Has anyone visited the comment section of an MSN news story, which involved police brutality of blacks, or just blacks? If you have, you probably noticed an ill feeling in your gut as you read the horrendous comments posted by anti-black racists. If it was against all other races except for their own, they would just be racists; but no, their particular gripe is against the people with the darkest of dark skin tones. The article I visited that had this latest batch of typed fecal was, "TIME magazine asks how much has really changed in America since the '60s". The cringe-worthy diatribes against blacks outnumbered any commenters with brains... I know, because I posted a reply myself. I know, it was a waste of time - but it felt to me as if just leaving the comments section vacant of any reason and logic, would've drawn in some poor young person to fall for whatever terrible trash was posted without some rebuttal. I was going to post another, but said post was longer than first intended, and I felt it would have been wasted on a short-lived news story's comments section. So instead, I decided to post it here, so if you ever run into a poo-flinging mouth breather, you can redirect them here or copy and paste parts to use as a quick response to stupid comments. (If they learned how to read that is.)
[I'm mixed, (Hispanic & black,) but I wrote this in a way so to make sound less like I'm being the representative of all black people.]
Here are a few things you might find a bit of a shock:
1.) Blacks don't want your pity and sympathy, they want your respect, empathy, and equal opportunity. No matter how hard blacks try, this country never gives all three. They are said to be available, but it rarely is, if ever. Many blacks are held responsible for the actions of the few, blamed for the breakdown of society, and seen as the most inferior in many aspects compared to other skin colors. As a result, blacks are excluded from the inclusive, beaten without question, and killed without remorse. The most peaceful are labeled cowards, the bravest are labeled violent, adults are patronized like children, and children are treated like adults. This is all while being exploited for profit, have their successes ignored, failures paraded, and berated for just existing. Blacks take such mistreatment for years, and whenever they want to have a dialogue about this, they are accused of being "race-baiters" or "uppity troublemakers". Then when they finally react to their mistreatment, it is somehow assumed that there is no reason to act that way, so that must be just the way they are. All of this makes it near impossible to achieve any cordial interracial relationship, even with those considered as the "few good ones" who "pull themselves up and become great citizens."
2.) Black culture IS American culture. Everything racists despise blacks for, you see every other U.S. citizen do: Blacks glorify crime? The Sopranos was a top-rated show across the U.S., and pirates are beloved fantastical characters. Blacks are always asking for handouts? Last I checked, so does the other 61.2% of recipients, with the majority of those being whites. Blacks are so violent? In Walmart, you have the choice of getting a copy of Dirty Harry or GTA, before heading for your next NRA meeting. Am I saying blacks don’t have their own culture? Yes and no; but hey, that happens when your ancestors are kidnapped and stripped of much of their old ways. Over time however, blacks adapted to their new home and contributed with their own innovations, but they were only well incorporated into America’s culture after racism tried to remove any black identity.
3.) Other minorities did go through hard times, and they did react violently to injustice too, despite how passive you thought they were to get to where they are now. Remember all of the Indian Wars and AIM during the 1960's and 70's? Remember the Jewish uprisings in Europe, and the people like Meyer Lansky in the States during WWII? I doubt many remember the Manzanar Riot. Yeah, people without black skin managed to fair better in American society than those with, in spite of being just as qualified for the same treatment. Why? Here are two major reasons: a.) lighter skin meant an easier time blending in with whites, than someone with darker skin, (especially if they could pass themselves off as white,) and b.) except for Native Americans, many minorities made the choice to come to America. They may not have had a lot of money or familiar faces with them, but they came and kept much of what they brought with them. Blacks…not so much.
4.) When a community is stricken with poverty and abuse, it’s much less likely anybody living there will feel as if they are a part of it. If when you move into a neighborhood, and the area’s residents are prejudice against you, they will intentionally make things hard for you. When the wealthier residents let their prejudice get the best of them and move away, taking their personal funds and investments with them, there is going to be poverty. When corrupt elected officials, (both left and right,) defund education and social services, there is going to be a lack of education and fewer avenues to receive aid. If you work long hours at multiple minimum-wage jobs just to make a living, and still not able to afford certain needs and amenities, you are going to hate those establishments.
Poverty + Inadequate Education and Services + High Effort, Low Paying Jobs = Desperation, Depression, Frustration.
This leads to more crime, more drug usage, and less stable families. Anyone in a situation like this would feel trapped in a community where they feel unappreciated, unsafe, and unlikely to move up the social ladder; it feels more like a penal colony than something worth living in. You feel like the community is not your own. Yet despite that, you try to make the best out of this situation, and then here come the cops. The ones who are supposed to protect and serve you, instead victimize you. If you run, you die! If you startle the officer, you die! If you give up, dead! If you even sneeze, dead! Is it racism? Classism? Both? Whichever the case, only so much can be piled on any human being before they break. It doesn't matter if the next individual was innocent or a small-time crook, if they die unarmed while complying, surrendering, in custody, running away in fear, or just minding their own business, it all will boil over. When that break finally happens, don't be surprised that you find yourself targeting police cars, minimum-wage work places, stores with unaffordable needs and wants, and homes with shoddy upkeep. Is this a good idea? To anyone not living there, of course not…but if you look under the surface, it becomes a little more understandable.
5.) “Black Lives Matter”, means black lives matter AS MUCH as everyone else’s. People with brains get the message, which is why you see people of many colors march together against police brutality and racism. Meanwhile, racists somehow see the term “Black Lives Matter” as a challenge; as blacks are worth more than everyone else, or that blacks are the only victims to brutality. With that, racists are offended by the term, and accuse blacks of being bigots with victim complexes.
Blacks have been in America since the Spanish. Blacks are not going anywhere and are not going to stop demanding a fair shake. If you still have some humility left, stop ignoring and demonizing an entire people for the sake of secretly making yourself feel better than others. We are all human; we are all more complex than just good and evil, and skin certainly doesn't dictate who a person is. Don't like that truth? Get used to it!