Why It’s Time Black People Simply Disengage With White People In Discussing Race

damn straight....
But have you seen peopleofwallmart.com? No way this is happening. LOL

 

Walmart is the embodiment of what the rest of the world thinks of America.

 

I can't help but think you're enjoying this thread simply for the pleasure of arguing and pissing people off. I like to do that too sometimes. But as the husband of a lady who just retired after 30 years as a librarian, you...IMHO....are singularly misinformed. First, every community is different and their priorities may not match those of other communities. As Riverman pointed out, Jackson County made a conscious decision to eliminate educational resources for themselves and their children. Welcome to democracy. Since when is it "society's" fault when parents make stupid decisions? We all make choices and live with the results. My dad didn't particularly give a shit about libraries....or reading for that matter. My mother, who grew up in far more precarious circumstances than my dad, looked at libraries as a free gift from the almighty to better herself (and her kids). She taught my siblings and I to read by the time we were 4 years old and took us to the library at least once a week. In other words, she chose to be a responsible parent. Once we were old enough, we didn't wait for Ma. We got on our bikes and rode there eagerly. In other words, we chose to expand our minds. Those libraries were liberally sprinkled throughout Portland and were easily accessible to anyone and everyone, regardless of neighborhood.

It's up to the parent to be a parent and its up to the kid to want something better.....or not. Some people are lazy. Some people expect others to take care of them rather than make an effort to better themselves. Libraries, in their own way attempt to do the latter. I was a terrible classroom student in HS. Libraries are what ultimately put that diploma in my hand because I knew what I would find there and how to use it. I currently live in a generally affluent....and white.....suburb of Portland. The community is a huge (YUGE!) supporter of our library (and the rest of the libraries in our county). Said county has a huge (YUGE!) migrant population. We are well known for our children's reading programs, story times and outreach services in both English and Spanish. Several story times per week are for the Hispanic population (in Spanish and held at times that are convenient to working parents) and are jammed packed each and every week, all because both the parents and the kids want something better for themselves. In other words, they made choices (and the effort) to use the resources available to them. And the community made the choice to provide those resources. If any of those kids end up in gangs, jail, etc, it's because of choices they made. The library certainly didn't fail them. They failed in spite of the library. If you can't see libraries as value added to the human race then provide a better...and attainable...solution. You're blaming society but I'm blaming the parent for having kids they aren't prepared to have. And I blame the kids for not wanting something better....or at least something that doesn't end with a bullet before they're out of their teens. Libraries are one of the last lines of defense against ignorance and poverty. But as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink......

 

I love libraries, but I think that the Web is probably putting them in a tenuous position going forward. When I think of all the hours I spent in libraries researching papers in high school and college, vs. the few seconds it takes to find information online... Hopefully, libraries are adapting and will find ways to remain relevant.

 

From a research standpoint.... absolutely.

But if you're trying to provide a portal to reading for someone with little means, you can't beat a library. Also, it can be difficult to do a research paper strictly on the internet if you're looking for credible sources. Sometimes it's just easier to go to the library and grab a bunch of academic journals.

 

Seems like this ought to get posted somewhere, so I'll just drop it in here and run:

 

I just see a dude who should be focusing on nothing but football because his career is hanging by a thread right now. Instead he's creating a scene and making it about off the field stuff. It really sucks because I loved watching him play a few years back, but his confidence is shot, and he's not the same player anymore. Now I see him doing this and I just feel sad for him.

 

It's still sad to see someone squander their talent. Then again, he's almost 29 so it's not like he's a kid anymore. He maybe would have 4-5 more years anyway. I imagine he'll get cut by the Niners and ride someone's bench for a year or two.

 

Seems like if he could tap back into what he used to show, he'd fit well with Chip's system.

 

The problem is mental. The Niners tried to make him into something he's not, and it destroyed his confidence. I doubt he'll ever get it back.

 

So when Kap was simply helping a friend move out of his dorm room and the police were called and guns were drawn out.... for no reason... He can't protest since he's rich now? It's a catch 22. When poor people protest inequity we are called bitter but when we get rich the same protester is called a hypocritical....

Something tells me they just don't want to talk about inequity.

White people to the BLM movement: Protest peacefully!

*Black man sits silently to protest the national anthem.*

White people: No not like that...

Jesus fucking Christ people....

 

There I was, the black grandson of a slave, the son of a black sharecropper, part of a historic occasion, a symbolic hero to my people. The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the national anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands. Perhaps, it was, but then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first world series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey’s drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.

- Jackie Robinson

 

Lastly, I'll probably take a look at the Ali thread to see how many of you praised him. Kap is doing MUCH less than he did but along the same line.

Now please lock this damn thread. It's pretty worthless. No perspective has been gained. No minds and hearts have been won. Godspeed on your journeys to actually give a shit.

 

The problem I have with what you're saying is that you presume that the only perspective that needs to be gained is by white people. You never seem to question whether the core underpinnings of BLM, that cops are disproportionately shooting black people in some sort of systemic racist fashion is representative of reality. A recent study by a Harvard professor who, by the way, is black and expected his research to support that position, found that it was not borne out by the data. Cops tend to get more physical with blacks, but don't shoot them disproportionately.

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.n...-shootings.amp.html?client=ms-android-verizon

 

Actually dviss...perspective is often gained without acknowledgement...you'd be surprised how many minds or hearts are won even if they don't admit it. Again, these conversations are important no matter how defensive the reaction...more often than not, folks don't see themselves without a mirror.

 

thank you

 

The website may say that, but that certainly hasn't been the point of all of the demonstrations around the country. If it were, the name might be something more relating to a generic reduction of police shootings instead of BLM.

 

every demographic has level headed people and whack job idiots....I try not to confuse the organizations with the idiots that have their posters on the wall or the PTSD vets coming home with bloodlust and anger