The Problem with Black Lives Matter

Quick update: I actually reached out to Jane Elliot today and she replied back! I wasn't expecting that, lol. I contacted her to suggest adapting some of her exercise in a virtual reality format. I think at the moment she thinks I want to do it myself and maybe would like to use her somehow. I just thought it would be awesome if someone did that I think she would actually be the best to do it. Personally, I think its a great idea but I don't have the resources to seriously consider it.

ZealotX wrote: You... have... every... other... table. And even if it's not printed in bold lettering we get the hint that so often it says "No Coloreds Allowed".

I tried to pick through your post and pull out specific points but I am afraid your post felt a bit all over the place. So I apologize...I will try and just respond to it in general.

The heart of my answer though is this.

There is simply no excuse, what - so - EVER. To treat someone else poorly and unfairly.

And that is how I feel BLM & Feminists and any other organization behaves. They have a book load of justifications (like your post) that they throw at people In order to get away with bad behavior and actions.

Your entire post went from historical reasons to personal feelings in order to justify how these people treated someone else poorly. A long winded process to make one person's good intentions into a selfish action. Making me the bad guy. Making white people the bad guy. How dare a white low self esteem, culturally shocked female girl try and make friends. Its ok to be cruel to her because her people took everything else back in the day. No!! No, no no and absolutely No. <--- That is NOT okay.

And No. I don't have to "Understand"

No.

I did not have every other table. I was in an international high school. Every other table was occupied by ALL of the different races. You had your Japanese table, Chinese table, you had your two Bulgarians hiding in the corner table and your Tibetans taking up the other one across the room. This is not because they felt like they couldn't sit at the 'white mans table' - far from it, all the teachers and principles worked non stop to try and encourage student interaction

It was because Like attracts Likeness.

Because Japanese relate best with other speaking Japanese (And I dare say their shared passion for trick bikes lol)

Because Chinese relate to their traditions with other Chinese

Because Blacks relate to there fellow blacks.

Because Tibetans related to there spiritual likeness

And they have every right to sit and interact/engage with other people they are most comfortable with. I do not discourage anything that happened at that school. In fact I loved that school. It was a lot of fun once they started bringing in events that helped us engage with each other better.

But it is NOT okay to use history and personal feelings as justification to mistreat others

As Jedi it is even doubly NOT ok.



It is OK to go on the streets and protest an unjust law.

It is NOT ok to go into the streets, destroy public property, block traffic and shout vulgar threats to others like "Pigs must die." or "White people must die"

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It is OK to go on the street and express public awareness towards an unjust action (like an unjustified cop)

It is NOT ok to start riots and hurt people

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It is OK to tell someone you don't want them sitting there "Hey. I'm sorry but that seat is taken for a friend. Maybe we can sit together some other time"

It is NOT ok to tell them they cant sit there because of their skin color




The moment we start acting like it is ok to abuse other people for things that happened to us, presently or historically, is the moment we accept darkness into our hearts and become the very things we despise. The problem is no longer about Racisim. But instead about a desire for war and violence. A common human fault.

I assume this is OK even though they were blocking traffic.



I assume the Boston Tea Party was okay



(I think maybe they just forgot to buy the tea)

As previously stated, BLM as an organization does NOT support threatening the police, destroying property, attacking white people, etc. What the media does is try to attach whatever happens to the organization as if it asked those people to do those things. If you are at a peaceful protest (like Standing Rock) and someone decides to throw a bottle at the police, do you leave and never come back? Do you stop protesting? Do you roll over and let the pipeline continue because some idiot did something during the protest that you disagree with? If that's the case, all the company would have to do is pay one person to throw a bottle and it would all be over.

There has been a smear campaign against BLM from the beginning for the simple fact that people don't like the message. They associate whatever individual actions they can find or whatever tiny group they can find to destroy the reputation of thousands. And that's exactly what racists do. Since the protest started I've heard more whites than ever, outspoken about black on black crime. Relevance?!?! None. THAT is NOT okay. Talking about how black people are intellectually inferior is NOT okay. Talking about how black people need to first clean up our own neighborhoods is NOT okay. Guess what? Collateral damage is NOT okay. Threatening to kill a terrorist's entire family on the campaign trail is NOT okay. Trying to spin the message of BLM as if they're saying white lives don't matter is NOT okay. Protesting BLM by saying All lives matter when you kill people all over the world and destroy families over marijuana is NOT okay. Killing a child because you think he has a gun is NOT okay. Stalking a black kid wearing a hoodie against the advice of the police is NOT okay. Getting away with killing him is NOT okay. Killing a black man in front of a 4 yr old is NOT okay, simply because he told you he had a gun is NOT okay.

Bottom line? There's a lot of "stuff" that's NOT okay. You don't have to apologize for every white person, nor does BLM have to apologize and somehow prevent every individual black person who is reacting to all of the things that are NOT okay that they know about and you that you "don't have to understand". Maybe if you did understand they wouldn't feel like no one is listening and no one cares; therefore the only solution is violence and bloodshed. People think that terrorists are created when we accidentally kill civilians (just like they do). And that may be true. We also create more terrorists when we talk about killing or discriminating against Muslims. But primarily these issues exist because we do not listen and we do not understand. And because our presence impacts their lives, out of frustration and fear, they will attack. What do we do? We call them terrorists and blame everything on them. We blame THEIR actions. We use their actions to JUSTIFY our response.

And in doing so we become their terrorists just as they become ours. And they use our actions to justify their response.

Pigs in a blanket? If you don't care why they feel so enraged against the police, THAT'S WHY they are so enraged in the first place. Many people only care and are only concerned when it's happening to THEM; when it affects THEM. They care when it's THEIR KID being told they can't sit here. We had a lady become a hero in this country for the simple fact that she refused to give up her seat to a white person. We can all agree that wrong is wrong and denying someone a seat period is wrong. There's no question about this. But the larger issue is how do we change it? It's NOT okay to say "Your people were systematically abused for 400 years but one of you stepped on my shoe once". I hate to break it to you, but there is NO equivalency. None.

Currently there are 9 kids at my house (biologically I only have 2). They're constantly telling on each other; as kids do. But if I never cared why one kid did something to another or what caused it or what the other said or did first, it would be pure chaos and everyone would be upset and unhappy. I'm not excusing any wrong doing, but I am saying it is important to understand the cause so you can treat it and stop blaming the victim for everything they do and everything they become as a result. You think that little 4 yr old who saw her mother's fiance get shot right in front of her is going to grow up to have a perfectly healthy view of the police? Do you think she wont be scared (and scarred) for life? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We are reacting to each other and that gets people emotionally heated. Expecting BLM to somehow control the emotions and actions of every person that comes to a protest is not realistic.

Mace Windu didn't represent the Jedi Council when he was about to strike down Sidious. He had just watched Sidious kill several Jedi and he knew what he was capable of. Anakin, because HE was emotional, ascribed this action/behavior to the Jedi as a whole and turned against them. But did the council discuss murdering Palpatine if they had the opportunity? No. Do you think BLM sat down in a council and conspired to start riots and provoke the police with hateful rhetoric? Do you really think that's what happened?

When it's the police people defend them saying "oh well its just a few bad apples."

When it's BLM these same people say "its the movement". Do you see the hypocrisy? Do you see the double standard? You don't "need" to understand but if you wanted to understand you would understand that is RACISM. Racism is part of our criminal justice system. It's a part of the laws. It's a part of the culture of the police. We have ex-police officers that tell us this. We have at least one ex-police officer who is white, telling us how minorities are targeted. We have "Stop & Frisk" which was ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it unfairly targeted black and Hispanic young men. How many cops carried this out? But it's not happening to you so you don't need to understand. You don't need to feel any outrage or do go out of your way to make any kind of difference. Let's just sit here and meditate racism away and black people should just go away and suffer in silence. After all, its only a few bad apples against a rotten bunch.

Oh and I'm glad you had the amazing opportunity to go to such an international school. Most of us didn't get that opportunity and didn't get the memo that diversity has become the accepted norm.

Trisskar wrote: It is NOT ok to start riots...

"I think we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?"

steamboat28 wrote:

Trisskar wrote: It is NOT ok to start riots...

"I think we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?"

Riots are illegal. Protests are not. If one feels like their voice is unheard they can protest. Rioting solves nothing, and has been proven to be counteractive to the point. Violent protest (riots) are less likely to succeed and are more or less an excuse to rage and smash stuff. A proper peaceful protests (alliteration for you right there ) are more likely to succeed and not land one behind bars.