Sentiment:
There is an abundance of bad sentiment in this country. Looking for a reason why people riot, burn down businesses, stand on street corners with signs and yell from their vehicles, why some wear masks, others don’t? One word:
Sentiment.
Our countries history is founded on a pendulum… while the very evidence of the trafficking of people from central and west Africa, denoted no only by origin but most prominently by skin color is still prevalent today, it’s our nation’s history in setbacks, resilience and retaliation, protest and backlash that makes us uniquely “American”. We have Demagogues who divide us and Visionaries who bring us together.
11 of the 39 signers of the constitution owned other people.
Racism wasn’t a “thing” on September 17, 1787. The very word “Racism” wasn’t uttered until 1902 by a man named Richard Henry Pratt.
Abraham Lincoln did in fact state white people should be held up as a superior race over black people.
“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races … I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
Abraham Lincoln – September 18, 1858
Read more here: Chicago Tribune
Imagine how I felt when I read that, proved it out. It sucked.
But our country was being populated by western Europeans, people fleeing religious persecution, authoritarianism, seeking opportunity, and I can only imagine how survival could come down to enslaving others with a growing economy and labor being scarce, that era in history had some very rough characters who could travel and gather up people with impunity. The west was a lawless place where man literally made up what best suited those in power. The concept of “Racism” hadn’t revealed itself.
I’m not justifying it, but rather shining a light on mankind and our propensity to choose evil over sacrifice and what’s right, blinded by our bias and what is socially acceptable .vs true. Without careful thought and the laws that keep us accountable, society is a short slip into murderous anarchy.
A hate group in 2020 is defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group cited extensively by journalists, academics, and government officials alike as a “group who openly vilifies entire groups of people based on immutable characteristics such as race or ethnicity”.
I have tried to understand BLM (Black Lives Matter) over the past year and I can only conclude they are not a hate group based on what representatives of BLM have told me, their actions, their philosophy as explained to me, and what we can deduct from reading content found on their website and other publications.
What I read on social media and in the news is inconclusive using nonsequiturs, incoherent inconclusive descriptions. There are many people who represent BLM, but do not deliver the philosophy per BLM co-founders. BLM has been hi-jacked to a large degree.
The greatest inaccuracy I have found is the idea BLM is advocating for the abolishment of police departments. I’m against that and could understand the logic. I thought there has to be more to the story.
The phrase “Defund The Police” means alot of things depending on what news source you watch. I had to get to the bottom of it.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza clearly states they are not for abolishing the Police, but about reinvesting funds toward “the resources that our communities need”. Ref: Axios
What does that mean? Well, data supports the idea that infesting in policing isn’t reducing crime. If it were only as simple as obeying the Police. If people did abide by the law, we would be having this conversation. Fact is people don’t abide. We can blame people because that doesn’t address the problem. I had one “citizen” tell me that anyone who disobeys police orders should be shot on site. Well, we saw that happen with Jacob Blake and that didn’t work out too well. Police could receive more de-escalation training. Improved arrest tactics and devices. Although policing is much different than a military campaign, some of the ideas the Marines use in controlling the peace are well proven although maybe not fitting as long term solutions.
Domestic disputes may better be handled by those trained in social or family crisis management. Not armed centurions trained to incriminate. As it is, Police spend way too much time chauffering around drunks and addicts (20% of their time is spent dealing with people who are just plain dangers to themselves). I think all would rather see police manage violent crime, organized crime.
BLM wants cities to invest in human health services, counseling, and outreaches. The argument is that in the past, body cams, dash cams, more police, less police, and police reform has not worked. Fallen well short of projections.
When 20%~ 50%+ of a cities budget is thrown at police systems and yet the crime rate and incarceration rate continues to climb, it’s worth talking about.
BLM is not at all about abolishing the police.
The very phrase (Black Lives Matter) is purposed to be a “Proposition” if you will. The media drives the narrative, produces the images of people carrying the emblem of a black fist while destroying neighborhoods. Anyone can do that if they choose. Anyone can loot, burn buildings. Young, old, ex-con, a college student working on masters… and carry logos, symbols construed as hate. There is no construed meaning behind a swastika. Nazi insignia is hate manifest.
BLM has publicly denounced the looting, violence (here) … but that doesn’t stop mean spirited people who follow rather than lead in fabricating signs and logos appearing in news footage.
So here’s a challenge: How do you feel when you hear or see BLM? Is BLM a threat? Why? Where did you hear your info? Are you right about everything? Is the news correct and unbiased? Why does CNN or FOX exist? To provide news? Think again.
I know that I felt threatened when I saw that fist and heard the words “Black Lives Matter”. To say “BLM” means my identity as a white man is threatened in a world where racial diversity is growing and my heritage, foot-print on American society is dwindling. Naturally, I felt threatened, insecure, but I’m aware of my bias. and I know when peoplehave an agenda, it is really easy to determine if it’s bad for me, you and the country.
BLM is a community that wants to elevate, educate, and innovate. and that can piss people off.
Slight but important digression regarding the Civil War:
The civil war wasn’t so much about taxes as it was an argument founded upon one mans right to bring slaves into the United States and the hostility of the North (U.S.) towards the wealthy Confederates who found, one could get very rich upon the backs of limitless expendable labor: The Confederacy felt their freedom to run a business on the backs of a people, treated like dogs, was a birthright.
Here’s a sample of a Declaration Of Causes for the succession of Mississippi where they make it clear… Slavery was a good deal for them. This was the mentality… for real.
Mississippi’s Declaration of Secession:
“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.”
Source https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp
And Texas with a Declaration Of Causes:
“In all the non-slave-holding States, in violation of that good faith and comity which should exist between entirely distinct nations, the people have formed themselves into a great sectional party, now strong enough in numbers to control the affairs of each of those States, based upon an unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery, proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color– a doctrine at war with nature, in opposition to the experience of mankind, and in violation of the plainest revelations of Divine Law. They demand the abolition of negro slavery throughout the confederacy, the recognition of political equality between the white and negro races, and avow their determination to press on their crusade against us, so long as a negro slave remains in these States.”
Source https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states#Texas
620,000 Americans died. Long before the word racism was a “thing”.
Upon the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 three million Confederate slaves were in fact freed by Lincoln, but their post-war status was uncertain. To ensure the abolition was beyond legal challenge, an amendment to the Constitution to that effect was initiated. On April 8, 1864, the Senate passed an amendment to abolish slavery.
Suddenly millions of displaced human beings were set free with nothing. No home, no money. Some had an option to stay on the farm, but how does that look for a generation? How does that make you feel if you are black? Forget the fact your a slave or no longer a slave. The reality is your options are few and you are black. Black in a world run by Whites who see you as a slave. Or a freed slave.
Racism was alive and well on both sides of the country. Only slavery was abolished.
How did I feel about Black Lives Matter?
My cultural identity and insecurity is threatened and revealed. My knee jerk response is “I didn’t own slaves”, “that was 200 years ago”, “everyone is equal”. But I knew that thinking is convenient and only marginalizes an issue that requires some thought.
I want to understand.
If I was black, how would that narrative be different? That idea intrigued me and so I set out to hear the other side of the story. I am one who does not like to be told. I prefer to find out myself and reality takes way, way more time to accurately digest than a post on social media, an hour with Tucker Carlson or equal time with Anderson Cooper.
In short I learned racism isn’t always about hate. Most white Americans have a racist or bias inclination.
Racism is about a perceived disadvantage for many of us “White Folk”. It’s about imposing our “goodwill” on those of the “other color” because… “racism”. One can be kind, caring, and denounce racism while at the same time thinking “Shoot, black people, moving in next door”. Or “Shoot, white people, moving in next door” or “I like Mexican Food.. but not really Mexicans”.
What makes racism evil is how one behaves based on what are inaccurate conclusions, beliefs. Once hating another is to one’s financial benefit, it becomes necessary to hate. It becomes necessary to lie.
I once lived in a “Barrio”, and was told numerous times “Wrong neighborhood ese”… I know racism well, not so much as a victim or a target, but a victim of the poison the ideology creates.
And for the brainwashed its almost impossible to self detect without a journey into serious introspection. Until one is thrust into a diverse neighborhood where racism wields its ugly head, it’s convenient, politically correct to say “I love all people”. Many white people are racist, but not all racists are white.
Racism is a narrative of scarcity .vs abundance. And it is also driven by hate. Hate is a very inaccurate emotion. Driven by bias. There is evidence of hate by the late Khalid Abdul Muhammad, chairman of the NBPP (New Black Panther Party) who said “There are no good crackers, and if you find one, kill him before he changes.” Bobby Seale, a founding member of the original Black Panther Party, has called the NBPP a “black racist hate group.”
The world is made up of bad people .vs good. And that’s it. We are not the same. God sees us the same, but I’m not God and when I look out at my world I see fat, skinny, tattoos, tall, short, black, white, rich, poor, stupid, and smart.
It’s how I respond to diversity. I disdain racism, but I’ve heard people close to me in life say “Nigger”, “Porch Monkey”, “Spook”, “Spic”, “Beaner” in the most disparaging ways. They say it quietly, behind others backs. Because they know it’s wrong, but they do it anyway…
Makes me think of Eddie Murphy in this Saturday Night Live skit and how I laughed but also knew… it’s kinda true on many levels, from how different we are to how we behave:
When we see on the news people holding signs of BLM coinciding with buildings burning down, looting, occupation of streets… the violence is perpetrated by hoodlums, ne’er-do-well, intellectually shallow people who have failed at being clever enough to “be heard” given the massive availability of tools and creative resources all accessible via fingertips in 2020. Believe me, if burning down a house, a business, looting was a solution, I would be first to burn my house down, wreck my car and then have you come over and loot my stuff. The goal of violence is to make others feel as bad as the perpetrator. Once the violence occurs, it’s too late. That’s failure manifest.
But, violence changes people. It does. Don’t tell me it doesn’t. I’m just not sure what that change looks like. The civil war brought about change.
The violence produced upon the Civil Rights Act, peppered with the killings of men who advocated for equal rights (White men) in Mississippi, the killing of Black men who were representing their organizations like the NAACP, Mississippi Legislature. The 1950’s and 60′ were a bloody time leading up to the Civil Rights Act.
Violence does create change.
“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love… Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding”
Martin Luther King
I love MLK, but some people just can’t be changed no matter how much understanding is gleaned. Some people are just pure evil.
It’s sentiment that drives the violence. When people are angry… they always have a reason. It might not be accurate, but it’s for a good verifiable reason, and calling them names, blaming them, demonizing them does not yield a solution other than allowing us, in our inner dialog to feel elevated. The blame simply justifies the means. Cyclical. Blame loves company.
As a white man, I can listen to David Duke and understand his argument. I wrote my thesis in Psychology on Adolf Hitler. They both provide a very unifying while being entirely dividing, authoritarian message that shalt not be questioned or you’ll be disparaged or killed. Some say Donald Trump is the equivalent of Adlof Hitler. Trump is nowhere as clever as Hitler. Hitler wrote a book long before anyone wrote a book about him, had a very strong command of his language and was far more effective at unifying a nation. Granted Hilter was a psychopath who oversaw the killing of millions of men women and children. Trump isn’t capable of such atrocity. And don’t blame the 210,000 Covid Ameican deaths on Trump. The only good argument is he deferred responsibility that allowed a nation to succumb to a third party predator by his own divisive behavior… a predator that is still reaping havoc all over the world. Hitler was a leader, Trump is a brand, nothing more. Big difference.
America needs to realize that addressing racism, supremacy, where it exists, is not a zero-sum game. It’s not. And Black Lives Matter is not even close to a zero-sum philosophy. It’s an idea driven by opportunity. White supremacy and elitist American far-right idealogy is anti-social and removes America from its position as a moral leader in the World.
Black communities have money now. They have influence.
While the average white sees efforts by the African community to elevate themselves, their communities, the white man sees it as a questioning effort at challenging a self-preservationist ideology that is “made up”. Literally.
I can understand why a white American can feel BLM is about attacking whites and America, American culture. Whites were never slaves. We weren’t captured and loaded into ships and traded.
Imagine that narrative, that sentiment being handed down.
Some wave a Confederate Flag and say “My heritage”. And that’s true.
Many Blacks in America can’t salute a country that marginalizes the human ownership, racism that has dominated much of our countries social journey.
Larry Elder is a great talk show host who advocates for a more right-wing approach is well taken in his argument that it is up to each and every person to elevate themselves, to avoid blame and simply strive for what is fair and just. It’s just that fair and just is subjective everywhere in the world and the US is no different.
I know my words will resonate with some.
Many Africans/Blacks in our country have learned to live with the past and move into a more progressive lifestyle. Many don’t dwell on the past, don’t care. But many citizens of this country still hold disdain for the arrogance of American authority and how Thomas Jefferson wrote: “All Men Are Created Equal”. How could he say that when he owned people? I have an answer. He didn’t know. He literally did not see Black people as “People”. Simple as that.
Slavery is generations behind but its reverberations of abuse continue to be felt in 2020. Maybe not for you. But it’s a source of blame and contention to this day. I feel it. I see it. To deny that is to be disingenuous or plain ignorant. I want to address the past and let those in the Black Community to tell their story. So I can better understand.
Every time a Black Man is killed by police, imagine being Black? The news shows unrest, violence, tears. The media’s drive to promote the stories deal a negative blow to all Americans. It isn’t difficult to trace history all the way back to how Police forces in the southern states were once developed to not so much enforce the law but to enforce Jim Crow laws.
A riot is the language of the unheard
Martin Luther King
Of course All Lives Matter, but that phrase used in response to Black Lives Matter is a deflection, a way to devalue an expression that is genius in its purpose and that’s to force a conversation. All Lives Matter lacks intellect or the absence of dialog. The very utterance is meant to shut people up. Of course all lives matter. But that’s a simpletons reduction of a wider reality.
Yes, Black Lives Matter and if we collectively can’t agree and move forward and thrive, then no lives matter.
I learned those who are truly involved in BLM send a message of “Black people matter too”. There’s nothing wrong with that statement. Their message is we are all better together, there is more opportunity together than apart… and this nation is very, very divided. It could be our nation simply doesn’t want to be together.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed.
James Baldwin
BLM doesn’t preach unity as much as its philosophy builds on opportunity. Most on all sides, Republican, Democrat, radicals too… All get it wrong. BLM sticks to its ethos and raises millions of dollars plowed right back into their communities. I know this 1st hand. I have seen and been involved in the actual process of acquiring donations and how those donations are then funneled right back into communities, scholarships, business loans…. And that is this beautiful thing that simply does not exist in white America … if I do it, it’s racist and who’s fault is that? Not the man with an Afro.
In closing, racism can be overcome. In America, just because I can live as I choose in no way proves others can. I don’t know what it’s like to look at my skin color and embedded in my mind is the story of where I came from, who my ancestry is and what it’s like to delve into the very truth of “me” only to look around me and see a country celebrating an identity that is to a large degree… inaccurate or covert in it’s truth. I don’t know what it’s like to be an Indigenous person and have my family tell me the story of us, of America, of wars fought, wars won, wars lost and how it was all lost to an emergent west hungry for riches, fences, oil, land. How a tribe was an inconvenience. How Buffalo were killed mainly to starve Indians off the plains.
I love this country. I also believe we are big enough to step up and tell our story. Leave the statues. Leave Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson and let the people fly the Confederate Flag, but lets scream the story of America loud and clear and tell the truth alongside the symbols of our evolution. Let’s show the world we can meet each other 1/2 way and make the sacrifices that facilitate social change in eliminating racism by for once listening to those who want change and working at it rather than fanning the flames with more reform.
I do know we have to live and continue to vote our pocketbooks. But, I value other people and am curious .. I want to know why others hate. I am fascinated by the culture of “hate”.
The victim of abuse, hard core physical or metal abuse is mostly told by friends and society to “get over it”. The hurt carried over generations is marginalized by he very idea “Nothing happened to me, therefore I can’t be bothered with your hubbaloo”. So, the abused mind degrades into a distorted reality where fear and distrust drives an internal monolog. Imagine this occurring not only on an individual level, but on a unified level where an entire populations social consciousness is driven by the idea of “not being believed” even though the evidence says otherwise? That’s America. That’s white, Indian, black, Mexican ….
Today, we are made up of men and women who have sacrificed for the country, started businesses, raised families, have a vested interest in who is elected for better and worse. People of all color are here and thank God. Mexicans, Asians, Russians, Italians, Africans, Iranians, Germans, Armenians, Irish.. Native Indigenous people … and many who are Americans but don’t feel American.
I remember when Colin Kaepernick dropped a knee and how that insulted me but also made me think… I’ve always liked the radicals, the upstarts and thinkers. I would have never come to know some of what wrote here today had it not been for Colin. I still don’t like it when one drops a knee, but I understand it. I no longer blame Colin or any athlete. We still have much work to do.
So, the next time you feel challenged… defy the talking heads and unsupported statements found on Facebook and instead reach out to BLM, the KKK, Black Panther Party, Proud Boys…etc and ask them yourself. Do it on Facebook, send a message via their website and you will get a reply from the source who clearly describes what they are about and what they hope to achieve. And that’s all you have really. From that reply you can then gauge the actions and words of that organization. That doesn’t mean you’ll agree. You might be even more pissed, but you’ll be accurate .vs influenced.
It’s not about agreeing, it’s about leanring and that takes effort. Learning and thinking takes days and weeks. It doesn’t happen in a meme, some random post on Twitter. That’s not reality. Social Media is not a worthy venue for education and today… our world begs you to stay educated.
If you are going to vote Republican or Democrat… make damn sure you vote on reason and not beliefs.
America went to the moon not because we believed we could, but because we accurately mapped out the process with verifiable data.
Don’t vote for someone because you believe in them. Vote based on where we are at, where we were and how as a nation we can argue together. Vote based on a social understanding and a financial understanding. Vote on how an administration will keep our country competitive in the world economy and sustain our role as a leader. Vote based on an administration’s accountability to the American people and how an administration can bring us closer together rather than a sustained 4 more years of widening the gap.
We don’t have any good choices in this election, just the lesser of two problems. You pick.
Democracy and lack-there-of is driven by sentiment.
The left is not a socialist movement and the right isn’t an authoritarian regime. But either side left to their own devices is bad for America and threatens your freedoms. Our country literally relies on a 4-year term and the argument for a second and our 1st amendment right… no matter what.
Don’t believe in conspiracies. Conspiracies are philosophical cul-de-sacs that are meant to keep you wondering… forever. The devil loves an undecided and distracted mind.
Choose to be kind and seek understanding 1st. I know why those people on the corner are holding those BLM signs, not sure they understand, but I am sure they want peace and standing on that curb is how they understand the process of peace. Me? I’d have a BBQ and invite everyone where we have a rack at the entrance where we hang our hats and hate before entering.
You’ll never watch the news the same way again.
You and I can create good sentiment just by thinking rather than reacting and that goes to all sides. No leader can create sentiment. Only you and I can do that. It’s not about getting your way, it’s about making a way.
Our history isn’t perfect, but it should be held up as our road, our journey, where we have been and why we are here today, and what we need to do to evolve morally, truthfully. As a nation, make the effort to deescalte and faciliate equity and justice. We should learn by our mistakes and never feel shame, but instead, respect for each other and do what is right. I’ll never understand someone who doesn’t understand science, but it’s my job to be the example I want others to be through my actions. I can’t change your mind, but I can at least share the knowledge I have gained through asking questions and really looking at the facts.
Whether we like it or not, the American Flag represents all that is good about you and me.
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