So a group of armed white men

[Trumpocalypse]

storm the capitol in Michigan and the police do nothing. But people of color peacefully protest the murder of a black man by police and are met with tear gas. America is broken.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Recommended.

Succinctly put.

[RiverbendsJoe]

2. America is not broken. It was designed to function this way,

and has been doing so for almost 244 years. The racial inequality was baked in, both in law and custom. We cannot turn this into a just society without recognizing this.

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. Amen

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. 400 years. See 1619, Jamestown.

[malaise]

20. This

is the truth

[dalton99a]

19. The first rite of passage for white immigrants in this country is to look down on people of color.

A recent example in the news: Amy Cooper

[erronis]

24. "We cannot turn this into a just society without recognizing this." - and fixing it.

Given the stranglehold the WASP males have on the gears of justice, I don't thing it can be changed using their willing help.

We've tried so hard to get suffrage for women, for non-landed voters, for people of color. But those political wins are thwarted by the lack of a political will to make this a better society.

LBJ as an example did champion some good social-justice causes. But he also allowed the rancor and rot within himself and his types to continue to exist.

Not sure we can get a much more decent, a much fairer society, without some tremendous upheaval in the inequality permeating the US. Male/female, black/white, filthy-rich/poor, entitled/uneducated.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. Yes, Murica is broken...shattered.

[Paladin]

5. Anybody who denies the existence of white privilege has their head us their ass.

Blatant, obvious examples of it, every single day.

[Bettie]

7. The people who deny it

think that the privilege is their right. I have no idea how to change that.

[PinkTiger]

30. To be fair, though

I have never felt white privilege. I’m a white female turning 70 this year. I grew up in southern Missouri and we didn’t have any race issues because we were all white. All my life I’ve had to fight hard to be taken seriously. Men don’t have to do this.
I know white privilege exists, I’ve just never felt it.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. injustice and dual standard. humbug.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. America was built this way. It's a feature, not a bug.

[DownriverDem]

9. Michigan

has open carry due to repub rule for years. There is no law to stop them from coming into the capitol. Even now we have divided government here. Even though the Dems won seats in 2018, repubs still rule Lansing in the House & Senate. Our Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State are all Dems elected in November 2018. Except for the Lt Governor (AA man) the rest are women! We still need to win seats to give the Governor more legislative victories.

[Alpeduez21]

14. There has been the right to peacefully protest since the founding of America

So there is no law to stop them from protesting. However, one lawfully assembled group was treated like criminals and the other (white) group was encouraged to proceed while implying armed insurrection

[Alacritous Crier]

16. Exactly!

[Evolve Dammit]

10. My thoughts exactly. White entitlement and oppression of all others.

[Lonestarblue]

11. America has been broken for a long time.

The question is whether it can be fixed. I’m no longer optimistic that it can be. There are just too many people who have embraced the notion that this country belongs only to white people and anyone nonwhite just represent an invasion of their rights and space. Certainly I will not see a “fix” in my lifetime, but my only hope is that younger generations are less racist. But how many innocent people will die in the meantime?

[eppur_se_muova]

13. Call it "unequalheid". nt

[ananda]

15. So true.

Sadly

[dalton99a]

17. It is plain as day, for the whole world to see

[Sucha NastyWoman]

18. It's getting worse every day

They are emboldened to harass people wearing masks . And when they get away with it, when the cops do nothing, they do something bolder the next time.

When Joe wins the election, We know Trump will not accept it. And neither will his
“warriors”. We better figure out what we are going to do, because the cops are afraid of them, just like they are afraid of black men, but they don’t think they can get away with doing anything to restrain the white terrorists.

[Marcuse]

21. We hold these truths to be self evident.

[dalton99a]

22. +1

[TommyCelt]

23. Sigh....

America has BEEN broken. This sludge simply was allowed to rise to the surface over the last 4 years.

[GetRidOfThem]

25. I agree...

I have been raised with the ideals of American Optimism, coming as an immigrant child from Germany, having a very pro-American, overly optimistic father...

The country has been broken, for a long time, and it is surfacing now...

[Mr. Ected]

26. America is not broken. But a significant number of Americans are

And have always been....broken.

They are our neighbors, our congregation, our HOA, our PTA. They are our entertainment, our literature, and our co-workers. They have children that play with our children. They walk their dog, wreck their car, have a loved one die. They look just like us, share our oxygen....and have beliefs careening around their brains that disgust us to our very core.

They vote, they hate, they blaspheme, they discriminate, they disallow discussion and debate. They think they want what's best for America, not realizing that to magnify the microcosm of the world envisioned in their soulless minds would tear our society and constitution asunder and commit genocide on the meek, who should instead be inheriting the earth.

They are John Birch Society. They are the Dixiecrats. They are the Tea Party. They are the MAGATs. And they've been with us from Day One, like a lifeless limb that drags behind the otherwise hearty body.

[TheFourthMind]

27. "The world ain't comin' to nothing, son. Same as it ever was." - Cullen Bohannan n/t

[herding cats]

28. Exactly what stood out to me when I saw that this morning.

I said to my husband, "See the difference here? They're using tear gas and riot gear on them, but when it was white people protesting with actual guns at a states capital they used kid gloves on them."

We are broken.

[niyad]

29. KNR for truth.

[smirkymonkey]

31. K&R

This country is getting more fucked up by the day. I don't know if we can make it until November, let alone another four more years of this madman. I really fear for this nation.

[hangaleft]

32. You said it, my man (or woman)

I hate to sound selfish, but I’m 70 and glad I got most of my life in before this country turned to utter shit. Of course, I’m white and can say that. Yeah, as a hippie I was hassled by the police more times than I can remember. But, I wasn’t killed. And, once I cut my hair, got a “respectable” car and job, I was no longer profiled and hassled. But, once black, always black. Once black, always profiled. Once black, always at risk of losing your life every time you walk out the door.

It’s not just the racism, though. It’s everything. It’s the environment. It’s the financial injustice. It’s too many things to mention.

And it culminated with the culprit who’s squatting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[smirkymonkey]

33. Hey, hangaleft!

Welcome, belatedly, to DU! I am about 15 years younger than you, but even I sometimes think at my age that it might not be so bad if I got Covid-19 and perished from it. I am getting kind of tired of it all.

I look at the future and I can't see any positive outcome at all. Even though I am white, I just can't stand to see the racism and hatred that is going on in this society and I believe so much of it is because Trump has given his cult a free pass to unleash their hatred on everyone they despise - minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ's, women, liberals, people wearing masks, etc. It just seems to get worse every day.

I live for every little bit of good news, but it always seems to be eclipsed by all the horrible things that Trump and his fellow republicans are doing to this country on a daily basis. Even if we should win in November, I feel it will take longer than we have left to restore this country to sanity and decency. Sorry to be such a downer. I'm not always this pessimistic, you just happened to catch me in a mood.

Anyway, I definitely hear you. Glad to see you here!

Oh, btw, I am a woman.

[panader0]

34. I'll be 70 in a few months and yeah, got hassled many times for the long hair.

As a 17 year old freshman at Willamette in Salem, Oregon, I would walk downtown with my black
roommate and people would slow down their cars and yell "n****r lover" to me. I just flipped them off.
But I learned a lot. Still have long hair, still nurturing the values I have learned and felt inside ever since.
And like smirkey said==welcome to DU.