White boys will be boys: Kavanaugh, #MeToo and race

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

The Brett Kavanaugh crisis has been a crucible for questions about sexual behavior and women’s equality. But Thursday’s drama on Capitol Hill, and evangelical Christians’ responses to it, also reveal much about the racial problem at the heart of white conservative Christian America....

“It’s just a shame that a person like Judge Kavanaugh, who has a stellar record, that somebody can bring something up that he did when he was a teenager close to 40 years ago. That’s not relevant,” Graham told the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Boys will be boys, as the saying goes....

White conservative Christian preachers such as Franklin Graham might pause to wrestle with the uneven racial histories that portray young black boys (and girls) as responsible for a myriad of social problems, even when they are innocent.
In this country, in short, black boys can never simply be “boys.”

To read more:

https://religionnews.com/2018/09/28/white-boys-will-be-boys-kavanaugh-metoo-and-race/

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. K&R for an important perspective.

In addition, the helplessness and realization that power doesn't care about them has introduced white women to the everyday realities of WOC.

[guillaumeb]

2. Everything revolves around race.

Or it seems so. What we see as acceptable conduct depends on who we see acting.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Indeed. The sooner this country acknowledges it, the sooner it can begin to heal.

[erpowers]

4. Trayvon Martin

A short time ago, after watching part of the Trayvon Martin documentary that played on Paramount TV, I posted about how I was shocked at the way Trayvon Martin was treated after he was murdered by George Zimmerman. I commented about how a clip was shown in which a white man stated that Trayvon Martin was "highly sexualized". That phrase was not used to defend Trayvon Martin; it was used as a reason why Martin was not a good innocent boy. Republican were not claiming boys will be boys when discussing Martin's feelings, or actions towards females.

[guillaumeb]

6. And there is an often implicit assumption that non-white victims are not "really" victims.

And that allows for character assassination of non-white victims.

[qwlauren35]

5. The title seems misleading.

If the focus had been more on Emmett Till, it would have made more sense. Emmett Till is the only example of a boy who looked at a woman the wrong way and got lynched, while Kavanaugh is a boy who groped women and will get to be a Supreme Court judge.

Instead, there wasn't a lot about the #metoo movement. The article included men who were not children.

I get the point, but it wasn't well written. More like someone generally ranting about the unfairness of the world, and the disaster of a new conservative judge.

[guillaumeb]

7. We disagree.

And this, in my view, is the heart of it:

White conservative Christian preachers such as Franklin Graham might pause to wrestle with the uneven racial histories that portray young black boys (and girls) as responsible for a myriad of social problems, even when they are innocent.
In this country, in short, black boys can never simply be “boys.”