Editorial: opening dialogue where it is long overdue.

[jacqueg]

I find the idea that if you don't talk about it, it will automagically go away very odd.

We'd still have Jim Crow laws today, if we hadn't started talking about racism and how it is structurally enforced.

It's true that excitable people will exaggerate. But that doesn't mean they're lying about what happens.

I'm an older white woman, and I have had bad experiences with police. I've also had good ones. But I don't doubt at all that black people have had more bad experiences and fewer good ones than I've had. And those experiences weren't because they talked too much about race.

 

[SLB_SA]

Police reform is an urgent necessity. Thank you for your interest.

 

[crofter]

Police reform is an urgent necessity.  Thank you for your interest.

Well a few congresspeople got a demand letter onto AG desk.  But that is not a recipe for change from what I know of his record, more of a museum piece than useful for anything.
-crofter

 

[nature lover]

I’ve been avoiding chiming in on this not because I don’t agree with what you’re saying but because I have an ignorant half brother who is a member of the clan and worse. I can’t believe he was raised in the same house I was raised in and went to church every Sunday morning with us. we often had black guests at the church and home. we had black neighbors, I dated a black woman and I lived with her for almost a year. I don’t know where he got it. I’m just plain ashamed of him. For me he’s just a funeral and wedding relative and then I don’t even sit next to him. I love him and pray that he will lose the hatred he has I am not pass it on to his children. I believe that race hatred is rooted in people’s self worth. They either are or think they are no good so they have to find someone to put down lower than themselves to feel superior and good about themselves. That’s not all of it but I think that’s a major part of it.

 

[txmnjim]

Morgan Freeman also says racism exists because we keep talking about it.

38 seconds into this video;   https://blacknet.co.uk/community_videos/morgan-freemans-view-on-black-history-month-and-blm/

i don't think all black people think alike just as not all white people. he has obviously changed since this
old interview; https://www.nme.com/news/film/morga...s-experiences-racism-social-platforms-2682978
people that think not talking about it will help the situation are really saying, "i like the status quo and don't want to change it"...
and they should thank their lucky stars that they weren't born black as their lives would be totally different!

 

[crofter]

This thread is not about religion.

After watching the video, I did not hear any discussion about religion by Bob or the couple on the video. The discussion on the video was concerning how to safely dwell if you are a person of color, considering the possibility of violence while camping.

Their solution on the video was to have a lot of cameras running all the time, I think they had ten of them. In the case of violence you are essentially filming your own death, and on the video did not advocate taking other actions in self defense. Just having common sense.

The purpose of manned cameras in security work is to detect a threat and quickly respond to it. In the case of the couple in the van, not sure if they were watching their cameras all the time or not. Apparently the purpose of the camera recordings was for posthumous witness to whoever found them, not so much surveillance and response.
-crofter

 

[SLB_SA]

Look at this  bill being considered by Oklahoma.  Illegal to Post Video of Police Online? The Oklahoma legislature is about to pass a law making it illegal there. http://www.lehtoslaw.com
You might want to avoid Oklahoma.

 

[SLB_SA]

Crazy Kentucky Law Would Outlaw Insulting Cops
Here is a A proposed law in the KY legislature would criminalize insulting police during a "riot."

 

[SLB_SA]

Judge Threatens to Jail Cops for Civil Asset Forfeiture Games
A judge in NC has ordered a police department to stop playing games with seized money - and hinted someone might be going to jail.  http://www.lehtoslaw.com
video

 

[desert_sailing]

 we are all racist, 

NO... We are ALL not racist.
I think the correct term you are struggling with is prejudiced.... This is NOT the same as disliking someone based on RACE.. which is specific tooo..yep.. you guessed it..RACE..
Religions are not a RACE...disliking one doesn't make a person a racist.. disliking tofu doesn't make someone a racist.. disliking crack or meth users doesn't make a person racist..
Having an aversion towards something is a natural and innate behavior.. all living creations have this... It's how species survive..
Please before you paint entire populations as racist you should understand the term.

 

[Cammalu]

I’m not a racist.

 

[crofter]

I've been told I'm a racist, but did not think I was. I think my failing was a cultural one, rather than oppressing other people. Some say that being brought up white in America makes you a racist.

Like what nature said about his relative, how can two people raised in the same community turn out different, but they do.
-crofter

 

[Tony's Dream]

I'm not sure how you focus on a solution without talking about it. My experience is that sweeping problems under a rug just makes for a very lumpy rug full of problems.

I do not wish to offend anyone or turn this into a deep political issue.  As long as we choose to separate each other, we continue the problem.  That is why I said we need to stop talking about it, because talking keeps the problem alive.  That is what Morgan Freeman was trying to say. Why do we have black nomands and white nomads?  We should only have nomads.  There is black lives matter....but when people tried to say all lives matter (making all lives equal), there is violence.  We refer to people as asian american, african american, native american, and so on.  Cacausions are refered to as white.  If I insisted on being called a german american instead of white, there would be problems......because that would put everyone back on the same even plane.  If african american nomads are having problems, we need to unite and defend his right to be a nomad....regardless of color or making color an issue.  Everyone wants equality and the first step is to treat everyone equally and stop trying to saying we are different because of color.

 

[Firebuild]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]It's interesting that decades of white people saying "we are different because of color," codifying it, in fact, into laws like redlining, is not viewed as divisive, but when people who are not white say it, it theoretically becomes this thing that separates us. [/font]

Morgan Freeman seems like a great guy, and I'm sure you are, too, and I will say I don't disagree with you in principle, but as long as the world continues to play out so differently than the principle, a different response is necessary.  

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]You say, "If  African American nomads are having problems, we need to unite and defend his right to be a nomad....regardless of color or making color an issue," yet,  the REASON they are having an issue is color, so I'm not sure how we would unite to defend without addressing race in the process. No amount of ignoring it will make it a non issue. [/font]

 

[txmnjim]

There is black lives matter....but when people tried to say all lives matter (making all lives equal), there is violence.  

all lives do matter but all lives are not equally at risk, hence the emphasis on black lives. and the BLM protests
have been overwhelmingly peaceful, much mores so than the white supremacist protests!

 

[txmnjim]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]It's interesting that decades of white people saying "we are different because of color," codifying it, in fact, into laws like redlining, is not viewed as divisive, but when people who are not white say it, it theoretically becomes this thing that separates us. [/font]

Morgan Freeman seems like a great guy, and I'm sure you are, too, and I will say I don't disagree with you in principle, but as long as the world continues to play out so differently than the principle, a different response is necessary.  

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]You say, "If  African American nomads are having problems, we need to unite and defend his right to be a nomad....regardless of color or making color an issue," yet,  the REASON they are having an issue is color, so I'm not sure how we would unite to defend without addressing race in the process. No amount of ignoring it will make it a non issue. [/font]

well said Firebuild!

 

[Firebuild]

all lives do matter but all lives are not equally at risk, hence the emphasis on black lives. and the BLM protests
have been overwhelmingly peaceful, much mores so than the white supremacist protests!

100%.

 

[LERCA]

I’m not black but people always ask me what I am. I used to answer. Now I tell them they are rude and I’m a human being like them. In the past people liked me because of what I was which is condescending and others hated me for the same reason. I don’t care. Take me as I am as a person. If you like or don’t like my personality fine. But also don’t condescend to me. Who cares if a nomad is black or brown. Why do we have to discuss it? From my side if I like them we’ll hang out and maybe be friends otherwise bye like anyone else.

 

[rvwandering]

I'm closing this thread temporarily until I can thoroughly read through the posts. It's not late to do it today.

 

[rvwandering]

Okay - back open. I deleted a couple of off-topic posts. I deleted most of crofter's ketamine posts. The use of ketamine by the police is a serious issue. If you want to read more about it google "ketamine police use"

Please stay on topic which is this video:

and these observations by the OP:

"His (Bob's) recent video addressing what it is like to be black and a van dweller is a necessary conversation. As he himself said is often "swept under the rug" I believe was his quote. 

Without dialogue people can never achieve understanding. That's my viewpoint. I applaud the fact that he isn't afraid of making sure that dialogue isnt limited to subsections of the populus."


There are bad cops. There are good cops. Please do not bash an entire group - I'm including all groups here, not just cops - because of the bad members.

Do not define racism or accuse each other of being racist.