Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What does THAT tell you? Remember Jesse Jackson's story of hearing stepping behind him and seeing the dudes were "white" and he relaxed? Jackson's also Black. Sheesh!
I'm going to sound extremely selfish, but this is how it is with me. I do not care. I care about what happens to me. As a Black men, I do not want to be perceived as a threat. Stuff like this has happened to me.
A true story: I was looking for employment with the university. I found an online posting for a job. I went to ask. I was told there was no job. Naturally, I'm going to be a bit perturbed by this. My reaction. A sigh and rolling my eyes and then I walked off. Less than half an hour later, the police were looking for me, a public disturbance call. I explained to the police what happened. The police just said "just be careful".
The fact that merely appearing upset would warrant someone calling the police is something that makes me question this society. Why? Because I don't think merely looking upset is something that should get the cops called on you.
I don't care what Jesse Jackson had to say. Why? At the end of the day, I am still a Black man. At the end of the day, I am the one who has to worry about being perceived as a threat. I am the one who has to worry what other people think of him, and it's stressful.
I don't mind dressing in a suit, because I like dressing that way. However, I want to do it for ME, just me. I don't want to do it so that someone won't view me as a threat.
No, you don't know what you are talking about. The backbone of the American middle class used to be manufacturing jobs. Those manufacturing had many entry level low skilled jobs that allowed less educated men to get a good job and advance. Those jobs have disappeared. So this hurts black men more because they were just getting their foot in the door when those jobs started to dry up.
You must have a hard time reading. I put every single school district in the north shore area (read: the rich area of the county) against MPS in my post.
My point was that some rich school districts spent more money.
You can't look at one public school district for one year and make sweeping generalizations about how money discrepancies have nothing to do with differing educational outcomes. That is very simplistic thinking.
The reality is that people having children when they are not financially stable themselves is a recipe for poverty and extended use of welfare. THAT is the reality that you are wanting to ignore. Sure, the overwhelming majority of children are born to women over 18, but how many babies of families on welfare or living in poverty are born to women under the age of say, 20? That is the statistic you need to be referencing, not all children born to women of all ages.
Explain how having a child while being poor prevents someone from getting a better job?
The reality is people are poor because they jobs that don't pay that well. In fact, low wages for American workers are THE issue with poverty in this nation, not having children.
Your stance is just a phony moralistic stance to say those people are to blame that ignores the reality that most poor people with children are working and the problem is an American economy that doesn't produce enough good paying jobs in the same way that it used to do for workers with not a lot of education and we have not solved that problem as a society.
Welfare is a very small thing. I think 2.7 million families are on welfare out of a nation of 310million people.
Poverty exists because the American economy no longer is producing the kinds of jobs that sustained this nation.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,462,476 times
Reputation: 6670
Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner
I'm going to sound extremely selfish, but this is how it is with me. I do not care. I care about what happens to me. As a Black men, I do not want to be perceived as a threat. Stuff like this has happened to me.
A true story: I was looking for employment with the university. I found an online posting for a job. I went to ask. I was told there was no job. Naturally, I'm going to be a bit perturbed by this. My reaction. A sigh and rolling my eyes and then I walked off. Less than half an hour later, the police were looking for me, a public disturbance call. I explained to the police what happened. The police just said "just be careful".
The fact that merely appearing upset would warrant someone calling the police is something that makes me question this society. Why? Because I don't think merely looking upset is something that should get the cops called on you.
I don't care what Jesse Jackson had to say. Why? At the end of the day, I am still a Black man. At the end of the day, I am the one who has to worry about being perceived as a threat. I am the one who has to worry what other people think of him, and it's stressful.
I don't mind dressing in a suit, because I like dressing that way. However, I want to do it for ME, just me. I don't want to do it so that someone won't view me as a threat.
Geez, that must be a real pain in the keester... I can't even imagine having to deal with that kinda stuff all the time! And makes it all the more absurd whenever white folks go around suggesting any sort of "equivalency" of experience! (for example not unlike Romney claiming that Israel's success is due to their "cultural superiority" to Palestinians... LOL)!
IMO, that total lack of human empathy is only one symptom of western culture's growing Narcissism (aka, "its all about ME!") at every level, and where so many folks now feel "entitled" to a bunch of new quasi-"Freedoms" (from being offended, from feeling insecure, the "freedom" to exercise their prejudices, etc.), all of which now seem to trump the real freedoms. Perhaps another reason why the Zimmerman-Martin case is so important, because it really captures that clash of 'freedoms'!
Geez, that must be a real pain in the keester... I can't even imagine having to deal with that kinda stuff all the time! And makes it all the more absurd whenever white folks go around suggesting any sort of "equivalency" of experience! (for example not unlike Romney claiming that Israel's success is due to their "cultural superiority" to Palestinians... LOL)!
IMO, that total lack of human empathy is only one symptom of western culture's growing Narcissism (aka, "its all about ME!") at every level, where so many folks now feel "entitled" to a bunch of new quasi-"Freedoms" (from being offended, from feeling insecure, the "freedom" to exercise their prejudices, etc.), all of which now seem to trump the real freedoms. Perhaps another reason why the Zimmerman-Martin case is so important, because it really captures that clash of 'freedoms'!
I'm getting the feeling that the last paragraph might have something to do with me. I'm just wondering. This is just alot of stuff I think about daily.
I haven't followed the Martin-Zimmerman case because it's too controversial for me to discuss with anyone.
There are black men that drives nice cars that get harassed, and I do know of white women who cross the street when the see black man coming towards them and it doesn't matter what they have on. Just because you don't see something doesn't be that it don't happen..
In the first attack, the victim, who was not a student, reported being punched while getting out of a car. The second victim, a VCU student, reported being knocked to the ground and then robbed.
Both victims told police the assailants were part of a group of 15 black men between the ages of 17 and 22, the Times-Dispatch reported.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,462,476 times
Reputation: 6670
Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner
I'm getting the feeling that the last paragraph might have something to do with me. I'm just wondering. This is just alot of stuff I think about daily.
I haven't followed the Martin-Zimmerman case because it's too controversial for me to discuss with anyone.
Yeah, it's also probably why the Martin-Zimmerman case has become so 'toxic', because of all the 'stuff' it seems to represent below the face of it. So underneath things like the obvious racial, or 'stand your ground' legal issues, instead I see more 'contemporary' questions like, do my subjective "freedoms" (like my feelings, prejudices or insecurities), now trump your constititional freedoms?!
BTW, I hear 'ya re: narcissism as a potentially larger issue in all of us these days, one way or another. Because the other weird thing about it is that narcissism always requires an Other to fulfill some sort of 'Role' (i.e. to play out the projected 'stuff' the narcissist doesnt wanna acknowledge in themselves... like their own insecurities, prejudices, "dark" side, etc.). So you gotta be real careful now about maintaining things like "boundaries", and not getting unconsciously sucked into someone else's narcissistic "drama" that's always unconsciously looking about for "actors"!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
