Great read in the LA Progressive website! "Message to My Fellow White People."

[calimary]

I think this guy just freakin' NAILS IT. Saying a lot of what we've been saying, here. My conclusion about the teabaggers, for example, has always been - "there's a black guy in the Oval Office and he isn't the janitor." THIS essay goes that one - several times better! And I LOVE the LA Progressive! Well worth your checking out.

(snip)


Okay, fellow Caucasians, now that we’re alone, we need to have a good old-fashioned heart-to-heart. Four years ago America elected its first non-white president and — to be perfectly blunt with you — a lot of you folks have reacted to this new American reality a bit….Oh, how can I put this as delicately as possible….Well, let me put it to you this way: you’re not taking it well, that’s for damned sure! In fact since Inauguration day 2009, you’ve been in full-tilt, FREAK OUT mode. I mean, hell, judging by the overreaction of some people, you would think that the president and first lady were Charles Manson and Squeaky Fromme! A lot of white people are acting like this is the end of the world – and they’re absolutely correct. We’re coming to the end of the old world. Like it or not (and I kinda like it) we’re about to enter a new world. Be brave. Grow up.

Now, let’s all just take a deep breath….

My fellow crackers, someday in the not-too-distant future, we won’t be in the majority anymore. In fact, that day will come within the lifespan of most of you who are now reading this. I know this must be a bitter pill for some of you to swallow – but that’s the way it is and there’s nothing we can do to alter the unalterable . There has been such an insane, mass hissy-fit over the fact that, for the first time in history, a black family is living in the family quarters (as opposed to the servants quarters) of the White House. Honestly, we really need to get a grip here, folks.

(snip)

http://www.laprogressive.com/white-people/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+laprogressive+%28The+LA+Progressive%29

[LiveNudePolitics]

1. Great Advice

I talk to maybe 45 to 50, older white guys in the course of my job every day. 'Freaking out' is putting it mildly! About 50% of these men, in the 50 to 80 year range are stuck in the 'this is the worst president ever' mode. I felt compelled to beg for sane thought for November on my blog: Senior Voter They refuse any attempts at reasonable discourse, and shouting about Obama is a frequent occurrence...if there is a second Obama administration there may be a million strokes shortly after the election results come in.

[calimary]

2. Welcome to DU!

Last edited Thu Aug 23, 2012, 09:25 PM - Edit history (1)

I think this just completely nails it. Another of the World's Biggest Entitlement Programs. Besides the GOP's belief that it alone has this mysterious entitlement to the White House - as some sort of Bizarro World "birthright," this would be its corollary - that only Caucasians have this "Divine Right" to rule.

There are SOOOOO many old, rancid world-views that have yet to die out with the older Anglo generation - but hopefully WILL die out with them. I can see its passing in the faces of my kids and their friends:
All the young people who just don't get how gays are somehow bad.
All the young people who just don't get why a woman isn't allowed to be master of her own body, or of her own personal destiny whether it's in the home or in the workplace.
All the young people who just don't get why the rich aren't more obligated because they have more and are thus more able to shoulder more of the weight of what goes into building and maintaining a great nation that supposedly offers equal blessings for ALL.
All the young people who just don't get how the only proper definition of a family simply MUST be one headed exclusively by Alpha Male with Secondary/Subordinate Female.
All the young people who just don't get why the health and long-term survival of their planet is somehow unimportant or irrelevant.
All the young people who just don't get the prejudice thing because they're truly color-blind, because they've all grown up with classmates and friends - equals and peers in all things - who were everything from appetizer to dessert: Black, Latino, Asian, Middle-Eastern, Native American, Mixed-Race of every flavor, and of course, White too.

My kids and their friends have all grown up in that kind of environment, where they've seen, heard, tasted, touched, and LIVED WITH the true Melting Pot. It's neither strange nor foreign nor scary to them. It's what IS. They move freely in that world without even giving it a thought. And they see the whack-jobs in the upper age brackets and low-information/low-education groups for exactly what they are.

As much as I despair in my own generation's flaccidness and failure to fight back and follow-through, and the ridiculous and outmoded prejudices that rule those who are being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century when they'd be far more comfortable with the 17th Century (or even farther back than that!), it's my children's generation that gives me some hope. Their collective mindset is just COMPLETELY different, utterly flexible, much more fully-grounded in reality, and totally adaptable to changing times and changing demographics. Mainly because they ARE that change. Fewer and fewer of them are shackled to that old shit.

The dinosaurs eventually died out, too. I look forward to the day when our human dinosaurs have faded into history as well.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. I know I wasn't 'posed to ...

But I read the OP! (I know ... I know ... just proves the "untrustworthy"/"Just won't do right" point).

That said, I wish the author had said that the fear they have of retribution is unlikely to occur. Think about it ... There are plenty of examples of Black folks being in charge and very few instances of retribution. Oprah's staff is diverse and even has white folk shot callers; yet there have been few, if any, claims of "reverse discrimination."

Even in the case of Altanta, where it was proven that the police chief used race-based criteria for promotions, white folks still comprised a majority of the Atlanta PD command staff.

Face it ... There will be no (or very little "pay-back" ... Life will go on, for you and for me; though without certain certainties.

[calimary]

4. Not at all! And I expect that when minorities in this country are no longer minorities,

they'll treat whites with a lot more elegance, compassion, and humanity than the other way around.

I would point to the conduct and behavior of Barack and Michelle Obama - under the constant barrage of shit that's thrown at them every day. And they are the essence of true nobility and class.

[tama]

6. Native Americans

who have not lost touch with their roots and relations, are not only actively forgiving the crimes against their nations and land (not least for their own good), but also opening many or their ceremonies of healing and balance to "whites" who are in most need of healing.

[calimary]

7. Exactly. Indicative of a MUCH more sophisticated and highly-evolved culture.

They are our superiors. The REAL adults in the room.

[tama]

5. Naive question

Has Obama DOJ done or tried to do anything about the racist criminal law system in US and jailing of African-Americans and other non-whites?

[calimary]

8. There's a TON of stuff Eric Holder hasn't done that's URGENT.

I keep wondering what the fuck he's doing about the voter suppression. CAN'T the Justice Department issue an injunction that overrides the states on this? I myself don't know the answer to that one. WHY was this problem allowed to continue and WHY wasn't it quashed MONTHS AGO??????????????

And WHY are the war criminals from the last administration still allowed to walk free and live fat 'n' sassy, when they should be behind bars and facing prosecution?

There are TONS of these things. AND the issues surrounding your point as well!

But Eric Holder's just been far too busy persecuting marijuana clubs.

[tama]

9. I know the answer to one of your questions

Obama DOJ fought against any and all attempt to legally persecute war criminals and torturers of previous admin on grounds of National Secrets, and won the case 6-5 in 9th district. Also the Spokesperson in Obama admin who spoke publicly against torture of Bradley Manning got booted in no time. We can wish it wasn't so, but no use to live in denial either.

[calimary]

10. Actually, I knew about that one. One of the most galling things, for me, that Obama's administration

failed to do.

I think that was politically motivated. They probably didn't think anybody in Congress would have their back. Remember, Democrats are, after all, the Great Capitulators. The ultimate Cavemen - at least up until recently. They probably thought they had to pick their battles and maybe this didn't affect individuals in need the way securing some sort of health care reform did. I'm sure they debated and weighed all the elements. Too much and too powerful pushback from the republi-CONS, and the CON-leaning media.

This actually makes me start wondering - were they testing the wind when Janet Napolitano, as Secretary of the Homeland Security Department, issued that study that warned about rising violence and disruption from "right-wing" (I HATE using the word "right" in this context, since the so-called "right" wing is ANYTHING BUT!) extremist groups as posing threats to safety and security on the domestic front? I'm sure they were attempting to pinpoint and understand where the threats might come from. That report came out pretty early in the Obama Administration. Do you suppose they were doing Obama-related risk-assessment? I'm sure there had to be a heightened awareness across the administration that racism might become more rampant again, since we were breaking new societal ground with the inauguration of the first Black politician to be elected President of the United States. I'm wondering if they reasoned that this historic event wouldn't sit well with some, and hoped to be able to head off a few things if the rabble turned ugly. It certainly occurred to me as the 2008 election drew closer and it seemed as though Obama had a good chance of winning. I had no idea the extent of the utterly irrational reaction - which I think is exactly where and why the teabagger plague erupted all over this country.

I bet the more hard-bitten realists and cynics among them knew they'd be facing some degree of uphill battle. Which means they probably got ruthlessly practical and picked their battles. And unfortunately, bringing the fucking war criminals to justice wasn't one of them. Maybe they thought health care reform was more important and that this was where they were gonna spend their political capital. They probably figured they'd lose on this one if they pressed it. Too much opposition and CONS strategically appointed to all the key lifetime and bureaucratic positions, lest we all forget how many of those assholes had bush/cheney's back, had the messaging muscle and media monopolies and armies of low-information Troglodytes behind them. Probably reasoned - "well, we'll wind up stalemated there so we won't get that and then the momentum will be against us and we won't get health care and certainly won't get more jobs programs either," and decided "well, let's try to at least get health care."

STILL does NOT make it right (as in correct, or moral), though.

[tama]

11. On the other hand

Home-Land of what ever "national security" of this admin had no problem or hesitation to centrally organize a brutal police put down of Occupy camps, mostly through Democratic mayors. And now go after people with anarchistic literature in their book shelves.

Most simple assumption is that this admin, like the ones earlier, is simply doing what Wall Street banksters together wih MIC tell them to do - or not to do - so I'll just stick with that assumption and don't get too much in detail.