Experiences, Lived Reality, Anecdotes, Etc

It is clear that some people have been victims of racism or other forms of bigotry. Some people have been the victims of discrimination. Others have been downright unlucky. The collection of these stories as evidence of some vague and shadowy boogeyman are not what is needed to prove it exists in the absence of any other evidence.

It's a carefully constructed narrative and the product of too many conflicting interests that create a problem so fluid that it cannot be concretely defined. Racism now can mean so many things from the sum of individually unbiased people to form an institution. To some kind of genetic racism instilled in us from the time of slavery. To the smallest "micro-regressions" that indicate and prove these ideas regardless of how innocent or harmless the intent. 

I have read the stories of people who have had bad experiences and there is no justification for some of those things - I think of the young man who was harassed in New York under now illegal stop-and-frisk rules. 

If every story or "lived reality" is one check-mark in the column of "racism is a systemic problem", can we allow for the counter argument of every story showcasing the opposite to put a check-mark in the "racism is not a systemic problem" column? Do the times people put down prejudices (real or imagined) and worked together in friendship and kindness mean nothing? Does the fact that white cops and firemen helped people of every color from the world trade centers on 9/11 mean nothing? Or the fact that black cops and firemen did the same? Or did the white cop save the black lady because he unconsciously believes black people are less capable and need help? Did the black fireman save the white guy because he's been subject to a system that has told him unconsciously that white people are worth more than black people? The argument could go on forever without resolution because no one can see the heart of a person. As I recall, only God can do that. 

Are we to believe every time someone does something that the other doesn't agree with that it comes from an unconscious place of bias and hate? If a white salesman happens to show a black man a white car, is that racist? If a white salesman happens to show a black man a black car is that racist? Two completely opposite situations could both be interpreted as racist or a micro-aggression by different people. Is it fair to say the black man has the final say and criticize the guy who just happened to pick the wrong color? Who is to judge? Who can lay the blame on one party as being insensitive? What if the white salesman was adopted by a black couple and lived his whole life around black people? What if he just happens to think that white cars are the bomb? There is a fundamental problem with looking at an action and then attributing motive without evidence and even worse attributing motive that is uncontrolled and unconscious. 

We all have had experiences that have been the product of bias. Can I tell the story of the time when I was assaulted and harassed by cops as proof of them being prejudiced towards me? Can I chalk other times up to a cop having a bad day? Am I to dismiss any time I have had a pleasant and cordial encounter with police as an outlier? People would say, "Well yes but it would have been worse if you were black." Maybe... maybe not. To say that is to make assumptions about the nature of reality which is the very question we are trying to determine. 

They say we need to listen to people who have "black" experiences. But that is to form the conclusion before the experiment. If stories are evidence, then we must listen to all stories and see what comes from them all. We must listen to people who are different from ourselves and take their statements as absolute truth. We all see reality through our own personal lens and it is helpful to understand how other people view that same reality through their own lens. But we are all looking at the same reality.... just through different lens'. What we are told now is that our lens is broken because we are white and we must believe that what other people are telling us is the truth. Even when that truth is purposely distorted. A recent example was the arrest of a man named Robert Morton (black). A video was published of him being detained, he grows hostile as the officer (white) waits for backup. The dialogue indicates he was pulled over for speeding and that he was the subject of police brutality. Then the whole video came out and we see the real truth... he was driving over a hundred miles per hour (with his pregnant girlfriend and 4 year old child in the car), was stopped by police and refused to produce identification.... that is why he was out of the car and being detained. A lawful stop, lawful order to produce identification, then continued denial of the facts and resisting led to a forceful arrest and additional charges. Maybe the cop used excessive force... but he was forced to by Mr Morton. Are we to take that "lived experience" as facts of racism and police brutality? Even when we have all the facts? I've seen the exact same thing happen to white people trying to pull the same crap. it all ends the same.

I'd like to present an open letter written by a black man:

“Woke” white people, I’d like to ask you a favor:

Please stop asking for forgiveness for your “white privilege.”

You’re not fooling anybody. You’re not helping black people—or any other minority. And your public confessions don’t make you look virtuous. They make you look disingenuous, which is a really nice way of saying fake, phony, and fraudulent.

For starters, what is “white privilege” anyway? Because you were born with white skin, you have all these advantages that I don’t have?

Like what?

Like, you can get a mortgage loan that I can’t get?

Hmm. I got a loan—at a great rate, by the way—and I got the house. Why would a banker not give a loan to someone who met the loan requirements? He doesn’t want to make money? I’ve never heard of such a banker.

Or, how about this: You can enter a store and not be looked upon with suspicion, but I—a black person—cannot. Except...that has never happened to me.

But if I was a young dude with my pants hanging down to my butt, I could understand why a store owner would be concerned. I used to be a cop. Believe me, I understand. If I owned the store, I’d be tracking that kid, too—whether he was black, white, or anything else.

Or, what if I had a store that had a history of being shoplifted by young black women, and a young black woman with a bad attitude walked in. Would I be suspicious? Yeah, I would. Who wouldn’t?

I call that common sense, not bigotry.

But there’s another way of looking at this: In many ways, in today’s America, blacks have more privilege than whites. It’s been my experience that whites bend over backwards to give blacks every possible advantage.

If two people are equally qualified for a job, the black person will usually get it. Big companies and prestigious universities fall all over one another trying to sign up talented black people.

If you deny this, you are denying reality.

Which is what the person who dreamed up this whole thing did—a professor of women’s studies at Wellesley College by the name of Peggy McIntosh. She wrote an article in 1988 about all the “white privilege” she thought she had. She listed 46, including this one: “I can choose…bandages in ‘flesh’ color and have them more or less match my skin.” Wow, that’s some kind of privilege!

Soon others took up the cause.

Today, these so-called progressives dominate our colleges and universities, imposing this absurd notion of white privilege on their students. That’s too bad. Because it does nothing good for white students. And it does nothing good for black students. But of the two, ironically, the white students get the better of the deal.

Let me explain:

To acknowledge your white privilege is supposed to make you feel bad. Only it doesn’t. It makes you feel good because by acknowledging your white privilege, you’re declaring yourself to be enlightened. And as a virtue-bonus, it also makes you a better person than those whites who don’t acknowledge their privilege.

White privilege, which is supposed to make you feel bad, ends up making you feel good. Meanwhile, the real damage is to blacks. What makes whites feel good makes blacks angry.

More than 50 years after the start of the Civil Rights movement, the message is: “You’re still oppressed.” How can this not create a victim mentality? And anyone—of any color—who sees himself as a victim gets angry.

Now, I wouldn’t deny for a second that there are privileges in life. They’re all over the place. There’s two-parent family privilege (that’s huge); there’s being lucky to be born in America privilege; there’s good gene privilege. But white privilege? Doesn’t it depend on the person?

Let’s take this, for example: A black lawyer and his wife have a baby. And a meth addict, single white woman has a baby. Which kid has privilege? The white one? Because he’s white?

Come on now.

And here’s the kicker: Even if it were true—all those claims about white privilege, so what? Would it change a single thing I did? If white people apologize for being white, is that supposed to help me? In what way?

So, let’s be real: White privilege is an attempt by the left to divide Americans by race.

It’s all theory and all nonsense. If you want to fall for it, go ahead—it’s a free country. But don’t try to sell it to me.

I’m an American who deals with my fellow Americans one-on-one.

Try it. It works.

What about the black business owner who sent a private message in support to another black commentator (who happened to disagree with prevailing opinion) and was found out. The consequence being death threats, boycotts, and vandalism. And when a GoFundMe was started to help him out, the fund was shut down because it was found to be in "support of hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance .."

How can we point to these examples and lay them on the alter of evidence while ignoring any stories that contradict the conclusion? They are dismissed as "outliers" or "not evidence", or more often shouted down as "racist". It's racist to suggest that maybe white people have sometimes been mistreated by bad police? There are many stories like these that paint a different picture. I know about them because I follow law enforcement happenings that are not reported in mainstream (or even side-stream) news.

How do we deal with the times people have been clearly in the wrong and not reasonable in a police encounter? I think specifically of a video recording of an officer detaining two people who claimed to be "sovereign citizens" (A whole different group of lunatics). The car was going to be towed and the female passenger had to be removed from the passenger seat. She was in the wrong legally and being a jerk to the officer. He had to open the door and pull her out of the car. While on camera, she started screaming "rape" as he pulled her out. It leaves most people palming their faces. What do we make of those examples? Was it police brutality? or is it an example of white privilege that she wasn't just shot dead?

The point is: If we accept certain evidence of one proposition but categorically deny the same type of evidence of the opposing viewpoint, can the proponents truly claim evident superiority? It's akin to saying the court case is decided because there is no testimony for one side.... but then finding out the opposing side is not allowed to call witnesses.

"But we must believe people who say they'd been hurt." I have no problem listening to people. But apparently listening really means believing every word that comes out of their mouth. If someone comes up and says "I was raped" and we don't instantly believe them then we are sexist bigots. The same goes for when someone says "I was harassed by the cops." or "I was the victim if racism." If it is true then we must address it. However, just because someone "feels" one way doesn't make it objective fact. You can feel however you want but that doesn't change the facts. Maybe the girl was raped... maybe she regrets getting a little tipsy (not drunk) and going too far with that cute guy. Regrettable but not actually rape. Maybe you were the victim or racism when you were left for 40 minutes at a restaurant without service.... or maybe the servers got mixed up and didn't know had the table. Unfortunate and not good.... but not racism. Maybe you were roughed up by a bad cop.... or maybe you have a rap sheet a mile long and were being uncooperative in the course of a legal detention. Too bad for you.... but not police brutality.

When we define reality as whatever we feel it is.... when we are not allowed to call people out on their shit.... when we cannot tell someone to suck it up and move on.... we enter a strange place where even stranger things happen.... and they aren't good.