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I would say the answer is "yes." Or at least that's how I feel when I shop, and I'm not black.
by stanleydrew 8y ago
I would say the answer is "yes." Or at least that's how I feel when I shop, and I'm not black.
- andrewchambers 8y agoPeople should stop talking for others when they are unelected or not nominated. Just because she feels that way, doesn't mean every black person does. Maybe many do, but I don't think it is productive to speak for other people's experience. Of course when speaking for oneself, then it is fine to say anything.
- TazeTSchnitzel 8y agoI'm a white person and I'm pretty sure people don't treat me worse for my skin colour when shopping. Is that a controversial statement?
- andrewchambers 8y agoNo - I didn't say it was.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoThat seems like a great way to ignore basically any complaint, by dismissing it as a lone outlier. All other things being equal, it should be pretty clear that a given black person is more qualified to speak about the black experience than a given white person is to refute them. If you have reason to believe that this particular writer is unreliable or not representative, then by all means share them.
- miemo 8y agoall black people have the same experiences? heyooo
- andrewchambers 8y agoI didn't say the writer is unreliable or wrong, and didn't meant to seem dismissive. > it should be pretty clear that a given black person is more qualified to speak about the black experience than a given white person is to refute them I think people are only qualified to speak about their own feelings and experience, just not for other people unless those people requested that.
- fjsolwmv 8y agoYour opinion on what people are qualified to speak about is irrelevant, according to your own logic.
- andrewchambers 8y agoNo, its not irrelevant, but it is just my opinion. I'm not saying it is more than my opinion.
- salvar 8y ago> People should stop talking for others Other people should do that you say?
- Dylan16807 8y agoYep, that's what they said. You can read it right there in the comment. Are you trying to imply something? I hope you're not trying to imply hypocrisy, because saying what someone should do is not speaking for them.
- salvar 8y agoYeah that's fair. It was a weak argument.
- andrewchambers 8y agoI didn't mean to say the argument is wrong or anything. I just think its dangerous to get into things like: "As a hacker news poster, we all feel that ..." Not even targeting this article in particular, it isn't bad at all from that perspective, just a trend I have been seeing and thinking about.
- salvar 8y agoYeah I get what you mean. I was just making a bad argument delivered in an unnecessarily snarky way. All good.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- jtbayly 8y agoI’m white and I don’t feel that way. So obviously it isn’t being “white” or not that determines whether you feel that way while shopping. And I feel incredibly similarly to her when I walk into Starbucks and pickup my prepaid drink. I imagine I would feel just like her shopping at Amazon Go as well. I’m not denying there are differences in how you are treated depending on your race. In fact, as a father of black children it is my responsibility to make them aware of the extra level of care they need to engage, during shopping for example. But the feelings she shares are not unique to being black.
- stanleydrew 8y agoI don't dispute any of this. I think people may have lost the thread a little bit. The author's statement was > No one cared what I was doing. Is this what it feels like to shop when you're not black? The author does imply that all black people are eyed with suspicion when shopping, which is impossible to say but almost surely not true. However the answer to the question can still be "yes" without giving in to the implication.