Okay, White 'Murrica....

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'd imagine that most black folks are pretty tired of being assumed to be X because they have dark skin. Probably a lot more tired than you are.

Tu quoque is a fallacy. While I know for a fact that minorities in this country have it much tougher than me, that doesn't justify making assumptions about my psychology based upon my skin color. I should think that this point would be obvious.

I doubt that many people automatically assume you or I are racist simply because we're white.

It's happened to me on several occasions. I obviously don't know how many people have thought that without saying it. I know that it isn't right to make such assumptions based on skin color rather than behavior, though.

If I were black, however, I'd be leery around white people I didn't know, at least until i could get some kind of read on them. Just like gays spent decades staying closeted until they knew it was safe to come out. Except black folks don't have the luxury of keeping their skin color on the down-low.

I'd be leery around police officers. My black brother-in-law tells me of the run-ins he had with the Philadelphia PD in the early 70s. 'Twasn't pretty. My nephew, the same thing, only in Columbus, OH, where he grew up. Having a dark complexion in America can be a dangerous thing. But white people in general? I think that's a bit of a broad brush there.

http://www.quotesvalley.com/images/49/le...cted-5.jpg

I'm not sure why you think I said I'm being persecuted. Perhaps you could reread my post? I think you're reading much more into it than what I wrote, judging from the lecture you give above, and this picture. What I said was that I don't like people assuming I'm racist because I'm white. Reading anything else into my point is not supported by what I wrote, thanks.

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Seriously, Gawdzilla has a point: if you're saying "x race cannot be y quality", you're talking out of your ass. FNM made an overbroad, unnuanced statement.

Hey now, just because you don't understand the nuance, doesn't mean it isn't there.

Feel free to elaborate it, then.

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Yes but not all racism is equally harmful.

Of course not. I'm much less likely of receiving abuse from police. I'm much less likely to miss out on a job because I'm white (although I did see my exam/interview results thrown out twice on the basis that whites were overrepresented in the final candidates. I'm not complaining, I understand that the old-boys' networks in fire departments needed to be broken, and it took a 9th Circuit ruling to start that process. My job search was simply part of the cost paid in order to make this country more just.) I'm not saying that I've got it as bad as any minority -- as a member of an interracial family which includes blacks and Latinos, I know goddamned well they've had it harder than me.

Also, your argument that you're tired to be wrongly assumed racist applies to your personal life, but not everyone else's, I'm not assumed to be racist because I'm white - In fact I'm tired of hearing my white relatives saying that "blacks are more racist than whites" without providing evidence (Hint - That catchphrase is meant to subliminally justify racism against blacks)

When I was a district manager for British Petroleum back in SoCal, I once had to settle an argument between two customers at one of my stations. It seems they were both angling for the only open pump. The closest car was driven by an older white guy, the farther car by a young Latino. I got out there, saw who was closer, and asked the kid, "Look, the guy's already in there, just let him go first."

"You're just saying that because he's white," was his reply.

I pulled out my wallet, and showed him a picture of my son, whose mom is Latina. "You know," I told him, "you look a lot like my son." He fell silent for a moment as my point sank in.

I kept my feelings in check replying to him, but I don't like being accused of racism -- or, to the point of FNM's joke, being blind to it -- simply because I'm white.