Time to Have a Serious Conversation About Race? What Exactly Does that Look Like & With Whom?

Davey-D-yellow-225-frameEver since President Obama gave his speech on Trayvon Martin and race, I’m been hearing pundit after pundit wax poetic about how now is the time to have ‘a serious conversation‘ on race…’

My question is..’What does that mean?’ Seriously, what does that serious conversation look like and who does it involve?

Do we have some sort of nationally televised panel discussion or is it Hearings on Capitol Hill?

Do we have a C-Span-like version of Tavis Smiley‘s now defunct State of the Black Union? and if so what do we talk about? Racial profiling? Affirmative Action? Attacks on President Obama? Who’s on the panel? Al Sharpton? Tavis? 50 Cent?

Does this serious discussion only involve Black folks, Are we including Asians, Latinos, Native Americans? Do we need to have a conversation on race with Blacks and Latinos?  Asians and Whites? Arabs and Latinos? Arabs and whites?  etc

Within our  respective communities we have a variety of political stripes, so does this serious conversation include Black conservatives?  Are we including Pan Africanists? Revolutionaries? Garveyites? Traditional Civil Rights types? Hip Hop generation folks? LGBT folks? Who are these folks breaking bread with? White radicals? Suburban housewives? Tea Party types? NRA folks? Wall Street bankers? Birthers?

Thomas Norman DeWolf & Sharon Leslie Morgan

Thomas Norman DeWolf & Sharon Leslie Morgan

As far as I’m concerned serious conversations about race have been going on for a very long time..There have long been forward thinking people who have engaged this conversation full time..For example, recently I did an interview with Thomas Norman DeWolf and Sharon Leslie Morgan who penned the book Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade. Does our serious conversation look like the work these two have been doing for the past few years where they been touring the country speaking about healing and reconciliation?

Does our serious conversation look like the unlearning Racism and white privilege workshops put on by folks like Tim Wise and author J-Love (Jennifer Calderon)?

Does it look like the work done by  Shakti Butler and the work she outlines in the film ‘Cracking the Codes ‘The System of Racial Inequity’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36XCiGr8muw

Howard PinderhughesOr does it look like the unlearning racism workshops that scholars like Dr Howard Pinderhughes was doing at UC Berkeley back in the early 1980s? Do we draw from the work covered in his book Race in the Hood: Conflict and Violence Among Urban Youth which was penned in 1997?

Do we look at the International Race Relations Roundtables that were done in New Zealand back in 2004 and build off those findings? or do we hark back to the Race Round Tables that were done in Michigan since 1942? Those serious discussions on race have been going on for decades, what has worked? What hasn’t worked? Is Michigan a model for us because after the riots in 1943 when mobs of whites came after Black folks? Those riots got everyone together to deal with the so-called Negro problem back then? 24 years later when Detroit exploded in riots in 1967 that ‘Negro Problem’ was addressed again by the Michigan roundtables with the attempts to bring about racial harmony. What can we draw from those attempts?

Do we look at the attempts made by places like Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland when they opened their doors to the Jewish community and Rabbi Michael Lerner to have a service focusing on improving race relations? It was called Solidarity Sunday.. Lerner’s remarks are HERE
End Racism

Does our serious discussions on race look like the work that was done at  World Conference on Racism. These conferences have been going on since 1978, with the first one addressing the issue of Apartheid in South Africa..In 2009, the World Conference on Racism was held in Geneva, Switzerland.. President Obama had promised folks before he was elected that he would attend.

He was well aware that President Bush’s delegation had walked out the conference in 2001 when it was held in Durban,  South Africa. At that time the US was upset that the global attendees had declared Zionism as a major form of racism and that the US legacy of slavery was something that needed to be seriously addressed. Our country felt this was unfair and bounced mid way through the conference.

Globally speaking all sorts of countries around the world were seriously upset about the US walking out, but before shyt hit the fan in a big way, our collective attention got diverted because of the 9-11 attacks which happened a day or two after the conference was over..

Obama got a game plan about this gun control stuff

Obama backed out of the 2009 World Race Conference after being pressured

President Obama noted that he was different then Bush and would have us at this conference, but after AIPAC and Israel got at dude and he decided not to attend at the 11th hour resulting in US and some of her key European allies pulling out.

I bring all this up to ask whether or not there be another World Conference on Racism and will Obama attend? We should also ask, if the World Conference which has been in existence for darn near 30 years, is the place to have that ‘serious conversation’ on race? Do we build upon the work there or start from scratch?

In the meantime, most of us may wanna start that serious conversation on race on our own and by keeping a few things in mind..

1-Learn to listen. Learning to listen and not getting caught up with what some dub ‘Oppression Olympic’ conversations where we compare atrocities and try to one up one another while invalidating the experiences of others. We should ideally be striving to listen with the understanding that racism has resulted in trauma.. It’s intergenerational. It’s personal. It’s systemic. A one time conversation won’t make things go away overnight..Healing is important and healing is defined differently by many.

Are we looking at the work people like Dr Joy DuGruy are doing around intergeneration trauma..Her book and lectures on post traumatic slave syndrome are informative. We see similar approaches toward healing in Native American communities.. This documentary called Journey to Forgiveness is one example worth peeping..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZwF9NnQbWM


2- Recognizing that there are all sorts of political, economic and social power dynamics at play when dealing with race..How the playing field gets leveled in those areas is important..Understanding how class factors in to all this is important.. In other words the conversation traditional Civil Rights leaders may have on race may be very different that the one we are having in our neighborhoods and amongst our family and friends. Some of this is related to age. Some of this is geographical.

Trayvon-Martin-brownFor example, when the when there was national discussions about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman being a vigilante, we often saw this couched by pundits as one a time occurrence vs something that was systemic.

Where I’m at in Oakland, California Zimmerman’s vigilantism was seen as part of larger climate of intolerance which also manifested itself in Brown communities with xenophobic Minutemen and ‘neighborhood border watchers’ using the name US Border Guard who were shooting and attacking Brown folks with impunity.

Investigations by both police and independent media outlets have revealed many of these vigilante border watchers are members of Neo-Nazi groups..peep that HERE . The case of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores who begged for her life before being shot along with her father by Minutemen vigilantes in Arizona who suspected they were in the country illegally is one prime example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgcVMvl-k7A

In other circles, Trayvon’s murder was connected to the large numbers of police killings. In fact the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement in the wake of Trayvon’s murder did an exhausted study which brought to life that every 28 hours a black person was killed by police, security or wannabe police.  In many circles Trayvon’s murder was rarely spoken without referencing the MXGM Report.. Watching numerous pundits not talk or write about border killings or the MXGM Report was an indication that folks have very different perspectives on addressing racially charged issues.

Race matters3-Allowing yourself to become culturally literate.. This means goings beyond memorizing a few dates, times and historical figures. It means knowing more than a few songs from genres outside your comfort zone.. It goes beyond dating outside your race and thinking that you’re an instant expert because of that..Ideally this may mean going out of our way to find ways to stay informed about other communities. Do we read publications of other ethnic groups? Do we watch documentaries dealing with other people’s issues?  Do we have list of websites to go that cover a wide breathof other communities. For example, I like to peep  websites like Colorlines and Racialicious.

4-Determining what justice looks like..Is it an apology? Is it people being punished? Is it people being compensated? We should also be clear as to what we are fighting. Are we fighting systems of oppression and institutionalized racism or are we dealing with day to day bias and prejudice?  Can and should we put both on the same plane? Yes, I have lots of white friends, but how has that ended or is working toward ending systemic racism?

Another way of looking at this is noting that I have friends who are police officers. How has that friendship ended police brutality? Does my friendship mean that we pull back or no longer address the systemic problems within police departments?

There’s the personal and there’s the systemic.. What are we really fighting?  Are we trying to bring awareness and end racism within our own circles? Its one thing to talk publicly about the need to end racism, while ignoring the bigotry and ignorance at home with family members and friends.

Along these lines are we putting into play ideas of how a society free of a system dominated by White Supremacy looks like?  Have we peeped scholars like Neely Fuller to understand what White supremacy is? As people of color are we deliberate or unwitting tools of white supremacy? Are white folks asking questions as to how they being used and enabling this system?

There’s no one size fits all model..For some it may mean exchanging books and having discussions. For others it may mean doing retreats and having purposeful discussions with a specific goal in mind. For others its simply means getting certain types of legislation passed. Still others feel having a healthy understanding of a variety of political and social philosophies that govern folks from particular backgrounds is a way to start making inroads into improving race relations.

Any that’s some food for thought..

-Davey D-

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Comments

  1. It looks like the self respecting non white person in the mirror. Codified.

  2. Well layed out….

    #1 is the key because if you don’t accept number 1 ; then you can not move on.
    Sometimes it is best to shut the f.. up and listen- Guess what you may learn something ? Once you have accepted #1 shut up and listen ; the rest can follow easier.

    The whole Crown Heights fiasco finally came together because both sides heard each other out after even though it cost a few homicides. And from what I hear the relationship has improved between the two groups in that area. The key word is IMPROVED it will never be perfect.

    My thoughts :
    I grew up in a very rascist environmental surrounding. But what I realized was that rascism was nothing more than fear. I knew how fear worked because at a young age that is how i operated – that was power.
    When we engage with another race and break ourselves down and listen or do business or whatever – then we slowly eliminate are fears.
    When we realize that yes there is a POWER greater than ourselves, and if you choose that to be God or whoever and whatever you view the higher power to be , than we can surrender our fears. Then we will find a power greater within us that we ever could have imagined.
    But it all starts at least with listening and having an open mind !!! The rest I believe will follow.

  3. One more thing…

    Why is this such a big deal to talk about on a public forum ?
    Are we as a country too cowardly ? Do we all have too many cobwebs ?
    Will this now destroy our own agendas from whatever side you are comin from ?
    Get it out get it done and move on…

  4. Great article Davey D…

  5. What I have found is that you will find many more similiarities among races than you ever thought existed and will no doubt develop some new acquaintences.

    Nick

  6. I will wait and see

  7. Kurt S., teacher says

    Nick, I wholeheartedly agree. You must be speaking from experience because such has been my experience, too….

  8. Great topic #2

  9. Thanks for the thoughtful writings, peace

  10. Well … I think we should just have more Bar-Bee-QUES !! (see Cosby) … Red-necks like brisket … We should also be sure to have plenty of fried-chicken and watermelon, on hand … Asians also do Barbeque (Mongolian, etc.) and so do various Native tribes and islanders (Luau ?) … I am not kidding, here, at all … I fisrst understood the efficacy of this notion when viewing a PBS special on some of the great (grub) eateries in Philly … Blacks … Whites … Latinos … everybody crammed into some famous sandwich shop, or another, to share the joyful experience of pigging out on some eye-rolling culinary masterpiece … AS ONE !! … TWO THINGS CONQUER RACISM (HEAR YE!) … MUTUAL BLISS AND MUTUAL ADVERSITY … So, let us all sit down to a BUBBA-GUMP SHRIMP PO-BOY and share some love !

  11. Oh ma deeresst folks innerth tha tree folds up tha so called hetero_ox_patri_lieage of white power DC counter_trial’n error: its a capitalist lysis and nothing more a bluff on NG’ the rest world interests up tha bubble,..bio_determed and child pedo scrouge,..nothing more then money interests,…by staten guided necess tha river,..how do ya feel entering so called Afrique as world super_power badges of neighborin child fucks?

    No theory will strive then – a good echewed pri/sm-son up tha ‘Ingles detention…I know how murderous that will bee again on frontline,..but yeah,..all what the mayour ‘US#A’ has learned is nothing then a sheer shit on reflect’n equal….ya white power Bal-Belize ‘Bezebel…bluff…

  12. Joseph from Berkeley says

    EXCELLENT COMMENTARY, DAVEY.

    *BUT*, this country, our media, most public fora, this government — or any American government — will *NEVER* have a *serious* discussion about racism.

    I prefer to *at the least* say “discussion”, because “conversation” is *polite*, and not necessarily *honest*, and doesn’t tread on unpleasantries, especially if someone else doesn’t feel “comfortable”, as white people often don’t, when seriously discussing racism. “You’re making me *uncomfortable* and even *afraid*; you’re so *angry*”, even white liberals often say. And a “conversation” is something you *genteelly* have, and is kept *light* and *airy*, at a coffeetable, and you back off when you sense or see that the other person is *uncomfortable* with the “conversation” and what you say, or the fact that you might actually disagree with them, and then you back off on, or paper over, your disagreement too with that/those person/s — to spare the other person’s feelings. But, even “discussion” is too light and genteel a word for me when it comes to *race* and *racism*. How about “discourse”, or public convocation, or even “debate”?: because there’s a lot of things that need straightening out in America — and even about Obama and his Obama apologists, WHO FIRST HAVE TO TELL ME WHY WE SHOULD *VOTE* FOR A BLACK PRESIDENT IF HE CAN’T *DO* ANYTHING FOR BLACK PEOPLE BECAUSE HE’S *BLACK*!

    In general, this country, our broadcast media, most public fora, this government — or any American government — will *NEVER* have a *serious* discussion about racism most of all because Presidents only want to ‘have’ one when they can use it to pose & posture and/or set up a Presidential commission — and we know that governmental commissions are usually set up to actually avoid the truth, mostly by engaging in surface questions and platitudes and talk about how the *oppressed* class, but never the oppressor class, has to take social “self-responsibility”! Isn’t that what Obama used to run around telling/scolding *Black* — and even *African* — folks/audiences about all the time, but never *white* people/audiences?

    But, Bill Clinton didn’t want to have a serious conversation about racism when he was, back then to raise his political campaign poll ratings — doing what many white Southern politicians (remember he was a former governor of Arkansas?) have historically done (scream ‘nigger!’) when falling behind in the campaign polls: too busy attacking *Sister Soujah* and trying to ruin her career (and Clinton did ruin a great deal of it), when *she* was seriously talking about race.

    Barack Obama didn’t want to have a serious conversation about racism when Reverend Jeremiah Wright wanted to have a serious conversation about racism… Obama *scoffed* at Reverend Wright, Obama said that, ‘Real racism no longer existed’, and said that, ‘Reverend Wright was living in the *past*!’ — in one of the most historically notoriously racist cities outside of the South, with plenty of stiff competition from *other* notoriously racist cities outside of the South.

    Obama didn’t want to have a serious conversation about racism when Henry Louis “Skip” Gates — even a Black Harvard *professor*, and he even *looks* the part, although Harvard recruited and emplaced Skip there for his *nonthreatening mediocrity* — was harassed and arrested by the cops… Obama thought that a smooth-over and a chuckle over a couple of beers in the White House rose garden would solve everything!

    (But Skip Gates got what he *deserved* because, before it happened to *him*, he didn’t believe that cops systematically profile, harass, and arrest, when not beating, shooting and killing *other* Black people, adults, teens and even children, males and females — whether they’re wearing hoodies or *not*!)

    No, Presidents only want to have a serious “conversation” about racism when they can hand-approve and hand-pick who — including the elite neegroes but with something to lose institutionally — can be on some Presidential commission — or, unfortunately, esteemed academics like John Hope Franklin, back on Clinton’s commission, who, his having come up in a mostly Black-white society, was quite morally and socially myopic when it came to *Asian Americans*, whom he tragically said, ‘had no place’ in the American discussion on racism.

    Btw, I never understood why some Black folks asked, ‘How can we criticize Obama when he’s being racistly attacked? To me, what does one have to do with the other? — other than that Obama happens to be Black. You criticize Obama for his many political, moral failings. But, how does that stop anyone from condemning racism, too!?

    Most white politicians — conservatives or liberals — don’t want to have a serious conversation about racism — because it destroys the American national mythology about the U.S. being a just society — let alone the seamy and even ugly, when not genocidal, underside of our “venerable” “Founding Fathers” and many of the U.S.’s presidents vs. what the U.S. *claims* to stand for. Right now, a former Republican governor of Indiana is trying to get Howard Zinn’s book, “A People’s History of the United States”, thrown out of *any* Indiana schools — and don’t think that Republicans would be satisfied with that or Indiana alone!

    The mainstream media — the organ of the duopolistic parties in the U.S. — certainly doesn’t want to have a serious conversation about racism — and any feigned attempt by them to that effect would be filled with self-preening media pundit stars, superficiality, triteness, platitudes, glib and intellectually empty verbal vapidities, and, to any intelligent mind, excruciating *boredom*!

    Even lots of self-satisfied, know-it-all white liberals don’t really want to have a serious discussion about racism. I have a Black social science professor friend who says that, “Often the difference between white conservatives and white liberals is only where they draw the line in their racism.” The other difference, I’ve often found, is intellectually: white conservatives often like to admit that they know *nothing* about Black people, and white liberals often *love* to admit that they know *everything* about Black people. You get my drift?…

    And, as I’ve experienced with no less than the *Berkeley* Fellowship of Unitarian Universalist’s, so-called, Social *’Justice’* Committee, those white liberals there are *great* when it comes to condemning racism somewhere *else* — i.e., *outside* their *own* doors/institution — but are essentially just as obstinate against examining racism *inside* their doors/institution when it occurs *there* by their *own* “good white liberals”. Then, the *Berkeley* Unitarian Fellowship, so-called, Social *’Justice’* Committee behaves just about as badly as any outside institution (governmental, corporate, societal institution) that they protest and condemn! Then, the BFUU Social ‘Justice’ Committee *lies*, *stonewalls*, *hides relevant documents*, protects it’s favored individuals from examination, engages in *one-sided* determinations, relevant Social ‘Justice’ Committee officials don’t show up for designated meetings, they try to control the progressive *media*, and even engages in *censorship* or *censorship-bidding*! Those “good white liberals” engage in all the white privilege that white *conservatives* engage in to protect themselves from accountability — because, as long as either are on their own white turf, they can all call on that white privilege whenever they really want to do so.

    But, there’s racism at the oh-so-liberal International House at UC Berkeley, just like at other university institutions, or even at a fou-fou café (genteel classical music doesn’t negate that fact of routine genteel racism at the most sophisticated, liberal-seeming place) on Bancroft Avenue right across from the University, or other fou-fou, and much more expensive, restaurants elsewhere in the Bay Area.

    And when I was on a progressive radio station, my pointing out how Hollywood and and PBS has in recent times used *Black* filmmakers to stereotype Black males, and the implication and thus even elite *Black* imprimatur of those stereotypes (especially against lower-income, or all those *other*, Blacks) on the white social mentality that once *again*, especially, ‘Black males ain’t *no good*!’, and that we’re (the *rest* of we Black males are) all at least latent, when not active, ‘misogynist *PREDATORS*’, ‘justifying’ cop, wanna-be cop, and straight out vigilanteism legalized murders of Black people. To this day many Blacks — especially those who are friends, fans, associates, or hangers-on of those Black filmmakers — haven’t taken me (or much more importantly Ishmael Reed in his writings) seriously about even those white-financed, *Black-made* films or documentaries. But, when I pointed this out on the radio, the white progressive host *missed*, diminished and diverted my point by saying, “Hollywood has stereotyped *everyone*!” But, certainly not with the same absolutely devastating and lethal results.

    But, we must remember, that just as there’s *BIG MONEY* in U.S. military wars, in the drug war, in the prison-industrial complex, in the “Homeland Security” industry, in the paramilitary police state, in the surveillance state, in the internet and computer monitoring state (and soon even your automobile location will be remotely/GPS computer monitored by the state, as new electronic chips will be factory-required for cars or electronic GPS license plates required by drivers), there has always been *BIG MONEY* in American racism!

    For instance, at the outset, *race* has been used since the Virginia colonies, before the U.S. was the U.S., to divide *class* and class/labor consciousness! And, of course, before oil was the lucrative energy source of the U.S. economy, *slavery* was the lucrative energy source of the U.S. economy. After all, slavery and oil were, sequentially, just different forms of production *energy*.

    Second, there’s *BIG MONEY* in whites maintaining racial discrimination. Racism drives the, so-called, war on drugs — it’s hardly been a drug war against most, and, especially, middle-class, affluent and rich, *white*-Americans — and the prison-industrial complex (look who largely fills it); the building and administration of prisons by corporations, and employment for many small-town and rural whites with just high-school degrees. Racism keeps a lot of police, “law enforcement” officials, and courtroom judges/officials employed. Racism makes sure that whites in general get paid more than Blacks in general in their jobs (even in the entertainment industry), let alone whites even *getting* jobs that Blacks, and other minorities, don’t get, (I.e., unless university advanced degreed minorities start their own professional company, if they can even get the financing to do so, or are among the only/few token minority professionals hired by prominent white corporations/firms.)

    There’s *BIG MONEY* in keeping ‘hoods ‘hoods and ghettos ghettos — until major white corporate developers decide that the housing/buildings/neighborhood finally becomes dirt cheap enough to have condemned and/or buy up, destroy and gentrify — and all those Black or Brown people can be *ethnically cleansed away*, politically (thanks to how they’re stereotyped sometimes even by Black filmmakers or talk show hosts [Oprah], for “urban hip” white people and *expensive* (there’s *mo’ money* in it) chic new restaurants to take Black or Brown (or in San Francisco even lower-income Asian) places and any of their mom-&-pop shops.

    Okay, you get the idea. But, let me say why even Rabbi Michael Lerner (mentioned in Davey D’s commentary) isn’t going to bring a *serious* “conversation” about racism either!

    This writer remembers once coming across a wonderfully surprising, February, 1994, Time magazine, brief, absolutely no-nonsense commentary on racism written Michael Lerner — in which he also held THE NATIONAL JEWISH COMMUNITY accountable — and moreso all those Jews who became right-wing neocons who tried to destroy every self-help program for Black people that those Jewish conservatives could find.

    BUT RABBI MICHAEL LERNER HAS GONE, FIRST SLOWLY, BUT THEN INCREASINGLY, STEADILY DOWNHILL EVER SINCE — TO JUST A TYPICAL WHITE LIBERAL — TO HIS VIEWS IN THAT AWFUL BOOK, “JEWS AND BLACKS”, PARTICULARLY REGARDING LERNERS ‘LIBERAL’, OBTUSE COMMENTS, COMMENTS HE SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT, IN A BOOK WRITTEN WITH CORNEL WEST.

    THAT BOOK IN WHICH JEWS AND LERNER GET TOP BILLING! — EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE MANY, MANY, MANY MORE *BLACKS* THAN JEWS IN THE U.S. — AND EVEN THOUGH CORNEL IS A MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BIGGER *NAME* IN THIS COUNTRY AND IN THE *WEST* (no pun intended) THAN LERNER!

    BUT I TOLD CORNEL THAT LERNER WAS JUST USING CORNEL FOR CORNEL’S GOOD AND MUCH BIGGER NAME.

    You see, in particular, the Jewish neocons deal with white Gentile America, especially the U.S. government, was, ‘You keep *BIG MONEY* and arms flowing to *ISRAEL* and we’ll help you, especially the white political elite, keep the Blacks *down* — or at least in their place (except for the tokens and fronts, Obama being the biggest front, we whites can use).

    BUT NOW ZIONIST/PRO-ISRAEL JEWS ARE — AND *HAVE* BEEN — TRYING TO GET *BLACK PREACHERS* AS FRONTS/SHILLS IN THEIR (THE FORMER’S) POCKETS TO PROMOTE ZIONISM/ISRAEL TO BLACK PEOPLE — ESPECIALLY BECAUSE MOST BLACK INTELLECTUALS/ACTIVISTS KNOW THAT “ISRAEL” IS JUST ANOTHER *EUROPEAN COLONY* ON *STOLEN LAND* FROM THE NATIVE PEOPLE IN THE NON-EUROPEAN WORLD.

    The “Liberal” Zionist Jewish establishment has even tried to get — pay with speaking fees — militant cartoonist, Aaron McGruder, creator of “Boondocks”, into their pockets, just as they previously tried to get Russell Simons into their pockets, and front for their Zionist bidding to Black people.

    Well, that ‘great’ muckraking Jewish journalist, named GREG PALAST, couldn’t get Cynthia McKinney into his Zionist pocket, even by pretending to be her — and the Blacks — friend and journalistic defender — so he just *LIED* and *said* that McKinney supported Zionism. But, then the same Jewish rabbi, New York City RABBI MARC SCHNEIER, who totally fabricated and concocted an absolutely phony and forged letter, claiming Martin Luther King wrote it (“Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend”), King purportedly supporting Zionism, of course the rabbi’s claim was made sometime *after* King was ‘safely’ dead, was the same Jewish rabbi who tried to recruit Russell Simmons as a Zionist front/shill to recruit hip-hop generation Black people to Zionism — and I tried to personally tell Simmons that and that he was being *used*. Fortunately, every Black hip-hop generation person I read online soundly rejected Simmons’ attempt. *Zionist* Jews have *long* tried to use, manipulate, or (im)morally ‘buy’ Black people. Zionist Jews are Black politicians *new* Massas, starting, these days, with Obama — and *now* they politically enslave most Western *Gentiles*, as well, in politically important countries to them.

    (Unfortunately, sadly, and tragically, at this time in the West, there are *NO* *American/Western* Palestinians — they’re either too economically vulnerable or too unwilling — that are the equivalent of *any* of the great Black liberation leaders/advocates — anywhere in *Western* history up to the present — from Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, on down in history, and, for the time being, utterly *forget about* an American/Western Palestinian ‘Malcolm X’ — whether African American, Afro-Caribbean, or African. And the Palestinian Authority in Palestine, certainly it’s leadership, has been totally bought-out by the U.S., Israel and Western Europe — and they all through the *pretense* of “peace talks” and “final settlements”. It will take some new generation to arise and take the old leaderships/advocacyship’s place.)

    Btw, that, SELF-SO-CALLED, “MAN OF PEACE”, Rabbi Michael Lerner, WHO ALWAYS PUTS JEWS BEFORE PALESTINIANS, IN A LAND CALLED *PALESTINE*, sent his son to Israel to take/steal up his part of steadily more Palestinian land, and the ‘good’ Rabbi even gave his son blessings to joint the Israeli paratroopers. That’s the Zionist functional military equivalent of the SS: the Israeli military elite!; the Israeli shock troops! You don’t just get drafted into the Israeli paratroopers: you go out of your way to *join* it with a special enthusiasm. Generally, especially in recent times, only *hardcore right-wing* Israeli Jews join the Israeli paratroopers.

    Reference my online article: “RABBI MICHAEL LERNER: Liberal Zionist Apologist, Moral Equivocator, HYPOCRITE!”

    *Unlike* what Michael Lerner says, “THE Jews”, monolithically, nowhere, have never, necessarily, been allies of “The Blacks” — although many extremely courageous, including wealthy, anti-racist Jewish individuals have! As hard as it is for me to believe, to believe from just a self-interested PR stance, prominent, progressive Jewish journalist, Jeffrey Blankfort, once pointed out to this writer that *the Jewish establishment organizations* — as such — were almost totally *absent* from the African American Civil Rights Movement — although, as I said in my previous sentence, many extremely courageous *individual* anti-racist Jews *weren’t*.

    And Jewish friends of this writer have not only pointed out any number of racist Jews that they had in their extended families, or among their parents friends, or in their neighborhood, they’ve pointed out that elite Jews often, at first, banned Blacks from joining their country or entertainment clubs. Metro Goldwin Meyer created the infamous film, “Birth of a Nation” — which saved MGM from bankruptcy: need I say more about that? James Baldwin wrote a breathtaking essay about Jewish racism — for which the Jewish establishment virulently attacked him and called him an “anti-Semite”. Blankfort informed me that Goodman and Schwerner, two Jewish Civil Rights worker killed in 1964 Mississippi (killed with Chaney who was Black), were, because they were leftist Jews, generally *hated* by the organized Jewish establishment, before, later on, the Jewish establishment organizations could use Goodwin and Schwerner as Jewish martyrs.

    Anyway, talk and chit-chat — polite “conversation” — alone is cheap!

    It was an adamantly anti-Zionist Jewish friend of mine who told me that instead of having polite “conversation” with Nazis around coffeetables, Nazi era Jews should have been out in the streets disrupting the Nazi machine as it arose!

    (Although it should be said that the Nazi **NEVER** gained a majority in the Nazi era German parliament, and that Hitler and the Nazis had *German opposition* for every *second* of Hitler’s and the Nazi’s political life — so much for “the genetically evil” German — but Hitler was first *appointed* Chancellor of Germany by, more or less, the German equivalent of _the Democrat party_!!)

    It’s going to take The Struggle that must be, *organized*, *disciplined*, *principled*, *readily understood* RESISTANCE, Direct Action, Civil Disobedience, political or economic non-cooperation (especially not acceding to or joining U.S. imperialist wars and the military, and *creative ways* of political/economic non-cooperation as Michelle Alexander hinted at), even marches and occupations that disrupt capitalist commerce, operations and transports (the *capitalist business* of America), and even conventional political action like mass organized voting — but *unaffiliated* with the Washington, D.C., Republi-Crat, “Bad Cop, Good Cop” *ruse*, leadership.

    (The Struggle is *NOT* for the self-indulgent, alienating, nihilistic, *unprincipled*, *undemocratic*, *undisciplined*, *wanna-be*, *play-acting*, white, so-called, ‘Revolutionaries’, and who’ll later take off their bandanas, make up with mom & dad, and go join the professional establishment, and bide for their big inheritance — who, and in the meantime, **purposely** alienate the masses of the people of ALL colors who we, and, otherwise, multiculturally they, want to *join* us.)

    As FREDERICK DOUGLASS said, “POWER CONCEDES NOTHING WITHOUT A *DEMAND*, IT NEVER HAS AND IT NEVER WILL!”

    –Unlike those Black people and other progressives who never demanded *anything* of Obama in exchange for their votes — the only political &/or economic interest in the U.S. that *does* this — and those Black or white “progressive/leftist” shills — including, I guess *intellectually tired*, so-called, “Revolutionaries” like *Angela Davis* and *Amiri Baraka* — these are THE *NEW* NIGGER BREAKERS — they break our *will* to resist — they break our *will* to get out in the streets and *struggle* — they keep corralling us back to _The Democrat Plantation_!! Black people will *all* be in concentration camps (now known as gulag prison complexes) and *DIEHARD OBAMA APOLOGISTS* will *still be* making *excuses* for him.

    And MARIO SAVIO said that certainly, ‘WHEN THE SYSTEM BECOMES TOO MORALLY UNREPONSIVE AND TOO ODIUS, WE MUST THROW OURSELVES UPON ITS GEARS.”

    And POWER NEVER CONCEDES ANYTHING WITHOUT OUR STRUGGLE.

    We have to raise the cost to Power to *not* correct its moral wrongs.

  13. Joseph from Berkeley says

    Follow-up comment:

    No less than a Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, once said about Black people: “What can people who descended from trees teach us about civilization?”

    Israeli Jews generally, more or less, hate *any* people of color (even *non-European Jews* were historically treated badly by European/Ashkenazi Israeli Jews) — ‘except for’ (so to speak) recruited 3rd World immigrant labor — especially recruited 3rd World immigrant female labor (seen as more controllable/docile) — that affluent Israelis recruit to clean their toilets and kitchens in their homes and restaurants and other businesses, and change their babies diapers.

  14. Joseph from Berkeley says

    In short:

    What dominant oppressors in power (or their elite lackeys) have *anything to gain* by a *serious and honest* discussion about racism?

    .

  15. Joseph, I think the more important question is what do they have to lose when black, brown, yellow, red and poor white people withdraw their support for a system that doesn’t benefit any of them, and was designed to pit them against each other for the benefit of a privileged few.

  16. Reblogged this on Hued Flower.

  17. Let’s start by knocking down the structure, and rebuild.

  18. Joseph from Berkeley says

    Yo, know what?:

    Until I started reading again a little about RABBI MICHAEL LERNER, I had forgotten how much, except for those glassy-eyed Jewish acolytes of his (perhaps the few remaining) in his semi-cult-like little cottage industry, “Tikkun”, most semi-leftist or leftist Jews in the Bay Area (like many in “Jewish Voice for Peace” [JVP] — or especially the decidedly leftist Jews in the “International Jewish _Anti-Zionist_ Network” [IJAN] who actually *do* believe in equality for *ALLL* people, and opposing the oppressor whether they’re Jewish or not), just *’hhhaaate’* (so to speak) the morally slimy, grandiosely and sometimes *blackmailingly* self-promoting, revoltingly duplicitous (he, like other ‘Left’ Zionist lecture icons, is/are actually working to *PROTECT* Israel’s *LONGTERM* interest as a Zionist state, from the rabid right-wing *Zionuts* who would lead more quickly to *Zionist* apartheid’s *downfall*), ‘New Age’ spiritual *CHARLATAN*, Michael Lerner.

  19. I certainly hope that this discourse on race includes Black women, and the intersectionality of racism and sexism. And let’s not forget those among us in the LGBTQ community as well. Whenever racism comes up, the rest of us are expected to take a back seat to the more ‘important’ issue of Black male endangerment. Last I checked, Rekia Boyd and Aiyanna Jones were killed by cops, too. As the Crunk Feminist Collective says, “…the Black freedom struggle cannot, yet again, be built on the backs of Black women.
    http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2013/07/15/the-time-isnt-right-but-it-is-now-processing-our-anger-for-trayvon-the-black-feminist-way/

  20. Joseph from Berkeley says

    You’re absolutely right, Dee (July 24, 11:54AM).

    In fact, in response to a very good white female friend of mine who emailed me this:

    { I’m currently reading Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry (subtitled For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn’t Enough). I find the work positively brilliant, and I strongly recommend it to you if you haven’t already read it. Harris-Perry interweaves literature (Their Eyes Were Watching God) with history, sociology, psychology and law, and she creates an amazing product. She talks about, among other things, the images of “Jezebel”, “Mammy” and “Sapphire”. This is definitely a book that should be read by EVERYBODY. }

    I just emailed her back over my workday lunch hour:

    { I like this idea of any book with this in the title:

    “For Colored Girls…When Being Strong Isn’t Enough”

    –Because some Black women have said, ‘Why do we — constantly –have to be imposed on — as an extra burden, besides being a woman — to be strong in order to deal with society’s racism against us as Black, and racist sexism (sexual stereotypes *) against us as Black women — and, all in that, be able to take care of ourselves, our children, and even our husband (and to constantly have to worry about and psychologically salve his having to deal with going out into the world and supposedly be the breadwinner in that societal racial mess)…?’ They feel that “the strong Black woman” honor is a double-edge sword!: both a compliment, but also an imposition, and a double burden — being Black and female! Anyway, I’ll definitely try to check that book out sometime. I’ll try to find that book at Pegasus in Rockridge and read any reader comments about it (I’m sure there must be some/many reader comments) at Amazon!

    * Besides the stereotypical Black women images mentioned in your email below is that one that, unfortunately, certain very popular Black male comedians constantly promote and, respectively, keep making movies (money, money and mo’ money) over and over (the staple) about: “The Foul-Mouth Black Grandmother” — who’s quick-tempered, verbally and physically aggressive, often insulting, and always morbidly obese. }

    [And, btw, you ever notice on those white-produced female panel talk shows, how most of the white women panelists selected are always between slender and medium weight, and the right-wing white woman/idiot is *always* slim (and blonde and more or less “modelesque”)? — but the one, or at the most two, Black woman selected are *always* obese and never “modelesque”.]

    IT IS *CERTAINLY TRUE* THAT *TOO MANY* — *ONE* IS TOO MANY — BLACK WOMEN HAVE GOTTEN *LEGALLY MURDERED* BY THE *PIGS* TOO!! — AND WE NEVER HEAR NATIONAL DISCUSSIONS ABOUT *THAT* TOO!! — AND THERE SHOULD BE ENTIRELY SEPARATE TV/RADIO DISCUSSIONS ABOUT *THAT* TOO!! — SO THAT THIS COUNTRY BECOMES AWARE OF *THAT* TOO!! — ESPECIALLY, BUT HARDLY ONLY, ON PROGRESSIVE RADIO/TV (STARTING, NATIONALLY, WITH “DEMOCRACY NOW”)!!

    *BUT*, when the issue happens to be about *a* — yet *another* — Black male who’s been **LEGALLY** gunned down not only by the cops, but now by even a white *wanna-be* cop (with a by the white media generally undisclosed *history* of aggression), or other white vigilantes, then I double-check *why* even a white liberal radio/tv host or other white person wants to say, *divert* and *miss* the *point* about the white *racist basis* for these **LEGALIZED** police/vigilante murders by her saying, “But, Hollywood has stereotyped *everyone*!” (This is an excuse, diversion or evasion that the nearly all white the Zimmerman *jurors* could have used — ‘so the issue of Black male, or Black female, stereotypes is *neutralized*!’) But, as I rebutted in my extended comment post above about Black male stereotyping, lately by white-paid/-contracted/-commissioned Black male filmmakers, “But, certainly not with the same absolutely devastating and lethal results!”

    *BUT*, years ago there used to be a local TV talk show (on KPIX) out of San Francisco, and when the issue of racism of against Black people was the show topic, AFFLUENT *WHITE* LGBTQ ‘YUPPIES’ IN THE AUDIENCE ALWAYS STOOD UP — YOUR COULD *COUNT* ON IT — AT SOME POINT DURING AUDIENCE COMMENTS PARTICIPATION, AND IMPLICITLY TRIED TO *HIJACK* THE *ENTIRE* SHOW TOPIC, AND WANTED RACISM AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE _*TO TAKE A BACK SEAT*_ TO *WHITE (GENERALLY AFFLUENT) LGBTQ* ISSUES — WHITE PEOPLE HAVING THAT PROCLIVITY TO WANT ANY ISSUE AND SENTIMENTS TO BE FOCUSSED *BACK* (IN THEIR *OWN* MINDS) ONTO HOW *THEY* FEEL.

    [SO, _BUT FOR ZIMMERMAN’S OWN *PRECIPITOUS* AND INITIATING ACTIONS_, AND EVEN THOUGH *HE* IGNORED DISPATCH INSTRUCTIONS TO *STAY PUT*, AND EVEN THOUGH *HE* HAD THE *GUN*, AND EVEN THOUGH *HE* WAS *A SIZEABLE GROWN MAN* STALKING SOMEONE ELSE (A *INNOCENT* BLACK *KID*) *IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT*, THE VIRTUALLY ALL *WHITE* JURY’S SENTIMENT WAS PUT ON HOW *HE* — *ZIMMERMAN* — FELT.]

    So, when the white, even liberal radio show host said, “But, Hollywood has stereotyped *everyone*!”, on a radio show discussion even specifically entitled about *Oscar Grant*, with the topic of Trayvon Martin, given the just-recent Zimmerman verdict, unavoidably included, THEN THAT IS PUTTING THOSE MURDERS — AND THE WHITE *RACIST BASIS* FOR THOSE MURDERS, THE 2ND ONE LEGALIZED — — IN THE BACKGROUND.

    AND, BTW, BY A WHITE LEGAL STANDARD *JUDICIALLY NOT AVAILABLE* TO *MARISSA ALEXANDER* (A *BLACK WOMAN* IN FLORIDA) — BECAUSE:

    (1) THAT LEGAL STANDARD WASN’T MEANT FOR *BLACK* PEOPLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES, BUT FOR *WHITE* PEOPLE/VIGILANTES TO *SHOOT* &/OR *KILL* EVEN *UNARMED* BLACK MEN IN PARTICULAR ; AS MICHELLE ALEXANDER HAS POINTED OUT, IT’S THE *NEW* JIM CROW;

    AND

    (2) APPARENTLY THERE’S NOT GOING TO BE *ANY LEGAL PRECEDENT* SET FOR *ANYONE BLACK* TO JUDICIALLY USE — OR BE INSTRUCTED BY A WHITE JUDGE TO ALLOW — A “STAND YOUR GROUND” DEFENSE — OR STANDARD — BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH ZIMMERMAN’S LAWYERS DIDN’T EXPLICITLY INVOKE A “SYG” DEFENSE, THEY KNEW THAT THE WHITE JUDGE WOULD *INSTRUCT* & *IMPOSE* UPON THE NEARLY ALL WHITE *JURY* TO *USE* A “STAND YOUR GROUND” BASIS/STANDARD FOR ZIMMERMAN’S DEFENSE — BUT *NOT* FOR ACTUALLY *TRAYVON’S SELF-DEFENSE* CONSIDERATIONS.

    FINALLY, FOR NOW, _HOW BLACK MEN ARE RACISTLY STEREOTYPED –AND CRIMINALLY SO, AS *PREDATORY* — IS A STAND-IN FOR HOW *ALL* OF BLACK SOCIETY IS STEREOTYPED.

    BECAUSE WHEN *THE BLACK MAN* IS RACISTLY STEREOTYPED AS PSYCHOLOGICALLY WEAK AND TRIFLING AND DYSFUNCTIONAL AND, IN A SINGLE WORD, PATHOLOGICAL, THAT MEANS THAT *THE BLACK FAMILY* IS WEAK AND TRIFLING AND DYSFUNCTIONAL AND, IN A SINGLE WORD, _PATHOLOGICAL_.

    BECAUSE WHEN *BLACK BOYS* ARE RACISTLY STEREOTYPED AS PSYCHOLOGICALLY WEAK AND TRIFLING AND DYSFUNCTIONAL AND, IN A SINGLE WORD, _PATHOLOGICAL_, THAT MEANS THAT *BLACK WOMEN* ARE THE *MOTHERS* OF, OR *THE FEMALE HEADS* OF WEAK AND TRIFLING AND DYSFUNCTIONAL BLACK FAMILIES, AND ARE RAISING WEAK AND TRIFLING AND DYSFUNCTIONAL AND, IN A SINGLE WORD, _PATHOLOGICAL_ *BLACK BOYS* — AND CRIMINALLY SO, AS *PREDATORY*.

    AND THESE BLACK BOYS AND BLACK MEN ARE RACISTLY STEREOTYPED TO INTERGENERATIONALLY RE-ITERATE THE CYCLE — AND THUS ALL OF BLACK SOCIETY IS IMPLICATED AND ANY GENERAL OR EVEN INDIVIDUAL EXPANSION OF ANY OF ITS MEMBERS UPON WHITE SOCIETY IS SEEN AS *PREDATORY*

    — OR, FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL BLACK MALES, ESPECIALLY IN WHITE SOCIETY, NO MATTER HIS EDUCATION, OR WHETHER HE’S WEARING A HOODIE OR *NOT*, AND WHETHER HIS DICTION IS ‘HOOD OR UNIVERSITY LEVEL, *UNLESS HE ASSUMES COMPLETE DOCILITY*, ALWAYS *EASILY ACCUSABLY* OR *LATENTLY PREDATORY*.

    SO, THE ISSUE SHOULDN’T BE WHO GETS ‘THE FRONT SEAT’ OR ‘THE BACK SEAT’ — *EVERYONE* OPPRESSIVELY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST SHOULD GET A TURN IN THE FRONT SEAT TO HAVE THEIR ISSUE HEARD WITHOUT DIMISHMENT OR DIVERSION.

    BUT THAT AS BLACK MOMS AND BLACK DADS (OR BLACK AUNTS AND BLACK UNCLES OR HONORARY RELATIVES OR MENTORS) AND AS BLACK **PEOPLE** WE SHOULD ALL BE CONCERNED WITH RACIST BLACK STEREOTYPES THAT LEAD TO *ANY* OF US GETTING KILLED.

    TO BORROW FROM MALCOLM X ABOUT BLACK SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, OCCUPATIONAL, ECONOMIC, OR GENDER STATUS: ANY BLACK WOMEN OR LGBTQ’s AREN’T, WHO MIGHT ALSO BE, BEING *LEGALLY* MURDERED BY RACIST WHITE COPS, WANNA-BE COPS, & VIGILANTES BECAUSE THEY’RE WOMEN OR BECAUSE THEY MIGHT BE LGBTQ’s — OR WHETHER OR *NOT* THEY’RE LGBTQ’s — BUT BECAUSE THEY’RE _**BLACK**_!

    — Joseph Anderson, Berkeley, Ca.

    [CAPS for *emphasis*, *not* for “shouting” (a *white* social assertion of what CAPS are), although I didn’t mean to use so many CAPS in this comment post.]

  21. Joseph from Berkeley says

    Not so btw, Sista Dee…:

    “The Time Isn’t Right, But It Is Now: Processing Our Anger for Trayvon the Black Feminist Way”

    — THAT IS A **BEAUTIFUL** ESSAY/COMMENTARY.

  22. Joseph from Berkeley says

    Dee/others: ref. my comment post there:

    Joseph from Berkeley
    on July 24, 2013 at 11:13 PM said:
    [as of July 24, 11:25pm still waiting moderation]

    http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2013/07/15/the-time-isnt-right-but-it-is-now-processing-our-anger-for-trayvon-the-black-feminist-way/

  23. Joseph from Berkeley says

    I *TOLD* YOU SO — AGAIN:

    RE ONE OF THOSE PANELS OF “POLITE CONVERSATION”:

    THIS TIME WITH FOUR ‘ELITE’ INSTITUTIONAL NEGROES:

    JUST LIKE THE KIND THAT, IN MY FIRST COMMENT POST ABOVE, I SAID WOULD BE PICKED:

    IN A “CONVERSATION” ABOUT “BLACK MEN”:

    I just recently got finished listening to the PBS Newshour today on PBS/NPR radio.

    Sure enough, the “conversation” was “polite” and reserved.

    All four negroes said that the Obama had done a great job — although all Obama really smoothly, “eloquently”, said to Black-America was — just as I said in my first comment post above — ‘I feel your pain’ — without Obama having done absolutely nothing PRACTICAL, before or now, to ACTUALLY provide any RELIEF for it.

    Oh, but to make it not look too much like a PR fest for their respective institutions or for Obama, each did have some of the *mildest*, most *tepid*, tongue-bitingly *hesitant*, criticism — just so they didn’t look like they were *completely* shining Obama’s shoes.

    But, ALL FOUR INSTITUTIONAL NEGROES WANTED TO KEEP THEIR, NOW & THEN, WHITE HOUSE *INVITES* OPEN.

    All of them also said that Trayvon shows that Black males in general need to have more self-responsibility — although some of them conceded that that really had nothing to do with Trayvon’s killing (you can bet they didn’t call it legalized murder): he was, after all, doing nothing wrong but trying to get home with nothing but candy, ice tea, whatever left-over money, the front door keys, and his cell phone. Another said that the Black Churches need to — described as *”direct/aggressive action”* — all pull together to intstitute more educational and after-school self-help programs — but what does *that* have to do with Trayvon’s legalized murder. But, *”direct/aggressive action”* had nothing to do with making political DEMANDS for *direct practical action* and *results* from Obama and Holder. One or two said that Black folks need to communicate better with white society!: like we haven’t been trying to do than since we were kidnapped and dragged here into slavery for hundreds of years.

    Now, did we *actually* learn anything — let alone anything *new* — in *any* of what those four institutional negroes said?

    (And if *you* think so, then *what* was it…?)

    Or, as I said in my first post — unless you just like to see FOUR INSTITUTIONAL NEGROES with economically good jobs in social status positions, spouting nice-sounding platitudes and generalities — any *thinking* person would just find all this — with the initial promise, from the title of the discussion, of being an interesting “conversation” — (but) as it turned out *EXCRUTIATINGLY BBORRING* — and that you were sucked into *ACTUALLY* A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.

    And, lastly in my recitation here, another negro said that Trayvon shows that Black men need to call the police when they feel they are threatened. ‘YYYYEH!’…: ‘the police always make us feel safer…’

    YOU KNOW WHAT I SAY ABOUT THE PO-LICE!?…

    IF YOU ARE *BLACK*…, AND YOU HAVE A *PROBLEM*…, FOR WHICH YOU CALL THE *PO-LICE*/*PIGS*…, YOU WILL THEN HAVE **TWO** PROBLEMS… — THE 2ND ONE UNPREDICTABLY, POTENTIALLY, *LETHAL* — *TOO* (EVEN IF THE FIRST ONE IS).

    AND YOU *YOURSELF* — OR ONE OF YOUR LOVED ONES — COULD END UP *SHOT * BY THE *PIGS* — AND *DEAD*.

    ALL TO OFTEN WHEN *BLACK/BROWN* PEOPLE CALL THE POLICE, THE BLACK CALLER IS TREATED LIKE A *CRIMINAL* — ESPECIALLY IF IT’S THE BLACK GUY’S — LET ALONE A BLACK *KID’S* — IN A *HOODIE* — WORD AGAINST A WHITE (OR WHITE ENOUGH) PERSON.

    YOUR LIKELY ARREST — *AT A MINIMUM* — IS *PROBABLE* — PRETEXED BY YOUR NOT WANTING TO BE VERBALLY — WHEN NOT *PHYSICALLY* — TREATED ABUSIVELY — TO *BEGIN* WITH — OR YOUR *MOM* OR OTHER *RELATIVE/S* OR YOUR ACCOMPANYING *FRIEND/S* BEING TREATED VERBALLY — OR *PHYSICALLY* — ABUSIVELY — BY THE RESPONDING *PIGS*.

    IN FACT, IF THE *PIGS* CAN TELL FROM YOUR VOICE OR SELF-DESCRIPTION THAT YOU *ARE* BLACK, OR BROWN, OR THE CALL IS COMING FROM A BLACK OR BROWN NEIGHBORHOOD, THE COPS MIGHT MOSEY OVER TO YOUR PLACE IN AN HOUR — OR FEW — OR AFTER ALL ANY SHOTS HAVE BEEN FIRED (AS LONG AS THE SHOTS DON’T GO ON *TOO* LONG) — OR, JUST AS OFTEN, NEVER AT ALL!

    THAT’S THE *PIG’S* WAY OF CONVEYING, ‘LOOK, WE COPS AREN’T HERE TO IMPROVE BLACK LIFE — WE’RE HERE — YOU SHOULD HAVE LEARNED THAT FROM OUR, INDEED, *HISTORICAL* ROLE — TO KEEP YOU *DOWN*.’

    And so my, “I TOLD YOU SO!”, about the “conversation” of four institutional negroes on a white TV news program.

    Joseph Anderson
    Berkeley, Ca.

  24. This “conversation about race” is about forcing White people to deal with their racism problem. Not sure if any of you have noticed but they avoid talking and dealing with the pervasive racism and racial inequalities in this nation. They want to keep the status quo and as demographics change, they are trying to hoard most of the wealth and power in this country.

    This is separate from anything that Blacks have to do to uplift themselves. Anybody advocating tearing everything down and starting over from scratch is compromised at best. Best believe you have various groups that I believe are designed to lead blacks who opt out of the system into traps and over cliffs, like Black Power groups, or even the Black Church. Time for younger blacks to start their own organizations to work together.

    This article is kind of fucking stupid, discussion with whom? WHITE PEOPLE. The same people who tried to ignore Ferguson by throwing buckets of ice water over their heads. Also as you noted profoundly. many discussions about race have been had but collectively white Americans ignored it ALL. NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING MORE BULLSHIT TALK PANELS!

    How to force a conversation about race and racism (with white people specifically) when they do NOT want to have the conversation is the question that should be asked.

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