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Walking around downtown Atlanta yesterday I walked past a woman who appeared to be yelling some threatening things. I heard the "N" word mentioned. I noticed that this woman appeared to be homeless, and she was harassing specifically other Blacks. I couldn't tell much of what she was yelling. It was around a MARTA station. When I got to the train, I thought "she's going to mouth off to the wrong person and get assaulted".
This isn't the first time I've run into something like this. I've run into things like this before. I've noticed something. The persons bold enough to yell racial slurs were often people who by appearance didn't look like much. I thought about this. When it's happened to me, I was by myself and the persons involved were in a vehicle(and not alone).
I had to think about this. She might have been crazy. She might have realized that the Blacks that she was likely to encounter were professionals and people who didn't have time to deal with such stuff.
For anyone who has dealt with having racial slurs yelled at you, this is what I would like to know more of.
1) What has often been your reaction to it?
2) Did you ever feel that said person might have looked at you as a "push-over" or "weak" and therefore, bold enough to say such things?
That "at least I'm not Black" thing is part of what I'm talking about. There is a feeling of "I should be doing better than black people, I'm better than them", which has basically been pushed by those in power. The "what benefits you hurts me" mindset has very strong as well.
It is very easy to scapegoat other people, especially when others are convincing you that said group is beneath you. It is easy to scapegoat in the name of gaining monetary and political power. The idea of "in order to get political power, I can't ally with that group". In many cases, it is the idea of "maybe if I prove that the group in power that I'm on their side, my life will get better". And this is not something that is limited to poor Whites.
Think of this. There are kids in a classroom with a really nasty teacher. A student is looking out for his own survival. Rather than the kids mobilizing their parents against this teacher, one student decides to kiss up, stand apart from the other students. The idea is to gain favor with the teacher, in hopes of getting yelled at less.
The environmental issue, I don't know what is going on. What I do know is that there are environmental issues. I wonder if some people don't realize that it is their fight. I don't know if there is a fear of being used in terms of environmental issues. I have heard that fear addressed when it comes to gay rights, and immigration.
I think there's more to environmental issues than just polluted air and FWIW, where I live white communities are affected by the air as well because there's so much petrochemical production here. Anyway, environmental factors can be attributed to trash in the streets, bodily wastes (nasty people) or even other self inflicted damage such as burning down ones community in the midst of a protest.
How about the inside environment of some of these communities? Earlier the thread touched on public housing. Do you know the bad shape that some of the former housing projects in Chicago were in prior to being torn down? Elevators that did not work, urine in the hallways, arson, not to mention having that many people jam packed into a few ridiculously tall towers.
4) I think that the term "thug" is being used to broadly to encompass any black man that does not fit into another black man' ideal of a "good black man" (another term which is used too broadly). Obviously Steve Stephens was mentally ill, had anger and manipulation issues and was struggling with his sexuality (was on the down low)
Steven Stephens was a demon masquerading as a "good" black man. And I am sure that many of the people who knew him would have labeled him as such. His girlfriend broke up with him because of his secret homosexual behavior (which runs rampant in some black fraternities) and he decides to commit murder.
Steven Stephens wasn't masquerading as anything. By broadcasting a murder live on Facebook, he showed the world exactly who he was. Not the best comparison.
You have several black women saying that the above opinion is wholly untrue. Let's actually have a dialog and stop talking past one another.
Again, stop clinging to the stereotypes about black women if you want us to let go of the stereotypes about black men.
I actually made an effort at such a dialogue (i.e., mending the broken relationship between BM and BW) and we all saw what a disaster that was. Anyway, I certainly wasn't trying to stereotype BW. There's decent and ratchet in every race. As a black man, I have both in my family.
FWIW, alcoholism also runs in my family and it's scary in both the BM and BW in my family. Then, I also have very noble family members of both sexes in my family too.
Comment I have bolded is a great analogy. Not only will one student kiss up, but the others will look for someone they consider lower on the totem pole to pick on. The meanest kids I knew in school were not the popular ones, but the ones who were trying to scratch their way up from the bottom. The worst part is when the teacher (literal or metaphorical), looks on with approval.
This made me think of some of my high school days. I was a nerdy type. I liked reading books. I liked participating in class discussions. Some other kids did not like this. I got into alot of problems. I wasn't the type to kiss up. This is something I will mention. In my case, the kids who did the most racially motivated stuff to me were not the popular kids. It was the kids who seemed content to be "do nothings" who did the worst stuff. It was often "redneck" types who did some of the worst stuff. I also got alot of crap of the "wannabe ghetto" types.
I often thought the biggest bullies would be the popular kids, the kids in the "in crowd". I think about the movie "The Outsiders"(I've read the book too). The greasers, the kids who came from a rough, working class environment. The socs coming from a more middle class environment getting all the breaks. In the book, it shows the greasers being at the mercy of the socs.
In modern context, with what i grew up around, the preps, the kids who wore Aeropostale, Hollister, American Eagle, they would be the socs. The rednecks, they would be more or less the greasers. They were more likely to come from working class environments, to have it a bit rougher. What I grew up with was this. I got bullied far more by the "rednecks" than the preps (and some of them could be bad as well).
I'm wondering since the prep types were higher up, they felt no need to go after me. I do wonder that some of redneck types felt threatened by me, or felt going after me was easier than going after someone who looked like they could put up a fight.
As it applies to this topic, it leaves me wondering about how this plays out in issues like the environment, and government abuse.
I think there's more to environmental issues than just polluted air and FWIW, where I live white communities are affected by the air as well because there's so much petrochemical production here. Anyway, environmental factors can be attributed to trash in the streets, bodily wastes (nasty people) or even other self inflicted damage such as burning down ones community in the midst of a protest.
How about the inside environment of some of these communities? Earlier the thread touched on public housing. Do you know the bad shape that some of the former housing projects in Chicago were in prior to being torn down? Elevators that did not work, urine in the hallways, arson, not to mention having that many people jam packed into a few ridiculously tall towers.
I know about the petrochemical industry in Louisiana. Alot of people are affected by it. And there are things going on in Mississippi as well. Pollution can be anything. Part of why I say "pollution".
There are White people in Appalachia being affected by the water pollution and the environmental degradation from the coal industry. I just thought about how Blacks are affected living in inner city areas. If taken into a broader concept, this is a situation of people in general being viewed as disposable and the idea of "if you can't make money for us, you are worthless".
I don't know how bad of shape the projects in Chicago were before being torn down. However, if they were treated like the Pruitt-Igoe projects in St. Louis, I would say badly. There were reports of maintenance in the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects falling behind, elevators not getting fixed when they should have.
There are cases of men running and being rolling stones. There are also cases where mothers have made it so hard where the father's had to fight to see their kids.
Yes and usually the latter l, though not right, is in response to the former. However, fathers have visitation rights which can be ordered by the Court. However, many times those same men don't want to be held by a vistation schedule. What they really want is to be able to come and go when they please and avoid what they deem as too much responsibility. I have seen it so many times in my line of work.
Walking around downtown Atlanta yesterday I walked past a woman who appeared to be yelling some threatening things. I heard the "N" word mentioned. I noticed that this woman appeared to be homeless, and she was harassing specifically other Blacks. I couldn't tell much of what she was yelling. It was around a MARTA station. When I got to the train, I thought "she's going to mouth off to the wrong person and get assaulted".
This isn't the first time I've run into something like this. I've run into things like this before. I've noticed something. The persons bold enough to yell racial slurs were often people who by appearance didn't look like much. I thought about this. When it's happened to me, I was by myself and the persons involved were in a vehicle(and not alone).
I had to think about this. She might have been crazy. She might have realized that the Blacks that she was likely to encounter were professionals and people who didn't have time to deal with such stuff.
For anyone who has dealt with having racial slurs yelled at you, this is what I would like to know more of.
1) What has often been your reaction to it?
2) Did you ever feel that said person might have looked at you as a "push-over" or "weak" and therefore, bold enough to say such things?
Funny you mention this, that's exactly how my encounter was. This was in the 90's, I was leaving a club with my best friend as we were heading to my car a group of boys who had left and got into their car, circled past us and shouted out the N word. I and my friend were quite shocked. I know for me, I couldn't remember ever having been addressed that way in all of my adult years, so I was thrown back, for a minute, but just a minute. I got a good laugh though as those same idiots got pulled over by the police just up the road.
But about the types of people who do these things, it takes all kinds, there's not hierarchy when it comes to such people. Those boys were likely not of a lower economical level or social status, just a-holes and of lesser mental and emotional makeup.
Now this guy really takes the cake, did any of you hear of this incident I've included a link for over the past week? When I first heard about it, he was insistent that he was staying put as he felt he hadn't really done anything wrong. A Florida Sen. Frank Artiles, not only called Sen. Audrey Gibson, the N word, but he called her the B word among other things, as well as referring to several other leaders as the N word. Not much really surprises me anymore. I try not to think to much on it, but, I am very aware. I'm thankful I've lived a very diverse life and know this isn't everyone's mindset. Crazy and stupid has no color.
Funny you mention this, that's exactly how my encounter was. This was in the 90's, I was leaving a club with my best friend as we were heading to my car a group of boys who had left and got into their car, circled past us and shouted out the N word. I and my friend were quite shocked. I know for me, I couldn't remember ever having been addressed that way in all of my adult years, so I was thrown back, for a minute, but just a minute. I got a good laugh though as those same idiots got pulled over by the police just up the road.
But about the types of people who do these things, it takes all kinds, there's not hierarchy when it comes to such people. Those boys were likely not of a lower economical level or social status, just a-holes and of lesser mental and emotional makeup.
Now this guy really takes the cake, did any of you hear of this incident I've included a link for over the past week? When I first heard about it, he was insistent that he was staying put as he felt he hadn't really done anything wrong. A Florida Sen. Frank Artiles, not only called Sen. Audrey Gibson, the N word, but he called her the B word among other things, as well as referring to several other leaders as the N word. Not much really surprises me anymore. I try not to think to much on it, but, I am very aware. I'm thankful I've lived a very diverse life and know this isn't everyone's mindset. Crazy and stupid has no color.
I can honestly say you took it better than I did. I wouldn't have been able to laugh. Just the same, I wonder if said persons would have come up to you in your face and say that. I've been called racial slurs to my face during my adult life. Not all the time or the majority of the time. However, when it did happen, it through me off too.
Part of me feels surprised that some middle/middle-upper class types who would do something like that. Most of the openly bigoted behavior I dealt with(being called racial slurs/being threatened in a racially motivated way) has come from "redneck" types, working class people. On the other hand, I can recall a few middle class persons who made jokes directed towards me.
I don't know what is up with that Florida law maker. I know it happened. The fact that he felt like he did nothing wrong shows he is either bold with his bigotry, or just stupid.
Yes and usually the latter l, though not right, is in response to the former. However, fathers have visitation rights which can be ordered by the Court. However, many times those same men don't want to be held by a vistation schedule. What they really want is to be able to come and go when they please and avoid what they deem as too much responsibility. I have seen it so many times in my line of work.
Sometimes the latter is a result of a lousy father. In other cases, it is about using a kid to get back at the father. Children sometimes get used to get back at the other party. My point is that both parties need to take responsibility. Yes, there are Black men out there being dead beats and rolling stones. I have never denied that. There are women playing a part in this as well. It takes two to tango. There are men who need to step it up and do better, period. There are women who need to do better as well. It starts by staying away from deadbeat individuals in the first place. Best way to stop all of this is not to lay down with anyone who doesn't have their act together, both parties.
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