Rejecting the Principles of Black Lives Matter doesn’t equate to Bigotry
Over the past several days I tweeted a link to my “Pink Lives Matter” article on Intellihub, and was met with a rather foolish response by someone who I assume considers herself a Social Justice Warrior (SJW).
Unfortunately these days in the U.S., being an “SJW” seems like an excuse to self-elevate one’s importance and allow for reverse discrimination in many cases.
This so-called SJW told me that my comments on Twitter regarding black-white dynamics demonstrated my ignorance towards “racial disparity.” That is a funny comment to make to a white fella who lived in all-black countries for more than 20% of his life and went weeks or months without seeing another white person. I also married a black woman, adore different African cultures and socially interface more with Africans and blacks of Caribbean descent more than I do white Americans. And yet I am still a “bigot” and “racist.”
To start, let me say that most of the Africans and Haitians I know do not support the Black Lives Matter movement and feel that it is an excuse for demanding hand-outs and inciting violence. Most of these people grew up much. much poorer than the average African American.
In some areas of Haiti and Africa, the average income is less than $1000 a year and children start helping their families earn money at 8 or 9 years of age. They don’t have a television and their dinner usually consists of staples like rice, yam or locally-produced porridge (and they still don’t kill each other over a pair of shoes).
Yet when these people arrive in the United States with almost nothing, within a few years they are usually success stories. Haitians, glad for the opportunity to work, will take on three jobs at once, their children are at the top of their classes in school, and they often refuse to receive welfare, as they feel it is beneath them. Within their strong value system, that would be an embarrassment to the entire family. They are not familiar with the U.S., they were not brought up speaking English and yet they still succeed.
Are they smarter than African Americans? Heck no. There are plenty of geniuses in the A.A. community. Intelligence and success are neither race- nor ethnicity-specific.
So what is the difference?
Why do Haitians and other non-American blacks become successful so quickly? Could it be a different work ethic, or a different family value system? Absolutely.
When a Haitian, Jamaican or African person fails or does something wrong, the family often looks inward with shame and blames themselves for the failure — not the system.
Look at Americanized-Ethiopians. They arrive in the United States, have had less opportunities than African Americans, come from poverty which makes an American ghetto look like Beverly Hills, and most of the time they excel within a few years — and refuse to take any handouts from the government. They see that as shameful.
And this is done while they are supporting their family back home. The same goes for Haitians and other individuals who hail from poor countries in Africa or greater Asia.
On Twitter, I was called by an African American for being “ignorant of racial disparities.” But wait a minute. Who is being discriminated against in America today?
Recently, on a university campus in the U.S., a black woman with at least one person in her company, engaged in the assault and battery of a white guy for misappropriating her “culture” because he was wearing his hair in dreadlocks.
And then she began to have a tantrum when she realized she was being filmed. If a white student did that to an African American, he/she would have been charged with a hate crime, plus assault and battery.
It seems like this woman just wanted to pick a fight with a rather timid and small white guy simply because of his color. Dreadlocks are reputed to have been originally worn in either India or Egypt.
The Africans I know are proud of their heritage and see themselves literally as a “race” apart from African Americans. While they agree that their “color” is the same, they are damn sure to make it known that the value system of African Americans is different than their value system.
Maybe this noble social justice warrior fighting for the poor, misappropriated dreadlocks thought that it was a Rastafarian thing. But Rastafarianism is rooted in Ethiopia, is named after Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari = “Duke Tafari”) and the Jamaicans and Ethiopians I know are also proud to maintain their own individual value systems and identities.
If you lump either group in with African Americans they get insulted and maintain that they are a different people and culture, despite a color-based similarity.
Sounds like the SJW fighting on behalf of the Dreadlock-Justice Institute and BLM hasn’t had any pre-African American cultural education. More than likely, she assumed that dreadlocks are the realm of wanna-be Rasta-guys in tie-dye, rolling spleefs in da’ hood while listening to reggae and bobbing their heads.
Cultural misappropriation? LOL. That was a display of hate, ignorance and aggression.
Are Jamaicans and Africans “racist” because they state that after the “lines of color” are delineated, they want to be seen as a separate group of people, or are they really concerned with the fact that they hold their value system in such high esteem? It is the latter and not the former.
The Black Lives Matter movement has demanded that universities hire staff and faculty which racially reflects the population.
If whites, Asians and American Indians demanded that the NBA followed suit and hired whites, Asians and Native Americans in order to have teams which represent the racial composition of the United States, would that be racist?
Should universities offer scholarships which represent the composition of the United States by ethnicity and race? If you are African American, Pacific Islander, Hispanic American or American Indian there are dozens of scholarship opportunities. Not so for white people.
Or maybe I am mistaking “racial disparity” for “white privilege?”
I never did find the “White Privilege Scholarship Fund” website and my university charged me full price, despite the fact that I was often in the 95%+ percentile for the programs in which I was enrolled
How would the African American Community feel if there were WET Awards? White Entertainment Television Awards? Would that be racist?
In my opinion — yes. Just as racist as BET Awards. How about an all-white Miss America contest? How would that fly with the African American population? Would the producers of such a contest be called out as racist? My guess is yes.
But hey, here is an interesting question: Since Miss America was originally an all-white contest, would it be just – or politically correct – to say that the black Miss America contest is a misappropriation of white culture?
Could a white female wanna-be push around (assault and battery) the African American Miss California on a campus for “cultural misappropriation” of a white contest?
In many Southern states, the Confederate flag has been taken down since it is a “symbol of racism,” even as Black Lives Matter flies a black-power flag, interrupts the right to free speech of other non-A.A. ethnic groups and espouses the views of the Black Panthers as they wear traditional Black Panther dress and emblems.
Is there racial disparity, or is “racial disparity” a sword which is to be unsheathed only when it suits one’s racially-motivated purpose?
In the 1990’s, Arsenio Hall used to ask one of the few white people in his audience: “Why are you laughing? You don’t understand our jokes. That’s a black thing.”
Can you imagine Jimmy Kimmel telling an African American that he wouldn’t understand a joke because it is “a white thing?” That would result in a multi-million dollar lawsuit, BLM members protesting in front of the studio, dressed like Black Panthers while waving a black-power flag around.
If Soros stuck his fingers into the mix, there might even be a complimentary bonfire. No marshmallows allowed though, because they’re white and that could be interpreted as a racial statement.
Is that a case of racial disparity or is that “White Privilege?”
As a white guy, do I think that the K.K.K. should have gone dressed in white sheets and funny looking, pointy white hats to protest in front of Arsenio Hall’s studio? No I don’t. Would they have had the legal right to assemble, protest and voice their opinion as part of “free speech?”
Well as long as they weren’t inciting violence, it sounds like it would be legal, but as a person who maintains a Judeo-Christian belief system, regardless of “legality” I still wouldn’t be comfortable with that scenario. Nor am I comfortable with protesting BLM-supporters using the same garb as the Black Panthers, which espoused violence against whites.
Would it be fair for 300 white students at a primarily black university to protest in a library and disrupt the studies of African Americans because the school’s enrollment policies did not reflect the ethno-racial composition of American society? Probably not.
Would the white protestors at a black majority university be able to fly a white-power flag, and shout that White Lives Matter, or would that be considered inciting violence, a hate crime and result in droves of African American students seeking “Safe Space?”
When I was younger, I was a bit of a firebrand. I liked fast cars and I drove fast as well. Whenever I was pulled over (which was more frequent than I would like to admit), I was always polite to the police.
I looked like a bad-ass, I was often in places I shouldn’t have been (folly of youth), and yet I still always responded with respect. That had nothing to do with color. It had to do with how I was raised and with the value system I was brought up to respect.
Many studies have shown that the number of white people killed by police (per capita) greatly outweighs the number of minorities who have been killed during traffic stops. If you have real academic studies which state differently, please forward them to Intellihub.
There is one place to argue with police – in court. Is the system fair? No. It favors those with money and power. If the system is unfair in the courtroom, who in their right mind – regardless of color – is going to get cocky with police during a traffic stop? Not I.
Is there someplace I should apply for a White Privilege card? Is that like a “get-out-of-jail-free” card? Will it allow me to verbally or physically abuse the police, or avoid a ticket or arrest if I have done something wrong? I think not.
There is an excellent article in the Washington Post which reveals that whites are 1.7 times more likely to get shot during a traffic stop than minorities. That equates to 170%. BUT, the black community more often rallies to the death of one of their own than the white community does, often due to community activists such as famed tax-evader Al Sharpton.
Is the incarceration rate higher for blacks who have committed the same crime as whites? Absolutely. Once African Americans enter the system, are they treated less than fairly? Yes.
When Sandra Bland died, I felt terrible. She seemed attractive, articulate, with a beautiful smile and lovely eyes. Someone that vivacious and beautiful should have lived a long and prosperous life. She did not deserve to meet her demise earlier than expected.
I spoke to some of my African friends about the situation. They were in shock over two things: one her death, and two – how she spoke to the policeman who pulled her over.
In Africa, if you get pulled over or have any interaction with the police – you have three choices – pay a bribe or go to court.
The third and last thing one would do is commence an aggressive discussion with a man who has a big gun. You can get killed or beaten for that. Power trumps color and ethnicity. Even if you belong to the same ethnic group in Africa, if you start lipping off to a policeman, you are going to get a beating – or worse.
That has nothing to do with color or race. Those dynamics are endemic to law enforcement and legal systems all over the world. Regardless of color, tribe or ethnicity, street-level interaction is based on respect and using good judgment in a situation in which we are all at a disadvantage.
IMHO the BLM movement is elementally a demand for special treatment, a wishful elitist movement with ever-shifting boundaries in favor of the group which shouts the loudest.
To the Twitter-girl who called me a bigot – if you only knew.
I have spent a great part of my life in countries where I stuck out like a sore thumb; I was the minority. How many all-black countries have you lived in? I have more black (African) friends than white and the only time I even considered myself “white” was when someone made direct reference to my color. The rest of the time I was simply a human being, just like everyone else.
“Black Lives Matter?” Grow up and quit whining. All lives matter, and these days the system is only fair to corrupt politicians and people with money, irrespective of color.
And let’s get something straight. I do not have any issues with the color of people who belong to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Like my African and Caribbean friends, I have an issue with their value system, their demands, and their inability to look inward in order to resolve problems that are related more to work ethics, lack of a basic value system, and interaction with those who are not African Americans.
A rejection of the BLM-belief system is not “bigotry” by any means.
Are hard-working Caribbean Islanders and Africans in the United States bigots because they fail to believe in a fallacious value system in which everyone else is at fault other than BLM members who should be mature and hard-working enough to control their own destiny and futures? No.
Or is that just an “extension” of White Privilege?
“You’re white, we’re African American (BLM!), you don’t support our ‘movement,’ so you’re a ‘bigot’ and a ‘racist.’”
The fact that Haitians, Jamaicans, Dominicans, Africans and many other groups of Afro-heritage with no money or support arrive in the United States and are successful without welfare, government handouts, waving flags, inciting violence and screaming, is testimony that the issues BLM trumpets so incessantly about, are family-value and work-ethic based, rather than issues rooted in color, bigotry and systemic discrimination.
You can follow XKeyscore on Twitter: @XKeyscore1
This article originally appeared on IntelliHub on Sunday, April 17, 2016.
