WHY is it so hard for some people to admit there is a racial double standard in the U.S.? We see double standards with all sorts of situations. Tall people get more credit than short people. Pretty people are chosen for jobs over less attractive people. Babies are cute and old people smell. (Actually, babies and old people both smell and can be cute. Except when old people act like babies and except for those unfortunate babies that look like old men. I always say a prayer that the cranky miniature senior citizen isn’t peaking, but I digress.) Able-bodied people are valued more than disabled people. Boys are described as studs for the same behavior that girls get labeled as sluts. It is a world gone mad.
I know there are some people out there who believe even these statements aren’t true because only whack-job feminazi’s rant about imaginary sexism and gay people have an “agenda” whereas heterosexual people are just living “normal”. At the same time some employers won’t admit they are more likely to hire younger workers than older ones based on pre-conceived ideas about those individuals based on their age instead of their qualifications. That was a really long sentence. The double-standard I’m hung up on at present is the assumption that white people are innocent and black people are guilty. The comparisons are so glaringly obvious if you are paying attention even just a tiny bit.
I have attended several demonstrations in St. Louis and Ferguson since Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown. One such demonstration was the Mothers March for Justice. There was scant police presence and the air was devoid of tension. Why? Because the protesters were mostly women. Strong, beautiful, angry women. Women are perceived as less violent so we get the benefit of the doubt that we’re not going to go all crazy overturning cars like drunk white college students wielding pumpkins. Men don’t get that benefit of the doubt. Most assumptions are that angry men will turn into an unruly mob. When you add black skin to that equation, all benefit of the doubt dissipates. Please don’t argue that we have footage of looting black men stealing from QuikTrip during small pockets of unrest. There are knuckleheads in every group of every movement. Looters are not synonymous with protesters any more than Honey Boo Boo is an ambassador for everyone in rural Georgia. (You’re welcome, Georgia)
Do you consider me a looter? Because I’ve been out demonstrating and supporting the Ferguson community in different capacities. Though I’m sure free kit-kats and taking your anger out on a QT window would be awesome, that’s not why the protesters (as opposed to the looters) are there. When Ferguson is mentioned in conversation, does your mind go directly to molotov cocktails, looting and nooses? Because that’s what happened to me in a very non-diverse party recently. The person that said it I am certain isn’t racist. She just didn’t think about her language before she spoke. She didn’t hear herself jump directly to only the negative imagery of the protests instead of conceding that maybe race relations are tense because black lives aren’t treated as sacredly as white lives. I should have said something non-confrontational to her so that maybe she would think next time she spoke about it. Other party-goers simply didn’t know how to receive me when I mentioned Ferguson or the protests. I didn’t want to be a killjoy at a pleasant event, but it was hard to go back into the white bubble after having spent as much time as I have outside.
Sometimes when you give someone the benefit of the doubt you get burned. That’s a risk you take. Once all the evidence comes in I may agree that Officer Wilson was justified in shooting Michael Brown.
Regardless of what the grand jury or any investigation determines doesn’t change the fact that if Officer Wilson perceived Michael Brown as a threat, part of the reason was simply because Michael Brown was black.
Whether Michael Brown lunged or mouthed-off to Officer Wilson doesn’t change the fact that justice for black people is not doled out the way it is for white people. (and it sucks to be black if you want unbiased justice).
If Officer Wilson over-reacted to the situation doesn’t negate the reality that black communities are segregated and disenfranchised. I’ve heard arguments that because “They got their black President” somehow proves the U.S. has attained racial equality. I’m proud that Americans voted a black man into office but that doesn’t even the playing field any more than the election of a female President eradicates unequal pay for women.
RDP- The reality you refuse to accept is that regardless of what Michael Brown did or did not do, he would likely be dead regardless because black lives are not sacred in our society like white lives already are. Enter Eric Garner. Enter Walter Scott. It doesn’t matter if Michael Brown committed a robbery or if he was wearing a tube top. There is no perfect victim. Rape victims don’t ask to be assaulted because they walked home down a dark alley. Rapists shouldn’t rape people. Cops should protect citizens, not harass them. Imperfect victims are just as entitled to express their constitutional rights as any US citizen. The fact that O.J. was acquitted means there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him, not that he didn’t commit a crime. Same goes for Darren Wilson. And at least O.J. had a trial. The grand jury system is an outdated farce. Ignorant, foul-mouthed, misguided human beings are still human beings. It bothers me you seem not to see them as such. All one need do is turn on Fox News to prove that. Protesters are angry. Many didn’t grow up in polite society. Not making a distinction between looters and protesters is intellectually lazy. I feel sorry for the detractors whose myopic outlook allows them to cease to see individuals and can only define them by tribe.
Good evening Jennifer. Thank you for your response. On the contrary, I do accept the fact that Michael Brown would likely be killed sometime early in his life any way. Not because black lives allegedly don’t matter to white people, but that black lives don’t matter to black people.
The number of cops killing blacks is minuscule compared to the number of blacks killing other blacks. You’re outrage and that of the “protesters” should be focused on what blacks are doing to themselves. Black people are their own worst enemy for failing to take any responsibility for their condition. As long as they continue to blame the white man for all their problems, there will be no improvement. Their behavior through all this, is gaining them no support from the white community. The white community is sick and tired of it.
Surely you saw sometime ago that school bus video showing a bunch of black teenage drug-dealers savagely beating and stomping a 13-year-old white boy, breaking his arm and causing him other injuries, while the older black male bus driver stands right there and does nothing but watch.
Incidents of black-on-white violence like this have been epidemic in our society for years, but you wouldn’t know it if you get your information from the establishment media. Just recently a white man was beat up on Metrolink on his way home from work by three black males who asked to use his cell phone. The white man refused and they then asked him what he thought of the MB case. This was a hate crime.
Another case I know you should be familiar with is the murder of our very own Sgt. Mike King of the University City Police Department. Not only was he an outstanding police officer, but also an outstanding human being. I knew him personally. He was ambushed one Halloween night as he sat in his marked patrol car at Leland and Delmar. The perp was a black man that specifically targeted him because he was white.
Surely you remember the recreational activity that young black males engaged in right here in St. Louis. The “knockout game”, a sometimes deadly game wherein a group of young blacks stealthily approach a random, unsuspecting white or sometimes Asian person in a public place, and one or more of the group suddenly punching their victim in the face/head as hard as they can, to see if they can knock them unconscious, and thereby achieve “street cred” and bragging rights among their peers.
Unfortunately for everyone, and contrary to what those holding most positions of power in our society would have you know, black males–especially younger ones–are extremely more likely than members of other demographic groups to be violent criminals who attack, rob, and even murder, for a few dollars or merely for sport.
Instances like these are usually accompanied by official indifference, and outright rallying to the side of the attackers by members and leaders of the black “community.” It’s disgusting how they make martyrs, and idols out of thugs.
According to FBI statistics, including Uniform Crime Reports and National Crime Victimization Surveys from across the country, young black males commit upwards of 50% of all murders and other violent crime in the United States. This is despite blacks representing only about 15% of the country’s entire population.
In 2010, young blacks committed homicides at nearly 14 times the rate young whites did. Blacks are 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against whites than vice-versa, and 136 times more likely to commit a robbery.
Even though many in our society are already aware of these facts, the media and authorities are engaged in such a politically-correct cover up of the extent of the situation that there are still those millions and millions of brainwashed liberals who rush to join the hand-wringing over the number of black men in prison, alleging that such is the result of “institutional racism” in our criminal justice system, and endlessly bemoaning “the perpetuation of negative stereotypes” about black males. As I said before, young black males have EARNED the reputation for being thugs, and it’s only prudent for their own safety for police officers to view them as such.
Blacks only have themselves to blame for the condition they’re in. There are plenty of examples of successful blacks, and they are successful only because of their own “self determination”. More power to them.
Another thing Jennifer. I’ve attended the Support Law Enforcement rallies, and I can say as sure as you’re name is Jennifer McCoy, those black protesters are the most ignorant, foul mouthed, misguided human beings who ever walked the face of the earth. There is no distinction between the looters and protesters. You’re know by the company you keep.
O please Jennifer! These thugs have EARNED the reputation they now have. Officer Wilson perceived Michael Brown as a threat because he was a threat. Someone who goes for a cop’s gun, clearly has the intent to use it against him. An intelligent person will follow the instructions of a police officer. If you think the officer was wrong, then you file a charge afterwards. Michael Brown did commit a strong arm robbery. No question about it. He was no “gentle giant”. Not only did a grand jury clear Officer Wilson of any wrong doing, but so too did the Department of Justice which is headed up by a black man; Eric Holder.