4 ms·

The "whole purpose of the civil rights movement" was to secure rights for people who didn't have them, not to placate the sensibilities of the oppressors. In t

The "whole purpose of the civil rights movement" was to secure rights for people who didn't have them, not to placate the sensibilities of the oppressors. In the US, to this day, we have terribly segregated and unequal communities where "never trust whitey" is a survival strategy, especially when it comes to police.

d2mo 9y ago
Not "didnt have them..." rights that were usurped by the majority for fun and profit. There is a difference. Getting what back $10 that was stolen from me is not the same as making a new $10.
notgood 9y ago
...but black to black violence is much more frequent than any other[0] (incl. white to white and black to white, percentage wise), so for blacks that "survival strategy" is not doing much for survivorship. Relevant quotes: >Those 7,881 “black bodies,” in the parlance of Ta-Nehisi Coates, are 1,305 more than the number of white victims (which in this case includes most Hispanics) for the same period, though blacks are only 13 percent of the nation’s population. >Black males have made up 42 percent of all cop-killers over the last decade, though they are only 6 percent of the population. >Four studies came out in 2016 alone rebutting the charge that police shootings are racially biased. If there is a bias in police shootings, it works in favor of blacks and against whites. [0] http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/all-that-kneeling-ignores-the-real-cause-of-soaring-black-homicides/ http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/all-that-kneeling-ignores-the-r...
- sctb 9y ago
  Using talking points for what amounts to racewar incitement is seriously against the Hacker News guidelines. We've banned this account because we've already asked you to please stop posting like this it doesn't appear as though the necessary change is forthcoming. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - notgood 9y ago
    Not a single time I talked about race before this one occaccion. Thanks anyway.
scottLobster 9y ago
And moving past mentalities like those of the parent post would naturally secure those rights even more strongly. For my part I was taught that not trusting people on the basis of race was racist and that I shouldn't do it. I was taught that making general assumptions about people based on race was racist and that I shouldn't do it. I was taught all this as early as kindergarten. Sure there are some areas today where "never trust whitey" might still sadly be a survival strategy. You could also say it's a survival strategy for a black person at a Klan meeting. The issue is applying it as a general rule as the parent poster did. We're not going to solve any of the remaining racial inequalities if people categorically refuse to trust each other on the basis of race. That's arguably the definition of racism.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  > Sure there are some areas today where "never trust whitey" might still sadly be a survival strategy. ... The issue is applying it as a general rule as the parent poster did. Maybe it's a lot worse than you think, because a lot of people with actual experience being black seem to say so. The people who say it's not are, IME, the people with the least experience.
- eropple 9y ago
  Those areas where it is a valid survival strategy for blacks in America are, in addition to the usual "oh, most of the former sundown towns after the sun goes down," but also almost any place the police ever are, ever. It is not on individual blacks trying to get by in their day to "solve racial inequalities". It is on those of us with privilege and power to ally with those without such privilege and power and fight with them, not to demand that they do stupid and self-harmful things because we, the privileged and insecure, would like to believe that things are just great. Things are really, really bad for a lot of people right now. It's worth considering their viewpoints before foghorning your way in with yours.
- nkozyra 9y ago
  > And moving past mentalities like those of the parent post would naturally secure those rights even more strongly. A critical part of "moving past" this means recognizing that we are not past this. A lot of people treat things like the Civil Rights Acts or the Emancipation Proclamation as a faucet. Turn off the faucet and racism is fixed. In reality, it's more like a house fire. It raged bright for a long time, thankfully you put it out. Of course you can't move right back in. There's cleanup to do. There's rebuilding to do. You wouldn't tell the family outside the just-extinguished fire to "move past" it. White people (myself included) are insulated form a lot of these effects, so it's important we stop and force ourselves to consider them. It's too easy otherwise to pretend the fire's out and everyone's peacefully dreaming in their beds.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

d2mo 9y ago

Not "didnt have them..." rights that were usurped by the majority for fun and profit. There is a difference. Getting what back $10 that was stolen from me is not the same as making a new $10.

notgood 9y ago

...but black to black violence is much more frequent than any other[0] (incl. white to white and black to white, percentage wise), so for blacks that "survival strategy" is not doing much for survivorship. Relevant quotes: >Those 7,881 “black bodies,” in the parlance of Ta-Nehisi Coates, are 1,305 more than the number of white victims (which in this case includes most Hispanics) for the same period, though blacks are only 13 percent of the nation’s population. >Black males have made up 42 percent of all cop-killers over the last decade, though they are only 6 percent of the population. >Four studies came out in 2016 alone rebutting the charge that police shootings are racially biased. If there is a bias in police shootings, it works in favor of blacks and against whites. [0] http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/all-that-kneeling-ignores-the-real-cause-of-soaring-black-homicides/ http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/all-that-kneeling-ignores-the-r...

sctb 9y ago
Using talking points for what amounts to racewar incitement is seriously against the Hacker News guidelines. We've banned this account because we've already asked you to please stop posting like this it doesn't appear as though the necessary change is forthcoming. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- notgood 9y ago
  Not a single time I talked about race before this one occaccion. Thanks anyway.

scottLobster 9y ago

And moving past mentalities like those of the parent post would naturally secure those rights even more strongly. For my part I was taught that not trusting people on the basis of race was racist and that I shouldn't do it. I was taught that making general assumptions about people based on race was racist and that I shouldn't do it. I was taught all this as early as kindergarten. Sure there are some areas today where "never trust whitey" might still sadly be a survival strategy. You could also say it's a survival strategy for a black person at a Klan meeting. The issue is applying it as a general rule as the parent poster did. We're not going to solve any of the remaining racial inequalities if people categorically refuse to trust each other on the basis of race. That's arguably the definition of racism.

forapurpose 9y ago
> Sure there are some areas today where "never trust whitey" might still sadly be a survival strategy. ... The issue is applying it as a general rule as the parent poster did. Maybe it's a lot worse than you think, because a lot of people with actual experience being black seem to say so. The people who say it's not are, IME, the people with the least experience.
eropple 9y ago
Those areas where it is a valid survival strategy for blacks in America are, in addition to the usual "oh, most of the former sundown towns after the sun goes down," but also almost any place the police ever are, ever. It is not on individual blacks trying to get by in their day to "solve racial inequalities". It is on those of us with privilege and power to ally with those without such privilege and power and fight with them, not to demand that they do stupid and self-harmful things because we, the privileged and insecure, would like to believe that things are just great. Things are really, really bad for a lot of people right now. It's worth considering their viewpoints before foghorning your way in with yours.
nkozyra 9y ago
> And moving past mentalities like those of the parent post would naturally secure those rights even more strongly. A critical part of "moving past" this means recognizing that we are not past this. A lot of people treat things like the Civil Rights Acts or the Emancipation Proclamation as a faucet. Turn off the faucet and racism is fixed. In reality, it's more like a house fire. It raged bright for a long time, thankfully you put it out. Of course you can't move right back in. There's cleanup to do. There's rebuilding to do. You wouldn't tell the family outside the just-extinguished fire to "move past" it. White people (myself included) are insulated form a lot of these effects, so it's important we stop and force ourselves to consider them. It's too easy otherwise to pretend the fire's out and everyone's peacefully dreaming in their beds.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]