11 Things White People Should Stop Saying To Black People Immediately

[gollygee]

http://mic.com/articles/96144/11-things-white-people-should-stop-saying-to-black-people-immediately

Whenever a black youth like Michael Brown gets shot, or a racist blowhard like Donald Sterling gets exposed, many white people on and off the Internet react with remarks brimming with the ugliness of anti-black racism. And it absolutely has to stop.

More often than not, many white people resort to putting the onus back on the people who are experiencing the pain of racism. This tactic often derails the broader conversation, allowing white people to continue ignoring their own biases, and prevents a frank examination of the larger systems and powers accountable for enshrining the dehumanization of and discrimination against blacks and people of color. That larger system is white supremacy, a version of which has little to do with neo-Nazis or the KKK as most would assume.

A growing number of black people have been ruthlessly beaten, shot and killed by white police officers of late, a fact all too easy to gloss over for white people who will continue moving through American life with white privilege. White privilege means not having to deal with the disproportionate impact of police brutality, racial profiling and exclusion from everyday social settings and public accommodations.

Rather than tackle a thorny issue with tact and honesty, however, privilege also allows people to ignore the conversation, mock it or walk away from it altogether. But it doesn't have to be that way. Americans don't have to let this type of ignorance stop us from examining the many subtle, insidious attitudes and beliefs that help perpetuate racism through microaggressions, a term developed by Derald Wing Sue and researchers at Columbia University to explain smaller instances of systemic, cumulative racial indignities.

Then the article gives the 11 examples.

[Scuba]

1. My favorite: 6. "It's not fair that you all can say the n-word, but we can't."

But just because some black people have reclaimed the word in their everyday vernacular, or even in their cultural productions, doesn't mean white people get to participate in that same reclamation. White people irrevocably lost that opportunity the day the n-word coincided with lynchings, whippings, mob beatings and police shootings.

[loyalsister]

7. I find that one so disturbing

Combine it with talking points about black on black crime, and I get the impression that I'm talking to someone who wishes they lived in an era when racism was acceptable.

[Sheldon Cooper]

17. Welcome to DU, Bill O'Reilly!

[flobee1]

19. A few years back

There was a show on tv that featured Maya Angelou and Dave Chappell and one clip still stands out to me after all this time. "if you take an ounce of poison and put it into a beautiful bottle, it doesn't change the fact that it is still poison"-discussing his use of the n-word

[Iggo]

24. The comeback to that is: Why do you want to?

[NightWatcher]

2. If you say you're not racist because you have a black friend. Two things...

Yes you are and he's not your friend.

[AgingAmerican]

3. Is the term

"Republican" interchangeable with the word, "White"?

You seem to get the two terms confused a lot.

[gollygee]

4. There are racist Democrats

And there are also lots of well-meaning liberals who unintentionally do racist things sometimes. The terms "non-racist" and "Democrat" are not interchangeable either.

[AgingAmerican]

5. So you are attacking Democrats?

And accusing them of buying into GOP talking points? Thanks for clearing this up!

[gollygee]

6. I'm not attacking anyone

I am criticizing racism, whatever the source.

[cyberswede]

11. You're the one who brought "Republicans" into the discussion

The OP is about white people - no mention of political ideology.

[AgingAmerican]

12. Read the article

The 11 points it cites are standard GOP talking points that are repeated on FOX news/Limbaugh/Beck every day. Because the article cites a list of GOP talking points, it should be titled as such.

Have a nice day.

[cyberswede]

13. I did read it...

And the items listed are things all sorts of people say - not just republicans. I didn't see any citation in the article indicating the items were taken from talking points (you realize "cite" has a specific meaning, right?).

I'll defer to the people of color to know who they hear this sort of thing from.

Your implication that gollygee is attacking democrats is ludicrous.

[AgingAmerican]

15. Standard Republican talking points

That are openly repeated on FOX news everyday.

'Whites' includes Democrats.

[BainsBane]

20. What bothers him is that she mentioned white people

and didn't make sure to make him feel better by explicitly excluding Democrats.

[Iggo]

25. .

[m-lekktor]

31. exactly. nt

[el_bryanto]

34. That does seem to be the logical conclusion. nt

[etherealtruth]

26. The poster is attacking RACISTS

Actually, she is not even attacking racists, she is asking people to examine their thoughts and their interactions , to identify racist behavior.

It is laudable.

it is very unfortunate when folk will not engage in a little introspection.

[REP]

8. It's heartbreaking and infuriating that articles like this are still needed

It's the 21st century, and we (as a country) haven't grown up enough. I try to do my small part in not being a racist jack off, because duh and my fellow citizens are not my enemy.

[Skittles]

10. yes it is

[Daemonaquila]

9. Can the person it's said to slap 'em upside the head first?

It would be fair. It also might just make the point that it's not remotely ok.

[redqueen]

14. I like to visualize spraying them with water like an errant pet.

No! *spshhh spshhhhh spshhhh* No!

[arcane1]

18. OK I literally LOL'ed

[etherealtruth]

28. Love it!!!!!

[2naSalit]

30. Perfect response!!

[bullwinkle428]

21. #12) White person : "If Martin Luther King were alive today, he would say..."

ARGH! This one kills me! I see RW-wackos use this all the time, projecting their own shit onto what a hypothetical MLK would say today.

[gollygee]

22. Yes that is obnoxious

although, sadly, that's one I've heard pretty frequently from Democrats too.

[AgingAmerican]

32. They still try to claim he was a Republican

They get angry if you inform them that Jesse Jackson was with him when he was assassinated.

[Quayblue]

33. This gives me the cynical giggles

If MLK were alive today...

I call bullshit on RW'ers being on MLK's team if he were still here today. Ugh.

[Cha]

23. "Behold our Progress" :(

mahalo gollygee

[etherealtruth]

27. K and R

encouraging folk to examine their behavior is always a good thing!

[Sedona]

29. I never say that stuff....but what SHOULD I say?

My heart breaks whenever atrocities like Mike Brown or Trayvon Martin happen. I grew up and came of age in South Florida in the wake of the riot following the acquittal of the killers of Arthur McDuffie in 1980 and again with the murders of Clement Anthony Lloyd, 23, and Allan Blanchard, 24 in 1989

My sister is married to an African American, and my daughter is very close to becoming engaged to one. I am the aunt of and could soon become a grandmother to racially mixed young people.

Talking politics at my job is pretty much verboten. Is there an acceptable way to show my lily white solidarity with my African American supervisor and mother of a fabulous college freshman son living in LA where this shit happens still on a regular basis?

How do I let my African American friends, family and co-workers know how disgusted I am by it all being still an issue in 2014 without being offensive?

[el_bryanto]

35. Probably just be honest and open about how you feel without excuses

I strikes me that that is the common thread through those statements (or one of the threads) is that they are about excusing themselves from what is going on. Acknowledge that even if you are trying to be part of the solution, as things stand right now you have certain benefits that black people do not have. And listen with empathy to what they are saying. Too often in all sorts of conversations, but particularly in this one, we are in too much of a hurry to excuse or explain ourselves rather than simply listening to what the other person is saying and trying to understand it.

Or that's my thoughts.

Bryant

[maced666]

36. I have black friends...

Size doesn't matter-
you people....
this list can go on forever