Azealia Banks admits she hates 'everything about this country'

[kwassa]

329. There is a middle ground.

The idea behind the "shut up and listen" is that most white people don't listen to black people, but assume that they already know, even if they are political liberals. (This is endemic on DU, by the way.)

It is possible to have a discussion, and listen, and realize that there are life experiences you can never have without being black yourself. As good as your ability to empathize is, you simply can't have that experience. Listen and accept the lived experience of black people. This does not mean you can't talk about this with them.

I am a white man married to a black woman, and we've been together 20 years. I've worked with black people most of my life. There are still limits to what I can experience, as much as I know about black people, and aside from knowing them well, I've studied the history, too. I still will never be black and feel the racism on a visceral level. There things that they tell me that I just have to accept, because this is as close as I can get.