I am a white man and I direct this to my fellow caucasians. ANOTHER young black man

[Atticus]

Last edited Sun May 10, 2020, 09:18 PM - Edit history (1)

has been killed because he was black. Oh, sure---some will try to cover up that truth with the usual bullshit, but that's why Ahmaud Arbery was hunted, shot and killed in broad daylight: he was a black man jogging in a neighborhood where some racist white guys---guys who looked like us--- thought he had no right to be.

He had committed no crime.

There had NOT been a "string of burglaries" in the neighborhood where he was killed.

He had not been involved in any kind of altercation or argument with his killers prior to being confronted by two armed men in a pickup blocking his path on a public street.

He was killed because he was a black man. Any suggestion that he died for any other reason is a damned lie.

I am 71. This type of racially motivated murder had been occurring for about 180 years or so before I was born. And, here is my point: it will continue until decent white people---those with the most power and wealth in our society---DEMAND that it stop; DEMAND that that justice be color blind; demand that racist white murderers pay a heavy price for their hateful crimes.

Ahmaud would have celebrated his 27th birthday last Friday. Today, his mother passes her first Mothers Day without him.

"There is but one race; the human race. Everything else is just culture". If you cannot understand the anger of people of color in response to this latest "murder of the month"; if you cannot mourn the senseless loss of a young man just beginning his life; if you cannot shed a tear for his parents and family, you are condoning his murder. You are saying his killing wasn't "really" murder BECAUSE HE WAS BLACK.

Speak up. Condemn this barbarity---yes, that's just exactly what it is---or accept your share of the responsibility for it.

[7wo7rees]

1. Thank you. I have no words except you are dead on. n/t

[polmaven]

2. Your statements could not be more true!

I have heard so much about this on the news, and I feel shame every time.

[Faux pas]

3. Kickin' with disgust!

And great sadness. I call the whole lot of the unevolved the inhumanes.

[dawg day]

4. It's the new way of lynching--

And that prosecutor and police colluded in it, just as the prosecutors and police did 100 years ago.

[yardwork]

5. Absolutely right on target.

[niyad]

6. Absolutely correct.

[McCamy Taylor]

7. White folks (like me) wear our white privilege like a badge of shame.

Nothing pisses me off more than hearing some white man exclaim "I ain't got no privilege! Why, just yesterday, a cop harassed me."

I tell him "Dude, they harassed you. If you had done the same thing while Black they would have killed you." But they refuse to listen. They refuse to understand that they are complicit. This is our racist society. We, the white people of the United States created it. We own it. And as long as some white folks insist that they do not own it, that they have no responsibility, it will continue.

[wnylib]

17. My take on it is a little different.

Everything the OP says about the murders of blacks is true.

What I see differently is that I personally did not create the system. But as someone born into it, I am responsible for either accepting it or changing it. There is no in between. Every one of us has to decide whether we do nothing or do something. Doing nothing is supporting the way things are. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Doing something does not mean only expressing outrage on FB or Twitter, though that is a part of changing attitudes. Doing something means taking action.

It means joining POC in protests, standing with them to demand the basic human rights of every human being.

It means carrying the Black Lives Matter banner, too, and not leaving it solely up to the POC in this country .

It means speaking up when we hear racist comments from other whites who seem to think it's acceptable to say them in white company. It is not political correctness. It is basic, common decency.

It means calling and writing to our representatives demanding an end to systemic racism and murders, and prosecution of the murderers. Organize groups in your community and across the state, region, and country.

This is not a black or brown problem. It is a human problem, an American problem. What is done to one of us is done to all of us.

Simple actions make a difference. I was present when a car accident happened in my white neighborhood a few summers ago. I did not see it, but I heard it and turned to look. Several people gathered around the 2 cars involved. I joined them because I knew CPR and first aid if either was necessary. One driver was white; the other was black.

The crowd gathered around the black driver who was afraid to get out of the car due to the ugly mood of the people. I heard one person say it was the black driver's fault because she had no business driving in "our neighborhood." Other similar comments were made. They had not seen the accident happen any more than I had.

When I got closer, I recognuzed the black driver as a woman I had worked with on a previous job. I walked up to her window, called her by name, and asked if she had been hurt. She said no, just shaken up. We chatted about changes in our lives since the time when we had worked together, until the police arrived to investigate the accident.

The mood of the people shifted when the black driver and I started talking. It was not a sudden, dramatic change. But they were a little calmer, and eventually dispersed. The hostile comments stopped. The black woman had become less of a stranger to them, less "the other" and more human to them.

I don't think those people would have become physically violent (I hope not), but they sure were intimidating to a lone woman in her car. All I did was the normal act of speaking to someone I knew and offering help. But I learned from that incident the effect that a simple action can have. The same result would have occurred if I did not know the driver, but did the same inquiry of whether she was ok.

That is what white privilege is. We have it, so USE it.

[Catherine Vincent]

20. ...

Thank you.

[ooky]

8. Very well said. nt

[Joinfortmill]

9. Amen, my friend, amen.

[aeromanKC]

10. As a white guy I have wondered onto a work in progress to look around out of curioisity

I have walked home from the convenience store with a pop and snacks (Trayvon), I have switched lanes without a blinker (Sandra Bland), and I have walked down the middle of the street (Brown) and I have never not once been stopped by the police or concerned citizens by doing these activities while being white. None of us are rocket scientists or brain surgeons, but we all know what's going on.

[Hmongliberal]

11. Thank you

From a person of color, thank you.

[Ferrets are Cool]

12. I agree with everything you said BUT, how are we supposed to DEMAND

that justice be color blind? Demand to whom? Condemn it? Yes, with vehemence. But what is THAT going to do to stop this kind of insanity? There is a person in the Oval Office that eggs this kind of thing on. Yes, I will vote and I am begging everyone to vote...hell, I tell people at the gas pump to please vote this November. But DEMAND? I ask humbly again...who are we to DEMAND it of?

[Atticus]

14. There is no Social Justice Czar. There is no switch to flip and there is no one person

to whom such a demand can be addressed. We have to demand it of ourselves and each other.

IF this injustice truly offends us, outrages us, PISSES US OFF---then, by Gawd, let's express that, openly, loudly, again and again. Make people who do not condemn these killings as uncomfortable as possible and make those who condone them pariahs.

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing".

[wnylib]

21. That quote from Edmund Burke (Irish statesman)

has been a favorite of mine for many years, ever since I first came across it in my early 20's.

[BComplex]

22. For starters, we can show up when someone is running for Sheriff and District Attorney.

We can hold their feet to the fire about race, and how they're going to make sure none of these things happen under their watch, and if they do, how quickly will they arrest the white guy and ask questions later? And will they make that clear every time they hire a new deputy.

It's law enforcement that needs to enforce the laws. That's where we start.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

13. Harry Belafonte said, to meet MLK's dream, white America needs to change course.

Last edited Mon May 11, 2020, 01:06 AM - Edit history (2)

[pbs4/6/18; video, transcript @link] Thanks, Great post! We need to be the change!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/harry-belafonte-to-realize-martin-luther-king-jr-s-dream-white-america-needs-to-change-course&ved=2ahUKEwiS77LAvKTpAhU2FjQIHYexA4MQuAIwAHoECAUQBQ&usg=AOvVaw0a1vZ4gXaPRxs2T9IvxW6Q&cf=1

[42bambi]

15. Thanks for writing with such truth and emotion. So often I'm

embarrassed to be white. My heart turns upside down with such hurt for the families of these lost souls. I don't understand why a person becomes a lover of hate ... and there are so many that seem proud of their actions! When will it all end?

[iluvtennis]

16. This is right on point - thanks for this post.

[c-rational]

18. Well said Atticus. "There is but one race; the human race."

[marieo1]

19. Feeling sad for his family

i written and written about the senselessness of this horrible murder. I am so sick and tired of hearing about these stupid racist bigots committing murders all over our country and not being prosecuted. Thank you for posting our responses.