I guess I need to be more clear.

Clarification

I've had a few questions and I figured I'd just say flat out that my goal is to get as many people as possible involved in a true and honest conversation regarding race relations in this country. It seems super simple on the very surface but it's not. It's difficult for all involved because everyone has views they aren't comfortable having challenged and to listen to those that have experienced things you never have and to admit that you don't know as much as you thought you did is very difficult. Hell, it's scary. However I'd like to make it not so scary.

I have plans right now. I'm in the very beginning stages but if I can make this get off the ground I think a lot of people would benefit from it. I think it could be a VERY good thing.

 There are many that seem to think that laws in place are there to protect minorities from bigotry and it's enough. It's not. Those very laws are threatened in new and crafty ways all the time. But even so laws don't govern thought nor should they.We can't expect laws to be the only thing keeping people from being treated poorly due to some bigoted reason. The best way to fight bigotry is through understanding.

My dream and my hope is to get different people to understand each other.

I haven't forgotten...

I know I just started this blog and already I've gone a week without posting anything. Well That's gonna change as I have a LOT of thoughts brewing in my head. Things like the ridiculous notion that legislation can curb racism, how I have a new found respect for the X-Men and thinking of maybe doing something more than a simple blog.

Lots of thoughts I want to share with you guys... but that will have to wait until after the weekend. I'll be out of town for a couple of days but when I come back I'm sure I won't be able to shut up.

The X-Men thing isn't what you think... and I still don't like the movies.

Just... Listen...

In my attempts to engage on a discussion about race I've learned a bunch of stuff. A lot of it having to do with the views of races outside of my own and how they perceive race issues. I'll be honest and say that it wasn't very surprising but it still helps to shape my view of things in this country and indeed a few other countries. Thanks World Wide Web!

I've previously talked about the issues minorities face in this country but one thing I've discussed is how whites feel in the middle. Not the people that are a genuine problem but the white people that want to make a difference and want to be a positive influence or even just the ones that don't want to be a part of the problem. They told me something I knew but still sucks to hear... they are still treated like the problem. They have minorities verbally attack them for perceived racism when there really is none. Hell, I've seen it happen plenty in life as well. It's not fun when anger is shot their way for simply doing their job or some other slight that, honestly, isn't remotely race based.

I have no idea how to handle that. Other than, of course, just talking about it in a public space so that people can come to understand each other a bit more. I know some people think I'm being ridiculous but I don't really care. I believe any healing to be done is with open discussion. Open and honest and understanding. Which brings us to the unfortunate thing I've learned.

I've had two experiences with two different people where in they simple can not and will not try to understand a way of thinking unlike the one they have lived in all their lives. They can't see others with issues and grievances without blaming the people that are speaking up for themselves. I'll be blunt... they are two white men that speak from a point of oblivious privilege. They are blind to their blindness. When called out on this they throw the exact same thing back at others that are trying to get through to them in some way shape or form. They don't want to listen they just want to be heard.

These are the people I have the hardest time dealing with. It gets under my skin and I just get angry. I stop caring about trying to have a civil conversation with them when I see they can't do so and I honestly just kinda blow up at them. This doesn't help matters at all and I kinda regret blowing up instead of just walking away... at times. I don't always feel bad for the words I say.

Look all I ask is that people try to honestly relate to each other and understand each other. Shouting people down for daring to speak up about the state of race relations only deepens the divide.  Don't blame black people for the way they are treated. Don't blame white people for being ignorant of it. Listen to black people and realize these issues are real and let them know that you are trying to get it. Listen to white people and try to tell them that you don't blame them but want them to get it and to help make others get it.

BUT, and there is a huge but, when having this discussion PLEASE don't let the difficulties of minorities get shouted down by the difficulties of the majority. It's not equal, it's not fair and it's not an honest conversation. It's just someone hiding from an uncomfortable truth.

Fruitvale Station: The Shooting of Oscar Grant

*sigh*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitvale_Station

There's the wiki entry for this movie. I just got home from a late night recording of the podcast I'm a regular member of called Black on Black Cinema. We discussed this film and all of the issues it therein. I'm gonna discuss my general feels right now but the podcast will be more detailed.

This film was one of if not the most powerful film I had ever seen. It hurt a lot to watch it. I was angry and I cried quite a bit and I'm not ashamed to admit that. As soon as the credits rolled I needed to leave and get some air outside. The I needed some help to relax a bit...

Now I know there are many out there that will believe this movie will generate race based anger but that's clearly not what is happening. It will not make you hate whitey but it WILL make you hate injustice. Yes, that injustice has race based issues at its heart but this movie still goes out of its way to show you that everyone, EVERYONE, should be upset by what has happened here. Then you should be upset that this stuff happens FAR too often.

So... Fruitvale Station. please see it. Get to know what kind of person Oscar Grant was. He wasn't perfect. He wasn't a villain and he wasn't a hero. He was a man trying to live life. He loved his family and his daughter most of all. He makes mistakes, some much larger than others. He is... just a man. Please go out this weekend and get to know this man. And know that your tears are justified.

We all have to start somewhere.

At the urging of one my my nearest and dearest friends I'm starting this blog. This will be a place where I can express my thoughts on various subjects I like to ramble about such a society, politics, nerd culture and all things geeky, racial issues, family and relationships, comedy, movies, music... ya know, just bit sof everything.

I am a light skinned black man in my mid thirties, just so you have some basic knowledge about me up front. The title of this blog is, of course, a joke. In my experience dark skinned black folk pick on light skinned black folk and vice versa. Just a bit of fun, ya know? At least that's what I tell the dark folks to keep them subdued until the Light Skinneded Revolution.

*ahem*

Anywho, may latest pile of rantings are about race relations. This shouldn't be a surprise what with the news of late. No, I'm not hear to discuss the Zimmerman verdict, even though this discussion spawned from it. That's a huge pile of mess revolving around some pretty terrible laws. What I want to talk about are the ways in which people of color are viewed in this country. The things we have to deal with every single day of our lives and how so many people are oblivious to it. So right now I'm going to copy the Facebook posts that made my friend tell me to start this thing.

If you are a person of color, especially a black person, you have lived your entire life under a dark shadow. Not simply the shadow of have but the shadow of fear. You've had to grow used to people on the street either watching you a little more closely than they should or avoiding eye contact with you altogether. You've had retail and restaurant workers treat you a bit more curtly than they would others. You've been brought up to not truly trust the police and to simply keep your head down and submit as soon as possible lest the worst happen at the hands of the law.

It is a horrible way to live yet we all go about it in our own ways. Some have had it far harder than others and have suffered through more mistreatment than others. Some have over come and stayed happy and others have given in and live with a cold stone of bitterness and anger within our hearts. This is the way of the world.

Now with this verdict, letter of the law or not, we feel that dark cloud get a little bit darker. We see a man acting out of fear and killing an unarmed black male child and we see his acquittal broadcast around the world. We see this child's death declared as justified and now we are the ones that feel fear.

These are my thoughts. I type them with a heavy heart. I type them to put my feelings out there into the world so as to get them off my chest and perhaps get some sleep tonight. Should you feel the need to respond with something you know I will disagree with and will upset me please think twice and don't do it.

------------

It makes everyone uncomfortable but that's all the more reason to sit down and have a conversation about race in this country. A real conversation, not just pointing and blaming. From where I sit I see two distinct sides that need to talk to each other. And not everyone is in those two camps as there are a great many that get it and can talk about it and those people are pretty damn great. However I don't want to address the awesome people right now.

On one side we have white people. They are angry because they didn't cause the racial rifts in this country. They didn't own slaves or enact Jim Crow Laws. But those people don't understand that they still benefit from a country built on all of those. A country where the society came up around those abominations and shaped the way things are today. They may not be the cause but they are living in the problem and they are the solution. Just take the time to realize that most people aren't simply pointing and blaming. Most black folk just want others to understand what this country is like for them. The white experience and the black experience are vastly different and one is entirely unfair from start to finish. I won't elaborate on details but it would be helpful for these uninformed white people to just sit and talk and read and understand. And care. Don't feel pity or any patronizing thing like that, just understand and care. Then you become the solution.

Black people, on the other side, need to do a bit of the same. In that those that are angry need to see that a great deal of white people simply don't realize what we go through on a daily basis. Through no fault of their own either. Yes there are the racist jack asses but there are so many that aren't and just don't know. We have to welcome them and talk with them and walk with them. We have to understand their frustration at what seems like a lot of finger pointing and blaming. White guilt shouldn't be a thing unless they are personally responsible for something. However they should be aware of the effect their heritage has had on others. Not responsible... but aware. Awareness can bring about change.

These are my thoughts and mine alone. These are the thoughts I'm working out in my head and I don't suffer any delusions of being 100% right. If my mind can be changed on subjects I welcome it. I do not pretend to speak for anyone else. I do not bring up other races because I don't have the experience to do so though I welcome and encourage others to bring those experiences to me.

Have a good weekend, friends.

So that's what got this little ball rolling.
Everyone in life can make a difference and I guess I've decided to start trying to make one of my own. I've decided to start having this conversation with people. Mostly online but I would love to do it more with people offline as well. I started this on a forum I've been a part of for over a decade now and it seems to already be doing some good. That makes me happy to see that it can indeed bring about change, especially in those that want the change, those that are already good people and want to be even better.

I think that's enough for one night. In the meantime I have to make this blog look a bit better.

G'night, people. Thanks for reading.