The "you ain't black" issue is more than just a goofy comment, it shows a great disdain for black people in general. This isn't the first time Biden has made disparaging remarks about black people. He recently made some more, only a couple of days ago if I am not mistaken, regarding black and brown people's ability to get on the Internet. It's very unfortunate that people don't view this as the blatant racism that it is.If you think Maxine Water's rhetoric and blacks voting for the status quo is a greater danger to democracy than neofascist and neoconfederates literally storming the capitol to shut down the certification of a US president while congressmen run for their lives then I don't know what to tell you.
The "you ain't black" thing was goofy but most blacks can brush that off and look at the true nature of their political opposition. The confederate flag being paraded through the capitol to re-install the most openly xenophobic president in the last century who is endorsed by the klan and neonazis, that the true nature of the Republican Party. 87% of blacks vote Democrat because it's been painfully obvious since the Southern Strategy.
So yeah saying "you ain't black" is goofy but to say it's worse than neoconfederate loonies pushing for a Trump dictatorship is fairly ridiculous hyperbole and quite disturbing coming from a black dude.
The whole “uninformed electorate” thing is pointing to a hypothetical problem that is difficult to quantify in a conversation centered around very real, very dangerous laws being passed that are aiming to take us back to the era of segregation and Jim Crowe.
I grew up in an extremely conservative environment. I know all the rhetorical tricks, excuses, and arguments. "Mob rule". "Personal accountability". "Rugged individualism".
Whether writer is aware of it or not, the root of all that is racism. The modern GOP can, in so many ways, best be understood as a backlash against the Civil Rights movement and these arguments implying there's a segment of the population unequipped to vote responsibly that we need to legislate around, is just racism.
This is certainly the bare minimum that should be done, and I receive those packets in the mail, usually a month or so before the election. Covers all the local props and measures, gives some detail on the local, state, and federal candidates up for election. At the very least, it gets the voter pointed in a direction to hopefully seek more information.I think the best thing for any voting is that before you vote, whether online, in person, or mail in, you're given an information package about the various candidates and the platforms they're running on. Basic information, taken right from their websites so there's no bias. Every Canadian election, I can google the platforms of any of the parties (4 or 5 usually) and I'll get a list of their plans. And then I can fact check the points.
The "you ain't black" issue is more than just a goofy comment, it shows a great disdain for black people in general. This isn't the first time Biden has made disparaging remarks about black people. He recently made some more, only a couple of days ago if I am not mistaken, regarding black and brown people's ability to get on the Internet. It's very unfortunate that people don't view this as the blatant racism that it is.
But that's neither here nor there. I never made any such suggestions regarding neoconfederates, nor idiots storming the Capitol, not sure where that comment even came from or why it entered into this conversation. My discussion is strictly regarding voting, and how casting your vote based on hate, fear, and race baiting rhetoric, regardless of who or what side it came from, is the absolute height of uninformed, irresponsible voting that has gotten us right where we are....one particular racial group voting at the rate of 90% for a political party that has gotten them little to no progress in the last 50 years.
The ideas that will take us back to Jim Crow are those that insist race should be at the forefront of every conversation, every interaction, and that the races should be treated differently. The ideas that say you are determined by your race and that race leads to the important factors of your decision making and your life. Anti-racist people lead with the individual as a person, not a skin color. When you lead with race, you aren't adopting content of character as the basis for how you deal with the person. This isn't to suggest that race should never be discussed, or that it isn't important, but its probably the least important thing about a person.
You're echoing the sentiments of the Smithsonian from a few months ago re: "whiteness", as though other people in other cultures cannot possibly encompass values such as individualism, accountability, and a strong work ethic. This is white supremacist nonsense. White people did not invent these values and are not the sole progenitors of them.
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The ideas that will take us back to Jim Crow are those that insist race should be at the forefront of every conversation, every interaction, and that the races should be treated differently. The ideas that say you are determined by your race and that race leads to the important factors of your decision making and your life. Anti-racist people lead with the individual as a person, not a skin color. When you lead with race, you aren't adopting content of character as the basis for how you deal with the person. This isn't to suggest that race should never be discussed, or that it isn't important, but its probably the least important thing about a person.
Morgan Freeman put it perfectly when asked how to get rid of racism... "I'm gonna stop calling you a white man and you're gonna stop calling me a black man." But that's the deathknell for all the race hustlers and folks that need racism to validate their own hatred, their own sense of superiority or their own virtuosness."The best actor for the job"
A phrase that has been thrown around this site quite a few times. A phrase and leads arguments usually against the casting of a minority. Not really mentioning skin color, but the undertone is inherently racist.
I say this as someone who nearly fell into the alt-right pit, "color blindness" is a way to hide racism. Not ever addressing race can lead to it bubbling under the service. And racism is a problem for both sides. Now, it may not exactly be as homicidal as it is on the right, but it is a problem on the left. NIMBY-ism is essentially born out of racism.
Morgan Freeman put it perfectly when asked how to get rid of racism... "I'm gonna stop calling you a white man and you're gonna stop calling me a black man." But that's the deathknell for all the race hustlers and folks that need racism to validate their own hatred, their own sense of superiority or their own virtuosness.
Imagine a world where we saw each other as human beings first and not skin colors.
Imagine a world where we saw each other as human beings first and not skin colors.
You're echoing the sentiments of the Smithsonian from a few months ago re: "whiteness", as though other people in other cultures cannot possibly encompass values such as individualism, accountability, and a strong work ethic. This is white supremacist nonsense. White people did not invent these values and are not the sole progenitors of them.
View attachment 43282
The ideas that will take us back to Jim Crow are those that insist race should be at the forefront of every conversation, every interaction, and that the races should be treated differently. The ideas that say you are determined by your race and that race leads to the important factors of your decision making and your life. Anti-racist people lead with the individual as a person, not a skin color. When you lead with race, you aren't adopting content of character as the basis for how you deal with the person. This isn't to suggest that race should never be discussed, or that it isn't important, but its probably the least important thing about a person.
I guess diversity of skin color beats diversity of thought. Gotcha.That's some kind of Lennon "Imagine" crap and you know it.
People have real lived experiences based on their skin colour and their gender. That kind of diversity ends up being ignored or downplayed when people say "let's all get along!" Treating people equally does not necessarily mean treating them the same.
Biologically, race doesn't separate us. But it's a social construct that gives us culture and identity. To try and erase that is to come from a place of privilege and demand that everyone get along according to a set standard of behaviour and cultural norms. And whose behaviour gets to set that standard? Historically, white Europeans.
So let's not play this "I don't see race" card. Everyone sees race and it's not only important to recognize it, but celebrate it and precisely for the reason because we look different from each other. You can see human beings and their races at the same time. To want otherwise or to think it's possible to only see a human is naive and frankly, destructive.
I guess diversity of skin color beats diversity of thought. Gotcha.
No, diversity of thought comes from diversity of thought, unless you believe people of the same color all think alike. And that would be prejudiced as hell.Wow you missed that completely. Diversity of thought comes from diversity of skin colour.
That was literally the point of my post.
No, diversity of thought comes from diversity of thought, unless you believe people of the same color all think alike. And that would be prejudiced as hell.
This is way off topic of course, but I can't tell you how many times people have assumed that because Im black, this means I have had certain experiences or I must think a certain way. It's very insulting to assume that because of my skin color, I must have a unique take on a situation. Shortly after the George Floyd riots, people at my job (mostly white Democrats) began calling me and asking me for my take on the situation. Some of these people barely talked to me in the past. But now they wanted me to know they have my back and they are an "ally", and I knew then (and confirmed later) they were assuming that because of my skin color, I felt some kind of way about it.I absolutely don't think that. But you're nitpicking from my post to make asinine statements that are not correct.
Wanting to see people as just people and ignoring their skin colour erases their diversity of thought. It's an invaluable resource to find out what people of different races and ethnicities and genders think because their life experience has been largely affected by these factors. Unless you're suggesting that a black man and a white man would have the same life experiences. Which I would challenge.
That's why people want to see more diversity in government and in positions of power. Because the experiences of black women (for example) largely differs from the experiences of white men. And those different experiences lay the groundwork for different ideas and behaviours, which we need to see and hear.
This is way off topic of course, but I can't tell you how many times people have assumed that because Im black, this means I have had certain experiences or I must think a certain way. It's very insulting to assume that because of my skin color, I must have a unique take on a situation. Shortly after the George Floyd riots, people at my job (mostly white Democrats) began calling me and asking me for my take on the situation. Some of these people barely talked to me in the past. But now they wanted me to know they have my back and they are an "ally", and I knew then (and confirmed later) they were assuming that because of my skin color, I felt some kind of way about it.