White Fragility Digest #13: 29 May 2018

[MrScorpio]

Racist explodes in court after hate crime attack on child and father: ‘Hitler should’ve gassed n*ggers’

Link to tweet

TRAVIS GETTYS
25 MAY 2018 AT 11:25 ET


An Arizona man delivered a racist rant in a Utah courtroom as he was sentenced to nine months in prison for a hate crime against a black child and his father.

Mark Porter used a racial slur against the 7-year-old boy Nov. 3, 2016, at their apartment complex and then zapped the child’s father with a stun cane when he intervened, and a jury convicted him in March of committing a federal hate crime with a dangerous weapon, reported KSTU-TV.

“I just said, ‘Get out of here you little stinking n*gger,'” Porter told FBI agents during his arrest, which was recorded on body camera video. “I said, ‘I got something for you,’ and I come out, and I held my Zap Cane out, right? And [the father] walked up against it, and it went against his chest.”

The 59-year-old Porter moved from Draper to Arizona since the incident but was extradited back to Utah to face charges.

Porter ranted against black people during his arrest in September, and he delivered another racist tirade during his sentencing.

“See, Hitler had the right idea, the wrong people,” Porter told FBI agents. “Should’ve gassed n*ggers.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/racist-rants-court-hate-crime-attack-child-father-hitler-shouldve-gassed-nggers/

"White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium."

Robin DiAngelo, Ph.D

The next Digest will be published as needed.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210609305

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210612268

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210616002

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210620209

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210623832

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210627625

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210636806

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210639960

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210642814

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210646721

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210650802

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210655685

[MrScorpio]

1. Parents Are Fuming After an Entire 8th Grade Class of Black Students Receive Threatening Text Msgs

Link to tweet

By Tia Berger -May 26, 2018

Seven Lakes Junior High School’s Black students were sent hateful and derogatory messages to their phones and Katy Independent School District is now investigating.

Three mothers at the Katy, Texas middle school were exceedingly bothered after they were informed by their upset daughters of what occurred at the school.

A group of young girls were eating lunch when they all received an incoming text message to their phone that displayed the word “nigger” multiple times and said “ya’ll can die”.

“It was like around 12:00 p.m. when everyone received the racist message,” 8th grader Kayla Lyons told Abc13.

“It went from phone to phone to phone. When everybody got it they started looking up at each other. I looked up at Kayla. Kayla shows me her phone. I looked across the room and there was a table of black boys and they were looking at their phone,” added Lyon’s friend Joy Smith.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/05/26/parents-are-fuming-after-an-entire-8th-grade-class-of-black-students-receive-threatening-text-messages/

[MrScorpio]

2. Obama-hating Michigan official forced to resign after her Muslim-bashing Facebook posts are exposed

Link to tweet

Tana Ganeva

Macomb, Michigan official was forced to resign after Muslim-bashing posts were discovered on her Facebook page.

In 2014 and 2015, Diane Deliso Kozlowski, a member of the Warren Elected Officials Compensation Commission, wrote, “Get them out of our country. there (sic) so insulting. Send them to the white house they can eat there. with the other muslim,” reports Deadline Detroit.

“NO AMERICAN WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR A MUSLIM,” she added, in an apparent reference to President Barack Obama.

More recently, she wrote “ISLAM IS HATE.’

In her resignation letter, Kozlowski claimed that she was only referring to terrorists. “I apologize for offending anyone, including Muslims, my post was referring to terrorists, NOT Muslims,” she wrote. “I understand that terrorists come from all backgrounds and all religions and for me to refer to Muslims was wrong. I apologize to Muslims who are as much against terrorism as are other religions in the United States. I was wrong and as a result I am resigning.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/obama-hating-michigan-official-forced-resign-muslim-bashing-facebook-posts-exposed/#.WwhnQDjnWU4.twitter

[MrScorpio]

3. Florida Man pulls knife on Muslim students at Fla. McDonald's: Police

Link to tweet

Sean Rossman, USA TODAY

A Florida man faces criminal charges after he pulled a knife and stun gun on a group of Muslim international students at a McDonald's.

John Jay Smith, 60, was arrested following the incident about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at the restaurant in St. Augustine, just south of Jacksonville.

Smith allegedly got into a verbal altercation with two men, who were eating hamburgers in the parking lot, reports First Coast News.

The arrest report from the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office says Smith got into a verbal confrontation with the men, during which he pulled a knife.

One of the men, Omar Abdelmoaty, told the Washington Post he was with four other Egyptian students eating burgers and fries in the parking lot when Smith approached. All are Muslim and students from Egypt.

"We thought we were going to die,' Abdelmoaty told the newspaper.

The men went back to their vehicle as Smith reportedly yelled at them, "get out of my country you do not deserve to eat here." First Coast News reports one of the victims later told police Smith said “get the f*** out of here you don’t deserve American food.”

Smith, using an electric stun gun, then reached his arm inside the car in an attempt to shock two of the men, according to the report. The driver tried to pull away from Smith and backed into a pole in the parking lot, causing minor damage.

https://www.wfaa.com/mobile/article/news/nation-now/florida-man-pulls-knife-on-students-eating-burgers-goes-on-anti-muslim-rant-at-mcdonalds-police/465-854038e5-a777-46c8-95ad-34873796d06b

[MrScorpio]

4. Not just Starbucks: Shopping while black

Link to tweet

By Darryl C. MurphyMay 29, 2018

Nekia Pressley is one of the 75 million Americans diagnosed with high blood pressure. She’s had it for at least a year.

“I get it off and on, sometimes,” said the 38-year-old. “I get headaches if I don’t take my medicine”
Like others with the condition, she makes a regular trek to the pharmacy for medication. She fills her prescription every month at a major chain grocery store near Oxford Circle, a 20-minute drive from her home in North Philadelphia, where she lives with her three children.
Pressley , a devout Muslim who wears a hijab to cover her head, normally walks in the store, goes to the pharmacy counter, purchases her medication, and, if there is no shopping to be done, leaves. Unbothered.

In early January, that all changed.

On her way out of the store after a routine pickup, Pressley was confronted at the exit by an employee, a white, middle-aged woman, demanding she “give up the hoagie.” The woman had been following her through the store, Pressley suspects, and had confused the white bag of medicine under her arm for a sandwich she thought Pressley was attempting to steal.

Pressley was mortified. Shoppers were entering and exiting the store as she pulled out the bag of medication from under her arm, proving her innocence. The employee turned “beet red,” said Pressley. But, instead of apologizing, she simply said, “Oh, OK,” then went on with her business.

https://whyy.org/segments/not-just-starbucks-shopping-while-black/

[MrScorpio]

5. WATCH: Racist man threatens to send Latina woman to Mexico in angry tirade

Link to tweet

Sarah K. Burris

The entitlement that came from “racist lawyer bro” has reared it’s ugly head once again, this time in Texas.

A Houston Jack in the Box employee encountered an irate customer demanding to verify a coupon for a free hamburger, ABC7 News reported.

The entitlement that came from “racist lawyer bro” has reared it’s ugly head once again, this time in Texas.

“She told my son ‘No!'” He screamed at a male employee that came over to ask what was happening. “She lied her ass off! You know, she’s not going to get away with it!”

The video tape shows both employees calmly trying to talk to the man, each calling him “sir” and explaining what happened from their perspective. However, that’s when he decided to issue his threats.

“Hey, you are going to get fired,” the man said. “What’s your name?”

The woman answered that her name was Maria.

“Goodbye Maria. Buy you a ticket back to Mexico,” he told her.

The woman who posted the video on Facebook commented she “never thought I’d experience racism so close.” She noted that her 9-year-old daughter was terrified watching the incident unfold.

She then had to have a talk with her daughter about racism and “why these things are happening.”

The incident happens two weeks after another irate white customer assailed Latino workers speaking Spanish at a local New York City coffee shop.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/watch-racist-man-threatens-send-latina-woman-mexico-angry-tirade/#.WwxOLcR52HU.twitter

[MrScorpio]

6. The Dangers of Living While Black

Link to tweet

May 23, 2018

Earlier this year, I was riding a rented bike through a neighborhood in Alameda, California, while visiting my children at their other mother’s home. They have lived there for three years and I visit frequently, often several times a week.

This time, a white woman stopped me and asked if I lived there.

I responded no, and asked if she lived there. I asked whether she knew all the people who lived in the area and whether she would have stopped me if I was white.

She did not respond. But I think I know the answer.

Lately, the news has been full of stories like these. It’s all too common for black people like me to draw unwanted attention.

In late April 2018, a white woman who acquired the nickname “BBQ Becky” called the Oakland Police Department to report a group of black picnickers who were having a barbeque.

“It’s illegal to have charcoal in this part of the park,” she is seen saying on a video of the incident, which went viral. It occasioned parodies in which the concerned woman is shown calling the cops on Rosa Parks sitting on the bus, President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, and Meghan Markle marrying Prince Harry. She even made a brief, disapproving appearance on Saturday Night Live.

On April 14, a manager at Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia called police to report two black men for “refusing to make a purchase or leave.” The men were handcuffed, booked and held for nearly nine hours before being released without charge. The incident led to public apologies and a nationwide Starbucks employee training.

http://progressive.org/op-eds/the-danger-of-living-while-black-180523/

[pazzyanne]

14. I think the MAGA movement has taken

anti-political correctness to such an extreme that they no longer have common courtesy. Common sense disappeared a while back and it seems that common courtesy is on the way out. What a way - NOT to live.

[MrScorpio]

7. 7 things black people want their well-meaning white friends to know.

Link to tweet

by Erin Canty

I grew up black in a very white neighborhood in a very white city in a very white state.

As such, I am a lot of people's only black friend.

Being the only black friend is a gift and a curse. I am black and I love having friends. But I am also, at any given moment, expected to be a translator, an ambassador, a history teacher, and/or a walking, talking invitation into "I am not racist" territory. It's a lot to handle. See what I mean about that curse?

So when I saw the animated short-film "Your Black Friend," I felt so seen. Clearly, I am not alone.

The film, which was written, designed, and narrated by Ben Passmore and is based on his mini-comic of the same name, is a brilliant, refreshing way to examine whiteness and racism. The comic and animated short are an open-letter from "your black friend" to you, their well-meaning white friend, about bias, alienation, and what it means to be a good ally and friend.

It's funny, honest, and heartbreaking in equal measure. And speaking from personal experience, it captures the experience of being a black friend to white people pretty much perfectly.

So if you're a "woke" friend and ally, here are some things your black friend wants you to know.

1. You're going to have to get uncomfortable.

It could be something as obvious and upsetting as a racist joke. Or something as "benign" as your aunt suggesting you cross the street when she sees a group of black kids walking by. But either way, if you want to be a good friend and a real ally, you're going to have to speak up. You're going to have to have those tough conversations with people you care about.

http://www.upworthy.com/7-things-black-people-want-their-well-meaning-white-friends-to-know?c=ufb2&s=p

[malaise]

8. Good effin' grief

What is wrong with these racists?

Rec

Get thee to the greatest page

[MrScorpio]

9. In a word?

"Tuesday."

[malaise]

10. True

There will be similar stories tomorrow. Thanks for your daily updates

[Afromania]

11. They've lost their damn minds.

[WhiteTara]

12. Thank you, MrScorpio for compiling this ugly list of human actions.

I hope compiling this is cathartic more than stressful.

The actions and thoughts of these animals on 2 legs are a reminder to us that we have so much work to do to counter such hatred.

[heaven05]

13. yep

such hate, probably would have killed the kid if the father wasn't there.

[cyclonefence]

15. Jesus H. Christ

Is there no bottom to hit any more? How much more ugliness and hatred can we tolerate? Is nine months a sufficient prison sentence for an adult who attacks a child, and then his father, and then invokes Hitler? As these stories pile up, a foul odor is seeping out of my laptap.

How much longer will we tolerate this shit? The white guy in this current issue doesn't stop spewing his vitriol even in court. I guess the absence of shame is what makes these stories so jaw-dropping for me, and I think the election of Donald Trump has a lot to do with it. These bigots haven't changed their hateful views, but they have changed from being at least nervous about expressing them in public to feeling sanctioned by the current administration.

And the way to change this, as much as we can change it without re-education camps*, is to vote in more progressive black candidates for office. And that's why it's urgently important for democrats to continue to confront white privilege, to acknowledge its existence as a first step toward eliminating it. If we as a party cannot concede that white privilege is the moving force behind racism--and especially institutionalized racism--we are failing ourselves.

* I hope I don't have to point out that "re-education camps* is sarcasm.

[mcar]

16. K&R

[olegramps]

17. This is the representative face of each and every member of the evil Republican Party.

No, I exclude no one who voted for Trump an avowed racist and with their vote they endorsed his hatred.

[mtngirl47]

18. I had two customers this weekend that felt like they had to say

something about "blacks." One lady said that she brought her children to my resort because their community pool was just so full of "blacks" (she kind of whispered and lowered her voice). BTW I had lots of people of color at my pool.

Another guy said that Black Lives Matter was the the whole problem and they were ruining Maryland.

For crying out loud!

[BobTheSubgenius]

19. 9 months??? That's IT???

Ignoring the racial component for just a second....he committed assault with a dangerous weapon. How does that act alone come with only 9 months attached? And the racialhate crime circumstance, and I would think that would stiffen the penalty.

Finally, a racist rant during sentencing? If I'd been that judge, I'd have doubled whatever sentence I handed down, and made sure I told him why.

And all that being said, I'm sure doing the time in Utah will be better than doing it in AZ.

[BobTheSubgenius]

20. I keep forgetting that DU doesn't contain certain characters in its character map.

I wasn't trying to make a portmanteau word out of "racial" and "hate."

[BumRushDaShow]

21. K&R and

[Cal Carpenter]

22. kick