I am a white man. A fact Im neither proud of, nor ashamed of. I am what I am because both my parents happened to be white. Having grown up in predominately white middle-class suburbia, to say that because I have many friends of all different races, that I have an inkling of what its like to be a person of color in this country would be a gross lie. I do not understand senseless violence of any kind, period! And while I can in no way/shape/or kind condone the actions of a violent/angry mob who takes their aggression out on their own neighborhood businesses, I also must admit, I cant possibly fathom how a lifetime of repression leads to such a deep rooted mistrust of the people who are supposed to protect. Again, I grew up where the cops are the good guys, and simply cant relate to the mentality where a cop is a negative entity. It doesnt make me right, it doesnt make the mentality wrong. To fail to recognize a difference in mentality is to ignore the problem in our society where the system itself breeds the mentality in the first place. Ive seen a lot of stupidity posted in the last 3 days, both supporting, or condemning the actions of an entire group of people. The bottom line is this; as of this moment, we dont know anything for sure. We dont know if the kid who was killed was murdered by a rogue cop, or if he was justifiably shot by an upstanding officer of the law protecting others. We simply do not know. To rush to the defense of either side is pointless. But the inability to understand a mentality is where we are furthering the separation of our society. Im sitting in my home tonight with threats of this needless violence to be carried out in my hometown (whether the threats are legitimate or not I dont know, but theyre there). Again I dont condone any of it, but if we fail to hear a voice long enough, eventually it will do something to be noticed. For stuff like this to stop, we all need to be willing to listen to each other. I feel like my city just took about a 30 yr step backwards in the civil rights movement, & hope that things calm down quickly. I just wish the prevailing stupidity would stop all around!
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 02:02:38 +0000
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