What White People Can Do About the Killing of Black Men in America

[freshwest]

Last edited Sun Aug 17, 2014, 09:42 PM - Edit history (1)

By Paul Brandeis Raushenbush

Posted: 08/13/2014 Updated: 08/14/2014

What White People Can Do About the Killing of Black Men in America

'Can we switch for just one day?' my friend Sean jokingly asked me as we were working out at the gym. 'No, way' I said firmly. You see, Sean is black and I am white and Sean was suggesting that we swap races. In his plea, Sean was none-too-subtly commenting that living life as a white man might be easier than living as a black man. In my unwillingness to switch, I acknowledged the privilege -- and safety -- that comes with being a white person in 21st century America.

There are a lot of events vying to occupy the American mind these days such as Gaza, Iraq, Ukraine, the immigration crisis, hate crimes against Sikhs, Ebola, and Robin Williams' death. But in one way, the ability to switch among these traumas is a white person's 'luxury.' For Sean, and for many black Americans, the recent spate of black male deaths at the hands of police in America is forced to occupy the primary place...*

Black Americans are rightfully outraged, but it will require all Americans to be mobilized before the racism that undergirds these killings will end and the deaths along with it. White Americans like me have to stop channel surfing all the outrageously bad news from around the world and focus on the death that is happening in our own cities to our fellow Americans.*

More at the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/what-white-people-can-do-_b_5675759.html

*Bluntly speaking,some tidal waves of outrage aren't as moving to me as this.
The hyper-vitriolic dialog appears to be an attempt to absolve oneself while not facing what is going on the home front that needs our attention. A raging, malignant, wild elephant in the living room of America is being ignored, one we can do something about that would affect millions.

I asked myself as a young child the question that Sean did and answered myself the same way as Raushenbush did. I saw just how dangerous being black could be and was both deeply afraid and ashamed of the truth and determined to change things around me. But those were actions I was free to take, not a burden forced on me. For those who have been forced it will remain Issue #1, so they are not free to 'move on' to other things. It's a waste of human potential.

What an indictment it is that this was ever given oxygen, this privilege. Blacks are subjected all their lives, 24/7/365+1 on leap years, to much more to keep them being all that they could be:



Instead they have been reduced to this state to prevent them achieving. That prevents many from being able to develop and succeed in life, it's down to a survival level, fight or flight:



This image is beautiful and heartening because its action is direct and pure. This is freedom and the ability to thrive. But it still should not be an issue:



I would say that last one behooves us to put our bodies in the way of harm that other whites would visit on blacks. I have done so in the past when I had the strength and blacks have done the same thing for me. The human spirit hates being trapped more than anything.

to napkinz for images:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5400601

[Little Star]

1. k&r

[4now]

2. Its heartbreaking to see our country so far behind

on so many important issues.
Those picture are very touching.
Thanks for posting.

[freshwest]

6. Yes it is. Especially for those forced to live this reality.

[Cha]

3. This is Great, fresh.. thank you! I posted that one of the two little kids on my FB

last night.. I think it's awesome!

[napkinz]

9. that picture brings to mind this song ...

[Cha]

11. thank you sweetie! I'm in

a rush right now but I'll watch when I get back.

Oh, I do remember 3 Dog Night but not that particular one.. looking forward to it!

[dickthegrouch]

4. It's very obvious what us whites have to do

APOLOGIZE and make amends for causing the Blacks so much harm.
Leave the guns in their lockers.


Whites kidnapped them from Africa and enslaved them
Whites treated them like second class citizens for the next 300 years (and still are in many cases)
Whites fear blacks in unprecedented numbers

Now that Black people are gaining strength and political clout, the apartheid of the US is becoming more and more obvious. None of us progressives can rest until that apartheid is destroyed.
We must not put up with racist remarks, we must challenge and educate the fools that would seek to perpetuate any bigotry.

[freshwest]

10. I agree with you 100%. Oh, someone was offended below. They have been shown the door, though.

[sheshe2]

12. I only had a quick read, freshwest.

and was going to respond. Then poof they were nuked! It was something about, I will never apologize and that POC should apologize to the white folks. That was their first post here. Not so sadly it will be their last, at least under that name.

They got kicked out the door by MIRT....bless their souls!

[freshwest]

14. Ha! They can't help themselves, huh? Thanks, sweets.

[sheshe2]

16. Nope! They cannot.

[sheshe2]

7. Thank you freshwest.

I also pressed Rev. Lee on what he would like to tell white Americans on how to show solidarity. I was humbled by his response:

We need to lock arms amidst all of this. If the police feel they are above the law with any one group, they will feel they are above the law with others. We need to learn from the civil rights movement. It wasn't just black folks, it was everybody, because it wasn't a black problem it was a moral issue. We are remembering 40 years after the Freedom Summer. That wasn't just black people risking their lives, it was a community that went down to Mississippi because they knew that when any group within the nation is marginalized then we can't be the nation we want to be.

This is not a 'black problem it is an American problem and it will take all of us working together to solve it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/what-white-people-can-do-_b_5675759.html

Great OP, it is indeed moral problem and an American problem.

[graegoyle]

8. The first sign might be the incentive for some killings.

"My only threat to you is my capacity to be great."

[JCMach1]

13. Get as angry as I need to until my son is as safe as everyone else...

I am white, but my wife is African...

[gollygee]

15. 1. Stop killing them

2. See them as the human beings they are.

I can think of lots of things.

(Not a critique of the article, just frustration in general.)

[sheshe2]

17. This...

From Ametia's files at 3chics politico



http://3chicspolitico.com/