Agree!!!!!!

I love that tee.

A rather broad brush don’t you think?

Homeo sapiens is, indeed, the premier predator , run. IMO, by the Selfish Genes to overwhelm anything in their way including other homeo sapiens.

@dumasarok If you read my post I clearly state "There are times I feel".

I don't disagree with your assessment...we can all be ignorant, we can all hate.. but here is the thing...it absolutely IS about color. It's about color because even though slavery has been around as far back as history goes, and caste systems existed, when northern Europeans chose to colonize and conquer the globe they made it about color. They changed slavery from condition that could be transmuted in a single lifetime - ie. the indentured servant, or convicted felons working off debt - to a worldwide multigenerational nonstop conduit of permanent oppression and discrimination and ALL our institutions, our school, our hospitals, our entire financial underpinnings both reinforce this condition of oppression and depend on it to maintain the status quo. There have been other, somewhat similar circumstances. The enslavement of the the Jewish tribes in Egypt and the caste system in India are examples. But when black people where enslaved by Northern Europeans...color lines were drawn that still exist today. It is literally all about color. Free people anywhere in the world could be and were conscripted into slavery based solely on the color of their skin...and once in, there was no way out... not for them or their children...or their children's children...
Slavery is being practiced in this country to this day...and it is absolutely about color...The fact that our for profit prisons exist and are filled with people of color testifies to this. The fact that innocent, or ordinary citizens can be gunned down in their homes, children shot while playing, gentlemen killed for driving on the wrong street...all of this is about injustice based on someones skin color.
Did you hear about the Cooper/Cooper incident and understand that the woman, Mz Cooper Bank exec, called the police on an ordinary citizen birdwatching, a Mr. Cooper (no relation) , in the park ATTEMPTING TO HAVE HIM MURDERED. This was about her white privilege and his blackness and harkens back to the heinous crime of lynching...she LIED and told the cops an African American MALE was trying to hurt her, a holy white woman...
I am sure you are aware, Black men have been lynched for less than this in the last 50-60 years. And black people are shot for no reason whatsoever all the time... its only the most egregious, heinous examples that are heard about, and when the murderer is a cop... odds are less than 50/50 that they will ever be put in prison or face justice of any kind.
I have walked this color line my whole life and it's real.
My mother was horrifically abusive to me. One day, we were at the grocery store. She got mad and did her usual... picked me up by the arm, piercing my wrist with her nails. Blood dripped all over as she flung me around like a rag doll. Nobody who worked for the store was willing to step up and stop my mother...then miraculously someone did. A beautful, petite woman with 5 kids in tow...grabbed my mothers arm and told her to stop. Told her that no child, nothing human, should be treated the way she was treating me. My mother screamed to have the cops called and they were there in a heartbeat...
and they arrested this brave amazing woman while I stood there dripping blood...because she had laid hands on a white woman. I was bleeding...everybody saw and told the cops they saw...but she got arrested because of the color of her skin. While her five children looked at me crying...trust me, it is all about color.
I have attached a picture of my wrist as it appears today. Every doctor I see demands an explanation they think I self harm... these scars are 50 years old. I have surgical scars that don't go as deep. The scars on my heart are immeasurably deeper...I still have nightmares about her oldest son staring me in the eyes... as they hauled his Momma off to jail...

@Alchemy I can't speak to your personal story except to express my sympathy for you and the woman you speak of, who was undoubtedly courageous and compassionate.

I will tell you factually, however, that "for profit prisons" are a myth in states where they are run by the civil service, not a privatized industry. In Michigan, we're the single largest line item in the budget. It costs upward of $50k a year to incarcerate someone in state prison, and that's not considering the extraordinary medical expenses as our population ages. I have 15 prisoners in wheelchairs on a lower level with an elevator access that has been completely replaced three times in ten years, costing umpteen thousand dollars for that alone. We have prisoners being treated daily for cancer at outside hospitals, at the state's expense. I'm not going to go on because it would seem I'm complaining, and I'm really not. I'm just pointing out that we don't make money here, we toss it into a bottomless pit. The only way any company could make money at this is to neglect the most basic services and security arrangements.

And I'm equally disgusted by the woman in the park. I can't imagine a more obnoxious human being. I've been swatted twice, by my neighbor who was off her meds and imagined she heard crimes being committed in my apartment (so I forgive her I guess), and I can't imagine who would do that to someone standing face to face. That's a despicable excuse for a human being.

@Paul4747 Sir, I believe, but am not claiming certainty - not for Michigan specific, you have completely misunderstood the racquet. Private, for profit prisons are paid BY THE STATE they are in for the care and confinement of prisoners. These prisoners are then also required to earn their keep...and are put into jobs - like in a call center - where they are expected to work full-time. Companies contract with the prison for space to operate and prisoners to work their phone lines. This was the set up as it was described to me that was just outlawed in California. These prisons make bank coming and going... cuz the state pays and the corporations pay...and the prisoners and their families pay disgustingly excessive fees for things like the commissary and phone calls.
As to what your state pays... I am certain it is a grotesque bloated absurd amount of money. That is part of why these for profit prisons are so vile. In many states these fees are exponentially higher than a all expense paid college education. If I had more time in my schedule I would research this as it effects Michigan more carefully.

Sir, I am sorry l misunderstood part of what you wrote and were saying. I agree that prisons run by the state are generally money pits for tax payers and that THOSE prisons are not operated on a for profit basis, per se. I apologize for my confusion. I should have specified "privately" run prisons. I concur with your sentiments that the amount of funds spent for state run prisons is outrageous. 50k a year per prisoner is an awful lot of money. Research from other countries suggests that early intervention programs that help prevent child abuse and provide assistance to those at risk for being abused/abusing turns out to be less expensive by far than dealing with the aftermath.
Too bad we are so "puritanical" in this country that we have to ignore science and treat people horrifically when there is strong robust scientific information that it would cost taxpayers so much less to just provide folks with the care they need to survive...medical care, housing, and food...in the first place.
To bad scientific truth has nothing to do with our lives or the way our government is run.

@Alchemy I understand people generalize "prisons". There's also a right-wing faith that the private sector does everything better and cheaper, which is not the case. Cheaper in terms of tax dollars? Maybe. But only because they deliver no services in terms of rehabilitation or care, and are simply warehouses (even worse than state prisons, which are warehousing on one level while also trying to rehabilitate as much as our prisoners will let us. We offer GED and vocational programs, even college programs, at no cost).

@Alchemy I'm angered by the fact, that the standard practice for the police of that time to arrest black people for any claim, lodged by a white person. I'm also very angry that the injustice continues.

Well said.

I appreciate but do not agree with your idea that bullying=racism. Bullying is bad. It is something that occurs when there is a power imbalance... similar to racism but not the same. Bullying is situational, and can be changed often just by altering circumstances a little bit...racism is not something that will change for the "victims" as it is systemic.

@Alchemy I do agree with you on the bullying racism connect. It is not always cut and dry but I still feel racism may promote some forms of bullying. One might be more prone to bullying another they fell is beneath them.
However, racism/tribalism is universal. I can't name a particular study but I know it is present even in some non-human species.

Agreed.

Yes I do not think the woman was threatened or fearful at all. SHE approached him and he asked her to back away and leave him be. No. She was offended that he dared TELL HER what to do with HER DOG in a public park. It was a bratty child reaction of nuh uh! I do what I want! And him trying to expose her and that shitty attitude pissed her off so much she faked fear and tears.

See my comment on The Selfish Gene above.

I disagree that "being the change you want to see" isn't enough. Each person we touch in a metaphorical sense leaves it's imprint on the touchee and toucher. We may not see how we've contributed to societal evolution, but the contribution always has an effect no matter how small. And each person who "becomes the change," contributes to the evolution. If i didn't believe that with all my heart, i'd have to accept that i've wasted my life. And i have documented proof that i haven't.

@josephr I agree with your statement. It does have a real effect and I'm not saying it's a waste or a lost cause or anything like that. I just can't see it being enough, alone, to enact change in any real sense in the ignorant masses that dwell within our social sphere.

I agree. Generalizations are rarely accurate. Those who say "No white person can understand what it is like to be black or any repressed minority" have no knowledge of or sensitivity to those who, for example, survived the Holocaust. Like my parents. Most people believe that their trials and tribulations are the worst, and they are, for them. Every person and minority who is repressed deserves our support, regardless of their colour, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else.

No, racism, bigotry, and discrimination are not exclusive to any race, gender, culture, colour, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. It may not be possible to change human nature, but some can be educated to see others differently and more respectfully. Not all, but some.

@josephr Perhaps but no one can be educated who does not want to be or to put it another way, "You can lead a horse to water but ..."

@beenthere Sad but true.

You're right, blaming accomplishes nothing.

If you don't act out racism but you tolerate people who are racist, you ARE guilty.

@dermot235 When you say ‘guilty’ are you speaking about experiencing the emotion of guilt or do you mean the more conventional meaning of a person being judged?

Not about how you feel but what you are

@dermot235 So they are guilty of what precisely? I ask this because the situation we are speculating on can vary wildly. Doing nothing in the face of racism can be seen as safe, to self preserving, to cowardly to awful. It just depends.

This varying nature does not apply as much to the act of racism itself and this is why I like to focus on that instead.

Debating if some people out there are racist in the US is really silly. The evidence for racism is everywhere. Over 70% of White Males in the US voted for Trump. Trump says disgusting racist things all the time. If you voted for him, you are a racist. If you are one of the 60% of US citizens that does not bother to vote against a racist like Trump then you are guilty of racism. Being indifferent to a racist when all you have to do is go out and vote once every 4 years. (Not a big Ask) means you are not just complicit, you are racist. There is an indifference to what Trump says and the fact that when he says racist things his approval ratings don't change says a lot about the level of racism in the US.

If all you do is focus on the "act of racism" then you will never deal with the racism that's really there.
When parts of the Voting rights act were overturned by the supreme court a few years ago, republicans in the south immediately started a campaign of Voter suppression. Its aim was to remove as many black voters for being able to vote. (the republican party has basically decided to completely abandon the black voter in the US). The white populations in these state still overwhelmingly vote republican. They may have done nothing but they are guilty of racism.

@dermot235 No doubt there are racist people out there. That’s not what I was talking about.

I don’t think someone is racist if they vote one way or decide to not vote at all. That really waters down what it means to be racist and I don’t see how it helps.

@indirect76 It may not help but that does not mean it's not true. I do get what you are saying. But I think there are more racists out there than people want to believe there are. People say I'm not a racist but I voted for Trump. If your stomach is not churning when Trump says that Mexicans are murderers and rapists and you then go and vote for him. Then you are a racist. It's that simple. Can you imagine how people would have reacted if if OBAMA had said. White people from Europe are murderers and rapists. He would have been called out and rightly so. Why is it that Trump voters get a pass on being called racist. I think it's partly because we don't want to accept that there are so many racist in the US

@dermot235 I doubt we will see eye to eye on this. I respect your opinion, but I disagree. To conclude that someone is racist because they voted for Trump is wrong.

@indirect76 I guess we can see how he behaves during the election campaign. Let's see will he ramp up the racism and lets see does he still get more than 40 or 45% of the votes. I hope you are right and I am wrong. I have done a lot of business with my company in the US over the years and I always was impressed with how they dealt with me and the friends I made in the US are great people. I really do like the US. It's hard for me to see them support a guy like Trump. So I really do hope you are right and I'm overstating things.

@dermot235 Well, we can at least agree on that. I don’t understand how people could vote for Trump either. Then again there is a lot of human behavior I can’t understand.