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I agree. I'm a black man, and my counselor is an older white woman. She completely changed my life, helped me build self esteem, and taught me why doing what th

I agree. I'm a black man, and my counselor is an older white woman. She completely changed my life, helped me build self esteem, and taught me why doing what the ex-Google employee does is a bad idea (reading tons of negative news, and stressing myself out over issues bigger than I am). There are certain things that she can't relate to, but the root of all emotional healing is becoming a better person overall. It sounds like this guy spends way too much time on Twitter/Tumblr (Twitter is essentially Tumblr circa 2013 since everyone left their porn blogs behind). America is definitely racist still. I experience suspect shit from white people all the time, but I don't let it bother me because I don't have the power to change anyone. It sounds like this guy doesn't realize that you can't live a healthy life (mentally) and non-ironically be radical about certain social issues IRL. > Where are you headed, [REDACTED]?” another teammate asked with an innocuous timbre as the restof our pod curiously awaited my response. He even acknowledges the fact that they weren't purposely being mean or anything, they just don't understand how the ex-Googler is feeling. I'm not taking up for his co-workers, but I bet if he spoke up in a chill way, they would've corrected themselves and explained what they really meant. But instead, the ex-Googler drops his head, leaves the office, and writes a slander essay like a passive aggressive little [redacted]. To wrap this up: Yes, there are some fucked up cops out there who are shooting unarmed black men, but the majority of cops aren't terrible people, and expecting privileged white people to understand us is counter-productive. White people will NEVER understand how it feels to be a black man in this country, and it's not worth trying to explain it. All we can do is be the best we can be, and hope the kindness, smiles, and compassion are reciprocated. If not, fuck em.

ggggtez 7y ago
I think that's a healthy outlook. It's not your job to educate your coworkers. Though, I think people should feel ok discussing it. The idea that white people would "never" understand is a little bit much, but it's not going to be an easy conversation. This is the type of thing that you are only going to change minds about by methodical teaching. Honestly, I don't recommend it, unless this is a friend of yours that you want to maintain for a long time, and think it's worth investing the effort for the long term health of the friendship.
repolfx 7y ago
Your post started out rather sympathetically, but I find I lack sympathy by the end. You rage against how racist you think white people are, a belief you justify with absurd generalisations - white people are "privileged", they will "NEVER" understand (not even if they try and you talk to them about it), and so on. I have to say something deeply unpopular here - yes, I know in America maybe it's different, but there's only racist people I've ever met have been people engaging in this kind of casual racism against whites. I never saw the opposite. Most accusations of it turn out to be bad statistical assumptions, like "percentage by race of people experiencing a bad outcome differ from the general population, so it must be racism" - ignoring all other factors.
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lisper 7y ago
> White people will NEVER understand how it feels to be a black man in this country Personally, I'd prefer to change things so that "how it feels to be black in this country" is no longer a thing that needs to be understood. Yeah, I know this isn't going to happen in my lifetime, but even a white boy can dream.

ggggtez 7y ago

I think that's a healthy outlook. It's not your job to educate your coworkers. Though, I think people should feel ok discussing it. The idea that white people would "never" understand is a little bit much, but it's not going to be an easy conversation. This is the type of thing that you are only going to change minds about by methodical teaching. Honestly, I don't recommend it, unless this is a friend of yours that you want to maintain for a long time, and think it's worth investing the effort for the long term health of the friendship.

repolfx 7y ago

Your post started out rather sympathetically, but I find I lack sympathy by the end. You rage against how racist you think white people are, a belief you justify with absurd generalisations - white people are "privileged", they will "NEVER" understand (not even if they try and you talk to them about it), and so on. I have to say something deeply unpopular here - yes, I know in America maybe it's different, but there's only racist people I've ever met have been people engaging in this kind of casual racism against whites. I never saw the opposite. Most accusations of it turn out to be bad statistical assumptions, like "percentage by race of people experiencing a bad outcome differ from the general population, so it must be racism" - ignoring all other factors.

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lisper 7y ago

> White people will NEVER understand how it feels to be a black man in this country Personally, I'd prefer to change things so that "how it feels to be black in this country" is no longer a thing that needs to be understood. Yeah, I know this isn't going to happen in my lifetime, but even a white boy can dream.