]

julie imagined.  now she exhausted.

Julie make 14,000 posts on internet message board. Julie need to get some fresh air.

julie just bask in breeze blowing out of your ear.

That's clever, but what is the basis for this?

[Julie Fern]

man, julie can see light shining through from your other ear.  no one ever told you?