Kobe Bryant dead from Helicopter crash

[Shell B]

I didn't stereotype anyone with that quote, Shell. Nor was I wasn't calling you out, specifically.

I didn't mean to intimate that you were. I'm just doubling down on a point that I'm trying to make with Huggy.

The quote simply illustrates how White Supremacy is perceived VS what it actually is. It is not simply a matter of a few Neo-Nazi screaming "We hate n**gers!" at a rally or other assorted "baddies" wearing their hatred on their sleeves.

It is systemic. 
A system of systems right here, today, in the Land of the Free that impact and shape millions of people's lives in countless horrific ways that most people are unaware of or simply do not wish to see.

And while the U.S. government is the architect of White Supremacy in this country, systemic racism could not persist without the majority of this nation's citizens toeing the line for it, pretending it's just a matter of a few bad apples and thus "not that bad", or that it doesn't exist at all.

That's the truth.

I actually disagree with that. Surprise, surprise. I think systemic racism persists not because the majority of Americans toe the line for it, but rather because it's so insidious at this point that most of us don't even notice it's there. To a lot of people, black people tend to make up a lot of the population of poorer areas just because "that's how it is." They don't realize it's the result of historical racism. Ignorance can be overcome. Sure, there's a few folk who are just okay with the remnants of white supremacy in this country, but I do truly believe they're in the minority, at least in my life.

Right now, the important thing for most white people to be doing is forcing voter equality, making gerrymandering impossible, fixing the racial inequity in courts and the prison system, and teaching our kids how to do these things. We can't just point to slavery in a classroom and call it done. I know there's a lot to be done, and it might seem hopeless to someone living it, but I think combating the "baddies" and ignorance will bring us a long way. We don't combat ignorance with fire and brimstone.

Anyway, my point is just that maybe Huggy's fighting with his own team here. Myself and others here may not be black, but that doesn't mean we're anti-black.