Fiskable material from the land of the Browns and Indians.
In 2002, Michael Green extracted a single promise from me during the year I spent reporting about his life after he spent 13 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.
Green, who is African-American, knew I'd be giving a lot of speeches about his story, including at high schools in Cleveland. He saw an opportunity to save lives.
"Tell the boys," he said to me over and over. "Tell the boys this comes from me: If the police stop you, don't ever run. Take your hands out of your pockets. Immediately. Put your hands over your head. Immediately. Stand perfectly still, and keep your opinions to yourself." Experience is a hard master...
"You have to promise," he said. "You have to warn them." Aaand they probably won't listen...
I've written about this promise a number of times over the years. I do that because I want to keep my word and share the warning in as large a forum as possible. If I'm honest with myself, though, I have to admit I also do it because I want to feel a little less guilty about my unearned privilege as a white woman. As a white mother, to be precise. My worries never rival those of most African-American mothers. Most days, I'd rather not think about that. Again, such privilege. If you'd rather not think about it, why'd you publish this piece? Sometimes more can be gained by reflecting in silence than trying to 'splain yourself to a racist mob.
A decade ago, neither Green nor I knew to warn about the likes of George Zimmerman. He was no cop, despite his fancy notions of himself as a civilian enforcer. Instead, he was empowered by a law cooked up by the National Rifle Association and a certainty in his right to pursue an unarmed teenager who fit his description of a suspect. Some warned that this could happen, but we all should have seen it coming. Unarmed teenager my ass. Trayvon Martin was built like a high school defensive lineman, who can do incredible damage from a dead sprint. As long as drug addled, brain damaged teens in hoodies, black or white, are out late at night, this WILL happen again. And if the 19 million who live in Florida want to remove self defense laws, the NRA can't stop them. Stop lying and making this about anything other than right and wrong.
Earlier this month, in a speech to the NAACP, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder described a family ritual all too familiar to many in the audience. His father sat him down. The talk his father gave, Holder said, was "about how, as a young black man, I should interact with the police, what to say and how to conduct myself if I was ever stopped or confronted in a way that I thought was unwarranted. Now, I'm sure my father felt certain at that time that my parents' generation would be the last that had to worry about such things for their children." Probably good advice regardless of race. My father sat me down at 14 as well. But I'm not black, white privilege, don't you know...
Some family traditions just won't die in this country. After Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, Holder sat his own 15-year-old son down.
"This was a father-son tradition I hoped would not need to be handed down," he said. "But as a father who loves his son and who is more knowing in the ways of the world, I had to do this to protect my boy. I am his father, and it is my responsibility not to burden him with the baggage of eras long gone but to make him aware of the world that he must still confront. This is a sad reality in a nation that is changing for the better in so many ways."
Ever since the verdict was announced and Zimmerman walked free, I've been trying to write this column. How can I not have something to say about this?
Yet every approach feels wrong. Maybe because your whole premise is wrong. Maybe this has more to do with right and wrong, rather than race.
I feel conspicuously white -- and defensive -- embarrassingly eager to talk about how I raised my children to be better than their parents and their grandparents before them, how they never see race before face, how they never think to describe their friends by the color of their skin. If you feel white, lady you are racist, plain and simple, and don't lie about it.
Just saying that out loud makes me wince. Oh, great. Another obnoxious white liberal celebrating her own good intentions. Obnoxious in any race.
I keep fighting the urge to explain myself to my black friends, to offer evidence of how I could have turned out worse than this clumsy version of me. Sane black folks thinks a white person who says these things is crazy anyway, the non racists ones that is.
There are many, many times when I miss my father, but this week isn't one of them. I'm glad not to have that conversation that rips open old wounds and launches another round of estrangement. He once grounded me for an entire summer after he found out about my seventh-grade crush on a black boy.
"We don't mix," he yelled, eyes bulging, fists flexing at his side. I look back on that summer as the first time I realized my beloved father was wrong, just wrong, and I no longer wanted to be just like him. Daddy drinks coz you're a liberal, honey, not just coz of your taste in men.
After more than a decade as a columnist, I know what's coming. Just telling that story will trigger another round of angry emails. Some white readers will demand to know what kind of daughter says such things about her father. Hint: A liberal who is wrong on just about everything. And if black readers fail to condemn you about your racist hatred for your father, then that just about sums up the whole problem for blacks, and what got Trayvon Martin killed. His father was a racist gangbanger, whom Trayvon Martin emulated. He listened to his father.
On and on it goes. Which is a shame, not that liberals understand the concept...
I was raised by a conservative father & mother who actually treated the world in a race neutral manner. I learned the lessons well to judge people by their character not their color. Yet, today, that makes me a racist according to fools like this and the whole PC mob.
#9
"Tell the boys," he said to me over and over. "Tell the boys this comes from me: If the police stop you, don't ever run. Take your hands out of your pockets. Immediately. Put your hands over your head. Immediately. Stand perfectly still, and keep your opinions to yourself."
Hmmm. KEEP YOUR OPINONS TO YOURSELF.
Or you're dead.
That seems to be a major problem with Blacks.
SHUT YOUR MOUTH.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/28/2013 9:19 Comments ||
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#10
I thought it was a cogent, well written article.
#11
Actually it's a perch of mainstream black-cultural inferiority. Which only continues and worsens because of subsidy (mainly from working white folks).
#14
Nice perspective, P2K (#7). It's all about perspective! The perch has a very narrow perspective, and likes it that way.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/28/2013 12:37 Comments ||
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#15
My worries never rival those of most African-American mothers.
A few days ago someone made a point that in the days between Travon Martin's death and Zimmerman's acquittal,13,500 Blacks had been murdered. 12,500 of them had been killed by other Blacks and 1,000 had been killed by other races. In fact, White murderers account for only 7% of the murders of Blacks.
So yes - Black fathers and mothers should be worried when their son goes out for some Skittles. They should be worried their son will be a victim of gang violence. Being killed by a White is far down the list. Getting killed by the cops is even further down the list. Something like 90 Blacks are shot by the police each year (in the entire US). In fact cops are twice as likely to be shot by Black as to shoot a sweet little boy like Trayvon.
White mothers have less to worry about because White boys are much less likely to commit murder.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/28/2013 13:30 Comments ||
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#16
"White Privilege" is the new "code word" for reparations, affirmitine action, revenge, class envy and extortion. I am sure our country will take it, hook, line and sinker.
#17
I am reminded, for some reason, of the musical West Side Story. I loved it when I was young, but when I saw it a few months ago, I cried all the way through. Then I enjoyed the music and the dancing, and of course the romantic play on Romeo and Juliet. This time I saw the horror of gang violence (ethnic white vs. hispanic, in the story), and the refusal of the community to allow anyone to escape. Our writer has perhaps not seen the musical, or the various other Broadway musicals based on Romeo and Juliet, amd therefore cannot conceive that any but African-Americans might endure violence and assumptions from society at large.
One might say, those who do not know history are unaware of repeating it.
#18
From a wide front porch under slowing turning fans, afternoon nap finished, iced tea at the ready, watching the many species of lovely Georgia song birds attending the feeder..... 'white privileged' and proud.
#19
These are the same Lefties(tm) who cried "Black Majority rule for South Africa" who somehow have a serious internal and intellectual problems with white majority rule in America. Thus the use of the term 'privilege' to cover their need to dictate and rule lord regardless of the lack of basic principles.
#20
I read once that white guys are taught that when pulled over you try to get your wallet out and put it on the dashboard and keep your hands visible and make no quick movies or talk crap because anytging you do increasea your chance of getting that ticket.
Blacks tend to be offended because they were pulled over for driving while black and give attitude.
These two factors explain why preportionally both are stopped the same amount but more blacks take the step from oulled over to arrested.
In April, Jordans King Abdullah came to Washington and passionately urged the United States to become captain of the team supporting Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad. Though he got his wish with the Obama administrations June 13 announcement that it will begin providing direct military aid to the Free Syrian Army, the diminutive monarch has a strange understanding of teamwork. When the Los Angeles Times subsequently published an article detailing how CIA instructors were on the ground in Jordan training rebels, the kings prime minister told reporters straight-faced that there is no training whatsoever of Syrian opposition forces in Jordan, and insisted that his government is not interfering in the incidents under way in Syria.
The rebels other major Arab sponsors display similar duplicity. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been willing to covertly arm and equip Syrian rebels, but unwilling to do so openly, even as they urge Washington to pick up the banner and run with it.
The trend is not new. For decades, Sunni-led Arab governments shied away from openly challenging Tehran and its proxies, while privately pressing the United States to contain and roll back the so-called Shiite crescent stretching from Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Though partly attributable to concerns about strong popular sympathies for the Iranian-led resistance axis and restive Shiite minorities at home, the tiered statecraft of Arab leaders also reflected hard-nosed politico-strategic calculations geared more toward leveraging American pressure than adding to it.
The Saudis, for instance, discretely encouraged the Bush administrations high-profile efforts to pull Lebanon out of the Syrian-Iranian orbit from 2004 to 2008, while maintaining courteous diplomatic relations with Tehran (and with Assad, apart from one 18-month interlude) and making low-profile efforts to support their local clients.
Political constraints are even less of a factor for Arab leaders now that the Sunni Arab street has been brought squarely into agreement with them on the perils of Iranian regional ambitions. Concerns about Iranian subversion of Arab Shiites may discourage open participation in a bloody sectarian war, but they dont explain why Arab governments havent been doing everything possible covertly to support the rebels. Given ample resources, a rebel coalition drawing support from Syrias two-thirds Sunni Arab majority is sure to eventually win a war of attrition against pro-regime forces recruited primarily from Alawites comprising one-eighth of the population.
The problem is that they havent been given ample resources least of all money (the most important resource of all in a country with less and less of a gun shortage). Lack of funds is the main reason why the rebels still field substantially fewer combatants than the regime by most estimates, despite their enormous demographic advantage.
The reluctance of Arab regimes to support the rebels full throttle owes much to their anticipation that America will eventually intervene to stem the regional spillover (an expectation entirely consistent with the Obama administrations gradually deepening commitment to the rebel cause over the past two years). Their primary concern is not to accelerate the inevitable collapse of Syrias minoritarian autocracy it is to reap the greatest possible share of the spoils from it, at the least possible expense. This means giving various insurgent factions enough arms and financing under the table to win their respective loyalties and keep them fighting until America steps in, but not enough to enable an outright rebel victory.
Although Arab leaders are telling Washington that a larger American footprint in Syria will facilitate a peaceful solution to the war, their privately expressed faith in the palliative impact of U.S. intervention in the Arab world is disingenuous. Arab leaders arent waiting for Captain America because they think he will save the day. They are waiting because they want someone else to take responsibility for the horrific violence they know will yet be required to decisively defeat their enemy.
A nice discussion by Richard Fernandez AKA Wretchard about the US decline in its military deterrence, and Japanese unique solution to its defense against an aggressive China.
Gawd help the Chinese if Japan ever returns to carrier naval aviation.
From TFA:
"In reality, I doubt the U.S. would actually fight." This represents the collapse of deterrence. It means that in order to convince enemies of American seriousness going forward Washington has to actually fight, which is a whole lot more expensive than simply maintaining a reputation.
When the public thinks of a non-US navy it usually thinks of Britain's or France's. But Japan has twice as many submarines as France and twice as many surface combatants as the Royal Navy. And what its navy actually buys and builds is the best true indicator of what Tokyo actually thinks of Washington.
#3
That is the time remaining in the Obama Presidency.
I think the Chinese are in for a brutal surprise if they decide to take on the JSDF's navy & airforce.
They're no more "Peacefull" Than an Apache attack, and the sooner people realize it, the better. They attack (And kill Muslims)as well as the general public, girls schools, ANY other Religion, and with seeming Impunity.
It's GOOD that others see them as murderous savages, They are.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/28/2013 14:14 Comments ||
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#2
Islam is totten. Its amorally decayed religion that is eaten up with the cancer of internal contradictions overlaid on a diseased Culture.
They hate themselves and each other. We can best serve our own interests by assisting the Moslems in eating each other's guts.
get the Mooks to kill the Goons and make money off the ammo sales. America's biggest threat is not the Moslems..our biggest threat is the Left, our fellow Americans. John Kerry, Hillary, Obama, and Harry Reid are no accident.
Our Values are what make us American. The family , the Judeo-Christian ethos, and our willingness to provide opportunity to men who are willing to work for it.
We WILL win, but we have to keep the cost down and we have to fight smart and understand who our REAL enemies are. A good touchstone: if someone stands up when they play the National Anthem and is respectful of any man who wears the Uniform of the Nation...he's alright.
If he thinks only the stupid put on a uniform he's probably another John Kerry or a what does it matter, like Hillary.
If he's a journalist he probably needs to be castrated and shot. Obama time people. Thrill up your leg people. Walmart asscracks. The braindead democrats. Obama appeals to that sort.
#3
Sorry to disagree but the OWG Globalist concept of "MULTI-POLARITY" = PAR CO-SUPERPOWERS = NUCLEAR ISLAM/ISLAMISM.
The US may not adhere much longer, espec iff after 2015 iff not already, to the Reagan-Bush 41 era of unilateral "PEACE/DIPLOMACY THROUGH STRENGTH", but more by COLLECTIVE ACTION.
IMO this indics or infers that the Muslim World includ Radical Islam stands a very good chance of de facto achieving its OWG [Nuclear] CALIPHATE.
Since the election, it seems as though a lot of people have suddenly gone off the reservation on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. And some of you are asking yourselves, Why? What happened? Well, todays your lucky day; one of those now-free souls is going to lay it out for you.
We have had ENOUGH of your crap!
For decades now, all you zombies have been berating us in public because we didnt publicly evangelize the party line. For decades now, all you zombies have been telling us how we should think if we want to be part of the club. If you want to be an actor, toe the line or youre blacklisted. If you want to be a writer, toe the line or youre blacklisted. If you want to be promoted at work, toe the line or youre blacklisted. For decades now, all you zombies have been parroting the party line without any thought whatsoever, proclaiming that youre smart and anyone who disagrees with you is obviously wrong without even listening to counter-arguments, while simultaneously claiming that youre open-minded. For decades now, all you zombies have been shouting, If youre not with us, youre against us, with complete disregard to the fact that this country is a melting pot of backgrounds and ideas, which simply cannot be reduced to a black-and-white line of right vs. wrong.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
