Black Lives Matter

Teeeee said:
I was actually going to suggest this.

The work is HARD. You will have emotional responses. You will feel low at times. You will feel raw. I want everyone to feel comfortable with who they embark on this work with. Smaller groups will facilitate that.

This work is not about me or my feelings or my ego. You will not hurt my feelings one bit if you want to break off, if you want to have nothing to do with me but want to do this exercise, etc. Grab buddies and break off into groups. Start today if you want.

There may also be people that are not wanting to participate because of me. I get that, I'm a pain in the ass, loud mouth, opiniated person at times. I'm not everyone's cup of tea. But please don't let that preclude anyone from engaging. Reach out to someone else that has said they are interested. Start a small group with them. I would respect the hell outta that.

There are also people that may want to participate but are shy. My DMs are open. I'm sure anyone on here would also welcome your engagement in their DMs.

I don't want the conversation in here to be about me at all. So, please, if responding, make sure we're talking about the work.
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Maybe do a thread that posts some basic group therapy type rules (I can type that up). Lists the groups and with permission of participants put some relevant posts there that we thing everyone will benefit from.
 
Teeeee said:
I was actually going to suggest this.

The work is HARD. You will have emotional responses. You will feel low at times. You will feel raw. I want everyone to feel comfortable with who they embark on this work with. Smaller groups will facilitate that.

This work is not about me or my feelings or my ego. You will not hurt my feelings one bit if you want to break off, if you want to have nothing to do with me but want to do this exercise, etc. Grab buddies and break off into groups. Start today if you want.

There may also be people that are not wanting to participate because of me. I get that, I'm a pain in the ass, loud mouth, opiniated person at times. I'm not everyone's cup of tea. But please don't let that preclude anyone from engaging. Reach out to someone else that has said they are interested. Start a small group with them. I would respect the hell outta that.

There are also people that may want to participate but are shy. My DMs are open. I'm sure anyone on here would also welcome your engagement in their DMs.

I don't want the conversation in here to be about me at all. So, please, if responding, make sure we're talking about the work.
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Ill be in your group, if you will have me.

Me and possibly some FJM playing in the background... ?? Who's to know these things??
 
Hi @Teeeee , Hi everyone. This might be something I’d be interested in too, I’ll have look at getting a copy of the ebook. I get the fact that a large group isn’t always comfortable but I personally don’t think I’d mind the size of the groups once it’s in DMs, I’d be relatively comfortable because its a group of like minded people exploring something together and being equally exposed. The idea of a more public fora for any part of this, even just to lend structure or set guidelines, makes me want to turn and run away as fast as possible.

And as a fellow opinionated loudmouth @Teeeee there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it’s better to know where you stand with someone that to be left wondering because (us loudmouths gotta stick together 😉)
 
I'm so happy to hear my little town of about 9000 has two peaceful protests planned; one this afternoon and one Sunday. I plan on attending Sunday.
But wow, the Nextdoor app comment section has about 10% of these types of comments...
"Why here?"
"Why do "they" need our help?"
"I heard pallets of bricks have been dropped off"
"I called the police"
"We should bus people to Detroit and away from our town and into the real protests"
"I'll be there with my American flag in one hand and my gun in the other"
and a later reply "IT'S MY RIGHT!"

Why did I say 'wow'? I should know this, I see this crap on Facebook and Twitter every day.

Edit: Almost three hours later the post and comments about the peaceful protests has been removed. It must have gotten even nastier. That's really too bad...I assume the protests are still happening. I guess I'll find out.
 
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Dead C said:
I appreciate everyone that's in here.

This forum looked dead today and I realized what people were ... kind of... doing.. I've been nothing but entrenched in this, so to me, it didn't make any sense to go cold on social media. All I post is ABOUT THIS, specifically. But, the fact that the forum is so dead also feeds into my concerns about the black out. People want to do the right thIing and don't want to be viewed as social justice scabs. Obviously, other people recognized this wasn't a day for the discussion to stop and decided to show up in this thread, instead.

As a brown man that feels solidarity in seeing everyone finally addressing these issues that fall on deaf ears so often, a lot of these black boxes feel more like silence than a statement.

I just keep having white people ask me what they can do. I don't know what to tell them. Communicate with people. Listen to people. Share information, be open to it and seek it out.

The sad reality is that most people aren't angry about what happened to George Floyd, simply because it happened. It happens every day. They are angry because they saw irrefutable evidence of it. They hate overt racism, but don't seem as troubled by systemic racism that hurts people every day. I've told them this was happening forever and it's usually all crickets. So, keep making sure that this info spreads. Today isn't the day to feel like your voice doesn't matter, because you might be white. Use your voice and platform to amplify the voices and information that need it. This isn't about optics. Racism didn't just resurface because every took off their safety pins.

Last month, I was imploring people to watch 13th. I think one friend did. Maybe, two. Overall, not many.

I jumped in a little late here, so if this has already been mentioned... I guess I'm mentioning it again.

You can watch it on NETFLIX, but here should be the entire film. I honestly believe that everybody should have to watch this film. Anyone serious about wanting to help and gain more information about racial struggles and the system that we live in that hasn't seen this, should watch it now.

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Thanks a lot for sharing the video to 13th. ❤️
I've just watched it, it's very educational and enlightening regarding America's history and the current situation.
 
ranbalam said:
I'm so happy to hear my little town of about 9000 has two peaceful protests planned; one this afternoon and one Sunday. I plan on attending Sunday.
But wow, the Nextdoor app comment section has about 10% of these types of comments...
"Why here?"
"Why do "they" need our help?"
"I heard pallets of bricks have been dropped off"
"I called the police"
"We should bus people to Detroit and away from our town and into the real protests"
"I'll be there with my American flag in one hand and my gun in the other"
and a later reply "IT'S MY RIGHT!"

Why did I say 'wow'? I should know this, I see this crap on Facebook and Twitter every day.
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Just anchoring to your post @ranbalam

If you do interact on nextdoor or anywhere this might be a useful thing to share. In our neighborhoods we are having to watch out for each other literally because the police won't or can't do it and there are immediate threats coming in the form racist threats. It won't take much googling to see the threats of harm being posted on people's doors just here in St. Paul, MN...but there are folks who seem to gravitate towards things like next door who are behaving unproductively by imitating the police.

South Minneapolis folks put this document together as a guide to help people come together, look out for each other, protect each other but do it responsibly. The google doc is at the bottom of the article. Please read it and please share it with your neighbors.

City Pages

www.citypages.com www.citypages.com
 
I'm really tired and super busy at work today. I'm going to be sparce for the day. Please don't let me being distracted today halt any progress we're making.

You all can totally feel free to form groups with team leaders or anything. I do not need nor necessarily want to be a leader in this. I have done the exercise and yes, I'll be doing it again, but I don't want my previous experience to influence any group I'm in.
 
The cynic in me sees everyone sharing links and resources and thinks "is everyone actually following those links and donating or educating themselves and buying things? or is it just virtue signalling?" I hate that I have that thought but we do see it constantly. People (myself included) are guilty of putting in minimum effort, throwing up a black box, putting a frame around your facebook profile photo for whatever the cause of the month is.

I think it's good to follow through obviously, but also to let people know that they watched a video or read a book or donated to a fund, or bought a product with black owners. It's good to see that acknowledgement and reinforces that there is some purpose of all these resources being shared for other than it being a "good look". I think everyone in this thread is already doing this, but it might be good to practice here and elsewhere nonetheless.

In one of the many link threads I saw on twitter yesterday someone was sharing black owned businesses and I came across this black owned coffee company BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages - Premium Coffees & Teas. I'm getting low on coffee and this makes logical sense for me to contribute in a meaningful way to their business. They also donate 5% of all profits to youth organizations. It's so easy to support black owned businesses where you can!
 
Dead C said:
Click to expand...


Some people might have skimmed past this video, but it's only a few minutes long and I'd say that it's essential viewing. Color Of Fear is essential viewing, in general and I'm trying to find a longer clip, but that one is REALLY important to understand.

Here is more to it.



I remember there being a clip where that white man actually breaks and absorbs the message, but I can't find it right now
 
Dead C said:
Some people might have skimmed past this video, but it's only a few minutes long and I'd say that it's essential viewing. Color Of Fear is essential viewing, in general and I'm trying to find a longer clip, but that one is REALLY important to understand.

Here is more to it.



I remember there being a clip where that white man actually breaks and absorbs the message, but I can't find it right now
Click to expand...

Thanks for coming back to this, because I did skip past it the first time. These clips combine 3 things I've been thinking about over the last few days: Hollywood, the Old West, and the question of white culture.

There's been some talk about the racist history of police vis-a-vis protection of wealth, but I think in the imaginations of America, the policeman's heritage is that of the Wild West, or at least Hollywood's version of it: a literal savior who arrives to bring order to an otherwise lawless place. Sure, they usually end up in town because a bank or a train keeps getting robbed, but their noble quest also chases off the murdering thieves from the nearby ranch, secures the purity of the rancher's daughter, guards the young men from the ruthless natives, and turns the town into a peaceful Eden for all who remain. Why else would Chuck D equate John Wayne with the power if not because he lives in our minds as a proto-policeman?

The other part of the conversation that grabbed me was the brief implication in the video that white people have no ethnicity, no culture (outside of pockets of preserved Old World culture, let's assume). Part of that is the thing in white supremacy that centers whiteness so much that it's the default culture, the proverbial "what's water to a fish?" But The Wild West and the white male archetype have a role here too. I think the great contemporary stand-in for that figure is Jon Hamm in Mad Men. Don Draper is essentially a metaphor for America (and by extension consumerism), right? A man of no means who becomes untethered from his shameful past and who, through stolen valor, and lies, and relying on people who know they're lies but don't care, invents an identity that carries no history, no heritage, no meaning, is only of the present. I've felt that, to some degree -- my family has no 'heritage.' I'm not in touch with any cultural touchstones, any genealogy, any family tree. I don't know where I "come from," or who my people are. So how can I know who *I* am? I am no one except me, an American, and I carry no burden of any ethnic culture with me.

Except that's not true, is it? I'm white. And that may not mean anything in terms of my heritage from the Old World, but it's everything in the New one.

That's a swirl of thoughts and I'm still struggling to make them coherent, so I apologize if they aren't to any of you, either.
 
Here is the youtube video that is being linked to, where all of the ad revenue is going to support BLM orgs.

Be sure to follow the directions so the full amount of ad money is given to the creator to distribute.



Below the video is some tips from K-Pop fans on how to ensure your view counts as ad revenue.

There are other videos posted for the same thing but I have not done research on them.
 
This article highlights the problem with the "a few bad apples" theory. Some of you may remember in
2018, when a police officer decided not to shoot a black man, and instead attempted to de-escalate the situation. Then another officer showed up and fatally shot the man.

Guess which officer the Police department fired.

features.propublica.org

What Happened When A White Cop Decided Not to Shoot a Black Man

A shocking story of police and lethal force. Just not the one you might expect.
features.propublica.org features.propublica.org
 
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