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Things White People Can Do To Promote Racial Justice

Tekate

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Ha! this happened to me also at least 3X :) lucky I never was billed by the police. :)


@missy A similar thing happened to me as well. Our local area code has a 9 and a 1 in it and once I accidentally dialed 911 but hung up immediately, surely before connection. Within five minutes a policeman was at my front door. I almost didn’t open it, as I was home alone and do not open the door at those times.
I explained and he did not ask to come in or anything else. I was embarrassed but relieved since the response time was incredibly quick.
I can see how it may have gone down differently if I was a POC.

@nala I’m sorry. Keep up the good fight. You are making a difference despite what you saw last night. I’m sure you’ve touched the lives of many and changed their life course for the better.
 

Demon

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@missy A similar thing happened to me as well. Our local area code has a 9 and a 1 in it and once I accidentally dialed 911 but hung up immediately, surely before connection. Within five minutes a policeman was at my front door. I almost didn’t open it, as I was home alone and do not open the door at those times.
I explained and he did not ask to come in or anything else. I was embarrassed but relieved since the response time was incredibly quick.
I can see how it may have gone down differently if I was a POC.

@nala I’m sorry. Keep up the good fight. You are making a difference despite what you saw last night. I’m sure you’ve touched the lives of many and changed their life course for the better.

I've had something similar happen too. I was in another room and the doorbell rang. My husband answered, so I don't know how the beginning of the encounter started, but he hollered for me. I came out & went to the door. Apparently our phone had made more than one call to 911 (there was something messed up with the line and I had to call the phone company for repairs). Anyway, they asked if I was ok, and told me about the 911 call. I told them the upstairs phone didn't work and that the calls would have to come from the downstairs extension, and that there was no one down there. They didn't ask to look around or anything. I too have to wonder if we had not been white, would they have asked to take a look around, at least?
 

telephone89

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Has anyone seen the terrifying footage from last night in Minneapolis?! National guard patrolling neighborhoods and shooting at citizens on their OWN property. I think they’ve already blinded one woman.
 

Demon

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Has anyone seen the terrifying footage from last night in Minneapolis?! National guard patrolling neighborhoods and shooting at citizens on their OWN property. I think they’ve already blinded one woman.

That's insane. I didn't see that - But I was flipping back and forth between MSNBC & CNN& watching the cops shooting rubber bullets straight at camera crews, Ali Velshi got shot in the leg and tear gassed. Now granted, he was down the street from the cops and there were some protesters around, but not a lot. But the one that amazed me had the cop standing fairly close to, and shooting directly at the camera person. And I did see cops pushing people over and hitting them with their batons. And from what I saw, a whole lot of that seemed unprovoked.
 

telephone89

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Back to Matata’s real point of the thread, what white people can do. A friend just shared this article and I quite liked #4

“4. Please try not to, “I can’t believe that something like this would happen in this day and age!” your way into being an ally when atrocities like the events in Charleston, S.C., and Charlottesville, Va., happen. People of color have been aware of this kind of hatred and violence in America for centuries, and it belittles our experience for you to show up 300 years late to the oppression-party suddenly caring about the world. Don’t get me wrong, I welcome you. I want for you to come into a place of awareness. However, your shock and outrage at the existence of racism in America echoes the fact that you have lived an entire life with the luxury of indifference about the lives of marginalized/disenfranchised folks. Please take several seats.”

will smith said, racism isn’t getting worse, it’s just getting filmed.

 

Matata

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“I can’t believe that something like this would happen in this day and age!”

The statement above as well as "We're better than this" and "This isn't us" make my eyes roll like the reel on a slot machine and that's the least offensive effect I can describe when I see those statements posted in various discussions here or hear them made by people with whom I am conversing.
 

Matata

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@telephone89, I forgot to thank you for that article. It is powerful, educational, useful.
 

Matata

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Screen Shot 2020-05-31 at 10.20.05 AM.png
 

Matata

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"My American roommate was shocked by me. She asked where I had learnt to speak English so well and was confused when I said that Nigeria happened to have English as its official language."

 

MakingTheGrade

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There is some complex history in the US relating to Asian Americans being the “model minority” as an attempt to deflect having to acknowledge racism in the country and the role it played in many issues facing black Americans.

A short summary if interested
 

yssie

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Posted without commentary, although I encourage everyone to read it critically.

There is a fundamental, systemic problem here... But that problem isn’t nearly as simple as “white cop black civilian”; to tuck into that box does it a disservice. I don’t even know that it’s as simple as “white person black person”, although I’m confident that is a factor.



In India there is a caste system. It has been in place for literally thousands of years. It originally determined - based on birth - what community services an individual would be responsible for. Brahmins were to be teachers, Kshatriyas were to be safekeeping forces, scheduled classes took care of communal day-to-day (read: Unsavoury labour). Today, although abolished on paper, caste thrives. Caste continues to predetermine occupational expectation, and systems have been enacted to prevent expectation from mapping 1:1 with reality - university and government employment quotas for the historically-downtrodden scheduled classes.

Sound familiar?

The enactment of these quotas several decades ago was a sordid and gleeful affair: Brahmins had had so much more than everyone else for so long, if this generation was stripped of financial assets/property/life - well, comeuppance long overdue. My family is Brahmin. My grandfather lost his bus company and savings. My father and his siblings grew up without regular meals or shelter.

India is one of the most racist, classist, and xenophobic countries in the world. My opinion, but I dare anyone who’s spent time there to dispute it. The uppermost caste - Brahmins - values light skin and education. I grew up with my mum saying “wear long sleeves, you’ll get too dark”, “stay away from boys and all this Western nonsense, we’ll find you a good Brahmin boy when it’s time [to get married]”, “we’re Brahmins, we shouldn’t eat meat, we’re better than that”, “you’re Brahmin - be proud of that”.

Me, I grew up in Hong Kong, NZ, Australia. I married a Jew. Being Brahmin means a whole lot of nothing to me. My father is angry when he remembers the injustices that his father was subjected to under the banners of “righting past wrongs”, but he believes that the antiquated caste system only perpetuates these sorts of problems.

I’m not saying that America and India are the same country or have the same problems. I’m saying that class inequality is a global phenomenon. England and France have class hierarchies as entrenched as the soil under the palaces’ and castles’ rolled lawns.

When I was five we lived in NZ. Our class was doing an end of year play. I had... some meaningless part in the choir, which I was fine with. A girl named Lily was lead. My mother said “why don’t you have the lead, you should work harder”... And I remember thinking that of course I wasn’t going to be picked for lead - I wasn’t pretty and blonde. I remember having that thought clearly - I wasn’t upset about it at all, it was just the way it was, and I remember mentally moving right along. The WTF!!? came several years later. Talk about institutionalized racism!

So there I was: Princess amongst Indians, especially favoured in my extended family for my light skin, straight hair, and father’s success, and I knew it as a fact of life, not something to feel anything in particular about; second-class citizen at school, afterschool care, everywhere else I went day to day - and I knew it as a fact of life, not something to feel anything in particular about. As an adult large gatherings of Indian people make me uncomfortable. I don’t follow Indian politics or personas or sports or entertainment. I speak Tamil but hugely prefer English. When I’m in a big group of Indians everyone’s got brown skin and black hair styled similarly and I can feel my stomach starting to tighten as that innately human ability to instantly recognize people, instantly differentiate between people, seems to vanish... Big groups of Caucasian people? Right at home.

“You’re Brahmin, be proud of that”. That always confused me. Why would I be proud of something that I had nothing to do with? Does “be proud” mean “appreciate yourself for who and what you are and where you came from”, or does it mean “know that this makes you superior”? It depends, of course, on precisely who is saying those words.

I certainly feel that my unusual history has given me an uncommon point of view. Some of the suggestions in articles linked earlier in this thread are wonderful. Give children dolls and toys featuring people of varying gender and colour. Read children stories about brave, funny, kind, powerful people of varying race and gender and physical ability. Activities and actions that promote disregarding skin colour and sex. However, I feel equally strongly about not indulging or supporting activities and actions that promote one skin colour or gender over another, or that utilize discrepancy in skin colour or gender to further an agenda. I will never support minority affirmative action movements or women in code evangelism. I firmly believe All Lives Matter and the implication of Black Lives Matter is both dangerous and self-defeating. I realize this is not going to be a popular post here on PS, but I hope to at least make those who read it understand that America, melting pot that it is, is composed of people coming at problems from very very very different backgrounds... And there’s genuineness and value to all of those perspectives. The fact that I disagree with most of the posters on this thread about some things does not mean I’m insensitive to the underlying issues or unwilling to take a stand.

I do wonder how many people share some of my thoughts but have chosen not to post.
 
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telephone89

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@yssie did you read the very beginning of the article you posted? It links to 3 other articles with studies disproving it, including the original authors.


Original authors corrections: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/16/9127
 

missy

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What am I missing here? Isn't protocol for them to introduce themselves by name and explain why they're there instead of launching into questions? Shouldn't they have asked if your phone # was XXX-XXXX and explain that emergency dispatch received a 911 call from it? Did you ask to see ID, get their badge numbers and verify with your local station that they were indeed legit officers? Something doesn't feel right to me the way you've explained the encounter. Two years ago we had 2 young men posing as officers (with legit looking uniforms & badges) preying on elderly people -- using stories similar to yours to gain entry to their homes and beating and robbing them. They were caught, thankfully.

@Matata they did introduce themselves and they did explain why there were there. The first thing they asked me was did I call 911. And then they proceeded with the questions. As far as I am concerned they did everything right. Our security camera got them coming and going.

Screen Shot 2020-05-31 at 3.25.36 PM.png


@missy A similar thing happened to me as well. Our local area code has a 9 and a 1 in it and once I accidentally dialed 911 but hung up immediately, surely before connection. Within five minutes a policeman was at my front door. I almost didn’t open it, as I was home alone and do not open the door at those times.
I explained and he did not ask to come in or anything else. I was embarrassed but relieved since the response time was incredibly quick.
I can see how it may have gone down differently if I was a POC.

Yup turns out that is exactly what I did. I was dialing my DH who was in the shed working on the bikes as we had just come back from our ride and I wanted to ask him when he wanted to have dinner. Anyway I dialed 1-911 instead of the 7 hung up immediately (no connection went through!) and dialed again. It never went through on my end and I didn't even register it was 911 so when the police came I had no clue that actually yes I did mistakenly dial 1-911 vs 1-917. Anyway I didn't hesitate to open the door because I knew they were cops and they did show me their badges and were in full uniform. Well, minus the masks lol. And yes, if I were black I would have been nervous vs just embarrassed.
 

missy

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Apparently wrong 911 calls aren't that uncommon!

Haha I never realized! It was my first (and hopefully last) 911 call!
 

JPie

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PSA: if you know you’ve accidentally dialed 911, stay on the line! Tell the operator that you misdialed and they won’t send the cops to check on you.

I worked in an office where you had to dial 9 first for an outside line, then 1 and the area code. My coworker accidentally dialed 911 when she tried to start a meeting. Poor woman was quite embarrassed.
 

yssie

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@yssie did you read the very beginning of the article you posted? It links to 3 other articles with studies disproving it, including the original authors.


Original authors corrections: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/16/9127
Yes, I read it, I would hope that was obvious. And I have read the references as well. And I explicitly encouraged everyone else to read critically.

I posted the link without commentary for a reason: I did not find its takehomes believable prior to reading the available citations and I do not after reading them. However, what remains clear is that this is NOT a simple issue.
 
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telephone89

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Yes, I read it. I would hope that was obvious. And I have read the references as well. And I explicitly encouraged everyone else to read critically.

I posted the link without commentary for a reason: I did not find its takehomes believable prior to reading the available citations and I do not after reading them. However, what remains clear is that this is NOT a simple issue.

I’m just confused as to why one would post and old outdated article instead of the more relevant newer research. I greatly enjoyed reading your commentary on your childhood though, you are a wonderful writer.

One of the reasons I fight so hard on these issues is because my husband is dark skinned South Asian (he simply calls himself ‘brown’) and has experienced harsh and extreme racism and discrimination. I personally was completely unaware of a lot of the things posted on this thread (Microaggressions, false outrage, things I personally was doing that contributed from white privilege). I quickly realized that certain people were not given the same respect that I received. I saw my own family treat him differently. And even he realizes that he gets treated better than certain races (generally black and indigenous here in Canada). I personally believe black lives matter, and I won’t be silent while certain people are unfairly targeted and murdered for the colour of their skin.
I posted a few things on how saying ‘all lives matter’ is unhelpful and considered a Microaggression and I’d encourage more research on dismissing a major issue to black people as they’re gunned down in the streets.

www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/07/black-lives-matter-all-lives-matter/amp

Saying ‘save the rain forest’ doesn’t mean ‘chop down every other forest’, it means the rain forest needs our help. Replying with ‘dont all forests matter?’ Just takes the attention off the rain forest, it doesn’t actually promote help for all forests.
 

yssie

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I’m just confused as to why one would post and old outdated article instead of the more relevant newer research. I greatly enjoyed reading your commentary on your childhood though, you are a wonderful writer.

One of the reasons I fight so hard on these issues is because my husband is dark skinned South Asian (he simply calls himself ‘brown’) and has experienced harsh and extreme racism and discrimination. I personally was completely unaware of a lot of the things posted on this thread (Microaggressions, false outrage, things I personally was doing that contributed from white privilege). I quickly realized that certain people were not given the same respect that I received. I saw my own family treat him differently. And even he realizes that he gets treated better than certain races (generally black and indigenous here in Canada). I personally believe black lives matter, and I won’t be silent while certain people are unfairly targeted and murdered for the colour of their skin.
I posted a few things on how saying ‘all lives matter’ is unhelpful and considered a Microaggression and I’d encourage more research on dismissing a major issue to black people as they’re gunned down in the streets.

www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/07/black-lives-matter-all-lives-matter/amp

Saying ‘save the rain forest’ doesn’t mean ‘chop down every other forest’, it means the rain forest needs our help. Replying with ‘dont all forests matter?’ Just takes the attention off the rain forest, it doesn’t actually promote help for all forests.

I understand what you’re saying - your analogy. I really do.

When I say “all lives matter” I mean that. It’s not intended as defensive conciliation or pandering. I realize that many people DO mean it that way, and I hate that. All biomes matter, I can see that the rainforests are having a particularly difficult time now, we need to make especial effort to include preservation in our funding budgets, we need to make sure when we do our tagging and evaluation rounds we’re taking the same steps for all biomes and not taking shortcuts with our rainforests. Vs. Let’s create a specifically targetted rainforest restoration budget that relies on temporary and unsustainable measures.

Okay... There’s probably a way better way to say all of that! But I’ve seen the downsides of selection of a group of people based on something they have no control over. Caste, in my case. So I always think - how is skin colour all that different?

I will look into microaggression as you suggest.
 
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monarch64

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Hope by quoting I don't cause the giant version of the twitter post to appear. Anyway, @Matata not only did Pence get up and walk out, but he also went to the game with the SPECIFIC INTENT TO WALK OUT. It was a carefully orchestrated "**** you" to the "take a knee" movement. Absolutely reprehensible. And in case anyone here isn't familiar with my distaste for Pence, he used to be the governor of my state, and before that he is rumored to have been a complete douche to his family's paperboy. I attended the first-ever Pride festival in his hometown a couple years ago to support friends and also add to the high number of humans who showed up to send a message to him, his family, and that community that we are FINISHED tolerating his lack of support for LGBTQ+ rights as well as women's rights, not to mention the freaking fiasco that he directly caused in Scott County. He is a terrible, horrifyingly awful, bad person.
 

yssie

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There is some complex history in the US relating to Asian Americans being the “model minority” as an attempt to deflect having to acknowledge racism in the country and the role it played in many issues facing black Americans.

A short summary if interested

This is a great link. Thanks for posting!
 

Dancing Fire

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I will absolutely, 100%, ALWAYS applaud someone for putting justice and life over property.

I will say it again.
People > Property
Will you be applauding in front of your house watching it burn down to ashes?
 

Matata

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When I say “all lives matter” I mean that. It’s not intended as defensive conciliation or pandering. I realize that many people DO mean it that way, and I hate that. All biomes matter, I can see that the rainforests are having a particularly difficult time now, we need to make especial effort to include preservation in our funding budgets, we need to make sure when we do our tagging and evaluation rounds we’re taking the same steps for all biomes and not taking shortcuts with our rainforests. Vs. Let’s create a specifically targetted rainforest restoration budget that relies on temporary and unsustainable measures.

Okay... There’s probably a way better way to say all of that! But I’ve seen the downsides of selection of a group of people based on something they have no control over. Caste, in my case. So I always think - how is skin colour all that different?

Saying ‘save the rain forest’ doesn’t mean ‘chop down every other forest’, it means the rain forest needs our help. Replying with ‘dont all forests matter?’ Just takes the attention off the rain forest, it doesn’t actually promote help for all forests.

In the spirit of Adichie in the TED talk I posted earlier, I hear both your stories and appreciate their value to widening the scope of understanding of diverse points of view based on individual personal experiences. Analogies are tricky. Telephone89's analogy is more germane to the topic of racism.

All forests don't matter and some matter more than others. Monoculture forests lack diversity and are subject to total destruction by one disease or insect infestation. Their contribution to climate protection is insignificant, and they contribute nothing to biodiversity and would not sustain human life if they were the only forests left. Rainforests far exceed any other type of forest in contribution to biodiversity, climate stability and life on earth. Biomes are not equal nor equally important to sustaining human life on earth nor are all biomes under equal environmental duress. Funding decisions should be made based on direct impacts of threatened forests/biomes to sustainability of human life. Note I'm singling out humanity here because if Homo Sapiens were to go extinct, life on earth would continue to exist. Shelter-in-place during the pandemic was a boon to wildlife.

All lives should matter. If we live our lives giving respectful treatment to all those we meet regardless of color, gender et al, that is honorable. As long as racism and its attendant inequality exists, all lives don't matter and they don't matter equally.
 

fluffboll

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Everyone should stay peaceful like us Asians. .:praise:
No looting,rioting or damaging other people's properties.

Err... @Dancing Fire: I suspect that by Asians, you mean East Asians? Havet you missed what's going on in Hong Kong right now?
 
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