I'm going to drop this here... [View all]

[OneGrassRoot]

I've been a member of DU for a long time; very inactive for the last 18 months or so. I returned a week or so ago to peruse the main boards and a few groups. My return coincided with the Seattle incident which is tearing things asunder here.

I've witnessed on DU what I have witnessed on FB and elsewhere over the last week: A lot of people I feel close to, people I care for deeply and admire, people I still believe are of like mind and heart with me -- other white people like myself who are advocates for racial, social and economic justice -- repeatedly express how offended and hurt and besieged they feel by PoC expressing THEIR feelings about what is going on now, not only with #BlackLivesMatter but in general.

(I don't know for certain that the common denominator is being a Bernie Sanders follower any longer; it seems to have expanded.)

There have been many, many heart-wrenching personal histories shared on DU and elsewhere from PoC and/or their family members, trying to explain why they are angry. Angry in general. And, yes, for many that anger encompasses white people as a whole as they try to express their daily fear and anger which is rooted in 400 years of oppression and killing. It doesn't mean they hate you personally and feel that because you're white that you're a white supremacist. Surely you can step back and take a deep breath and see that and let it go and listen more fully and humbly?

It really sucks that I, as a white person, need to be pointing this out. But just as the abled must speak up and be responsible for transforming a system that is oppressive toward the disabled; just as men must speak up and be responsible for transforming a system that is oppressive toward women; just as straight people must speak up and be responsible for transforming a system that is oppressive toward our LGBT brothers and sisters, so too must we white people speak up and be responsible for transforming a system -- including our culture -- which is oppressive to all people of color. Not merely oppressive, flat-out dangerous, with lives lost nearly every single day very specifically because of the color of their skin.

The fact that this chasm is growing prompts me to post this. There continue to be multiple posts across different areas of DU and it feels like it's getting worse.

What I see happening is many intelligent, big-hearted people that I know are, for some reason, taking a lot of things verrrrrryyyyyy personally. I'm reading the same things you are, I'm white, and I'm not offended whatsoever, nor am I taking it personally.

Unless you were in the audience in Seattle, the two women protesters were not talking to you. They were not yelling at you or disparaging YOU. Everyone needs to let that go for sure because that's been hashed out to death. Bernie Sanders' campaign has grown and moved on as a result of it, and the #BlackLivesMatter movement continues as well.

Many people of color are sharing their experiences in an attempt to elicit more understanding and empathy from white people, who simply have not lived the same life experience and thus could benefit from expanding our lens to consider what it must be like to grow up and live in the United States NOT as a white person and why they are afraid RIGHT NOW, every single day. It is an urgent situation, to say the least. Even if we think we -- as white liberals -- GET it, we all have more to learn from one another.

The vast majority of people sharing these stories are doing so to help us understand the anger and rage that is now at the surface and not abating and why there is such a sense of urgency and determination to NOT fade into the background again. Sharing our stories is how we learn. They are NOT trying to make anyone feel guilty.

Even if verbiage is used that essentially invokes the Martin Miemoller poem ("First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Jew&quot , or direct comments stating that the collective we (white people) will be responsible if we silently allow the carnage to continue and they plead their case to get everyone on the same page which includes continued support for #BlackLivesMatter and similar efforts, how is that any different from the times we have told right-wing friends and relatives that if they vote for so and so, THEY are going to be responsible for war, the decimation of our democracy and the complete takeover by the 1% with everyone else sliding into outright poverty?

How is that different?

Why are you taking everything so personally, in a way that is preventing useful dialogue? I usually understand where people are coming from, even if I don't agree with them, but I do not at all understand why so many of my friends are suddenly feeling personally attacked and maligned every time a critique of White America is shared.

You weren't offended before last Saturday. I know you weren't. Something changed.

If anyone of any skin color has any desire to have deep discussions about this in a VERY RESPECTFUL way, in a private forum, please let me know.

The nature of public messages boards breeds animosity, hurt feelings, mocking, no understanding or closure.

We are going to continue going nowhere, FAST, in the realm of race relations if we intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate people of all colors and abilities and socioeconomic and other demographic backgrounds can't have a civil discussion about all of this, without hurt feelings getting in the way of respectful conversation with the intent to understand one another more fully.




EDIT TO ADD: If you're inclined to find posts which you feel are personally insulting or examples of why you're offended, you're honestly just missing the point. Unless every single person of color has been accusing you, by name, of being a white supremacist, you're missing the point. Even if comments are made in this very thread that feel like attacks, please try to disregard that and focus on what I've written here.