Dear White People...

White Privilege

I wrote a note on this a while ago  but now it's being more heavily discussed. ... so here I am revisiting.

If you don't want to/have the time to read - scroll to the links at the bottom and start clicking on videos. 

If you have questions, want clarification, disagree with something, agree with something, find something interesting, let me know, and share with folks.

This is only a blip into the world of race relations. I wish I had the time, energy, and resources to give you much more. If you care you can research on your own, and feel free to post more links in the comments.

Some important issues and common views won't be addressed here like:
Shadeism,
Colorism,
The Reason Hannah Blames Reagan for all of this,
The dichotomies and complexities of applying these things to Hispanic/Latin-Americans
(i.e. Dasi Arnaz [Ricky Riccardo] was Hispanic, as was Carlton from Fresh Prince -Yet color/white privilege still exists for Dasi),
Same with other people of color,
Asian Assimilation,
Gender Biases,
Assumed Sexual Orientation biases
as 'feminine' gay men are brutally beaten DAILY,
'Anti-Racism is really Anti-White',
'White Genocide in America'
etc etc.

But these are all things you can discuss, look up on your own, or talk to me about -- and I'm sure that as you research you'll find some fascinating concepts.

Disclaimer:*One cannot know what one does not know. I'm not claiming to be an expert on anything. These are part my opinion, part researched fact, and part (likely very biased) information to help you draw your own conclusions. Please utilize your own brain. Seriously. I'm not the authority on any of this, I just have strong beliefs on this issue, and with recent discussion, I thought I'd bring it to the table.

Below is a copied a blog post of mine copied and pasted. Enjoy:
___

Tons of people still don't fully understand this concept or it's impact, or the way it manifests itself.I'm not upset about that: We are taught to ignore, accept, and - more importantly - to not even recognize white privilege.
And (just my opinion) White Privilege in itself is not the issue of concern. The concern is white folks using white privilege as a weapon to oppress, rather than a tool to assist those who are without that privilege.

Even if a white person, gets an Africa tattoo, joins the black 'conscious' community, marries a black person, and has multiple children they raise to think and believe that same things, the privilege of melanin deficiency still exists.

Anyway, I thought I'd list some resources to help folks understand more. PLEASE feel free to ahare and add videos & links (to articles maybe?) & memes or whatever that may help better explain white privilege and what it is.

• Un-Fair Campaign
• "Dear Trayvon's Mom" A white woman's realization
• Race: The Power of Illusion

• Race Relations (Corrie BradShaw Article)  
• Race Relations (Glennon Melton Article)
• Hipster Racism

And here are some videos(but I encourage you to both watch AND view the YT comments):

• "What is White Privilege"
• Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
• Explaining the "double standard" (in media)
• Tim Wise & the Pathology of White Privilege
•  White People - You are NOT Trayvon Martin

"Realizing that you more closely resemble a homicidal oppressive force 

than a helpless victim is a really uncomfortable thing to do. 

I know... 

Real change is effected when we own up to our actions, our privilege, 

and our complicity with the system that murdered Trayvon and countless others. 

Us privileged activists have to realize just how easy it is to be Zimmerman, and work to change this. Subvert stereotypes....

Use your privilege to actively dismantle this messed up system. 

Listen to marginalized people

...and ensure them access to the discourse. "

Perceptions of Beauty

Conscious Behavior

“Another example at the international level of how skillfully they use this trickery was in the Congo. In the Congo, airplanes were dropping bombs on African villages. African villages don’t have a defense against bombs. And the pilot can’t tell who the bomb is being dropped upon. When a bomb hits a village, everything goes. And these pilots, flying planes filled with bombs, dropping these bombs on African villages, were destroying women, were destroying children, were destroying babies. You never heard any outcry over here about that.

And it had started way back in June. They would drop bombs on African villages that would blow that village apart and everything in it — man, woman, child, and baby. No outcry, no sympathy, no support, no concern, because the press didn’t project it in such a way that it would be designed to get your sympathy. They know how to put something so that you’ll sympathize with it, and they know how to put it so you’ll be against it. I’m telling you, they are masters at it. And if you don’t develop the analytical ability to read between the lines in what they’re saying, I’m telling you again — they’ll be building gas ovens, and before you wake up you’ll be in one of them, just like the Jews ended up in gas ovens over there in Germany. You’re in a society that’s just as capable of building gas ovens for Black people as Hitler’s society was.

This was mass murder in the Congo, of women and children and babies. But there was no outcry even from the white liberals, even from your “friends.” Why? Because they made it appear that it was a humanitarian project. They said that the planes were being flown by “American-trained anti-Castro Cuban pilots.” This is propaganda, too. Soon as you hear that it’s American-trained, you say, “Oh that’s all right, that’s us.” And the anti-Castro Cubans, “Oh that’s all right too, ‘cause if they’re against Castro, whoever else they’re against that’s good, ‘cause Castro is a monster.” But you see how step-by-step they grab your mind?

And these pilots are hired, their salaries are paid by the United States government. They’re called mercenaries, these pilots are. And a mercenary is not someone who kills you because he’s patriotic. He kills you for blood money, he’s a hired killer. This is what a mercenary means. And they’re able to take these hired killers, put them in American planes, with American bombs, and drop them on African villages, blowing to bits Black men, Black women, Black children, Black babies, and you Black people sitting over here cool like it doesn’t even involve you. You’re a fool. They’ll do it to them today, and do it to you tomorrow. Because you and I and they are all the same.

They call it a humanitarian project and that they’re doing it in the name of freedom. And all of this, these glorious terms, are used to pave the way in your mind for what they’re going to do.

Then they take Tshombe. You’ve heard of Tshombe. He’s the worst African that was ever born. The lowest type that was ever born. He’s a murderer himself. He’s the murderer of Lumumba, the former prime minister of — the first and only rightful prime minister of the Congo. He’s an international — he’s a murderer with an international stature as a murderer. Yet the United States government went and got Tshombe in Spain, and put him as the head of the Congolese government. This is criminal! Here’s a man who’s a murderer, so the United States takes him, puts him over the Congo, and supports his government with your tax dollars. Now — they hired him to occupy the position as head of state over the Congo — a killer! He is a hired killer himself! His salary’s paid by the United States government. And he turns — his first move is to bring in South Africans, who hate everything in sight. He hires those South Africans to come and kill his own Congolese people. And the United States, again, pays their salary.

You know, it’s something to think about. How do you think you would feel right now if some Congolese brothers walked up to you — and they look just like you, don’t think you don’t look Congolese. You look as much Congolese as a Congolese does. They got all kinds of Congolese over there. How would you feel if one of them walked up to you and asked you about what your government is doing in the Congo. I was asked that when I was over there. But they don’t have to come to me like that, ‘cause they know where I stand automatically. And for one time I’m thankful to the press, for letting everybody know where I stand. They — but you have no explanation. Your tongue stays in your mouth. And then you have to become — you have to go to the extreme to convince them that you don’t go along with what the United States government is doing in the Congo.
And they justify the usage of Tshombe as the present head of state by saying that he’s the only African who can unite — or bring unity to the Congo. Has he brought unity to the Congo? But, see, this is their game! And their real reason for wanting Tshombe there was so that Tshombe could invite them to come in. Now, what African head of state would have dared to invite outside powers? So they put Tshombe there, and as soon as Tshombe got there he invited them to bring paratroopers from Belgium in the United States’ transport planes to try and recapture Congo.

This is all a cold-blooded act on the part of your Western powers, namely the Western powers here in the United States — interests in the United States, in England, and France, and Belgium and so forth. They want the wealth of the Congo, plus its strategic geographic position.

The step-by-step process that was used by the press: First they fanned the flame in such a manner to create hysteria in the mind of the public. And then they shift gears and fan the flame in a manner designed to get the sympathy of the public. And once they go from hysteria to sympathy, their next step is to get the public to support them in whatever act they’re getting ready to go down with. You’re dealing with a cold calculating international machine, that’s so criminal in its objectives and motives that it has the seeds of its own destruction, right within. They use the press to emphasize that white hostages are being held by [inaudible] — imagine that — or white priests, white missionaries, white nuns — they don’t say nuns: white nuns. You know what the paper said right here in Detroit: white missionaries, not just a missionary; a white nun — as if there’s a difference between a white nun and a black nun; or a white priest and a black priest; or if the light that’s in a white skin is more valuable than a light within a black skin. This is what they’re implying! And the press — look at the press when this thing was going on — and you will see what I’m talking about. They’re vicious in their whiteness.
But still, I wouldn’t judge them just ‘cause they’re white, or they’d call me a racist. [I’m] judging by their deeds, by their conscious behavior — and you know how they’ve been consciously behaving in the Congo, and how they consciously behave in Vietnam, and how they consciously behave right now in Alabama and Mississippi. So you and I got to get conscious, and start behaving in a way that we can offset this thing before it’s too late — and this is what they don’t want to hear.”

| Malcolm X (February 14th, 1965 in Detroit)

What Capitalism Looks Like

And every time I realize that I'm living in a society that consciously chooses to live this way, and fights wars to ensure others follow suit, I feel this deep twinge of sorrow.

I shouldn't be here

I don't believe in any of these things.

I feel as though I have the best of intentions - and I try not to promote harmful attitudes or behavior.

but here I am typing on a mac and tweeting

I try to spread the message - and I'm certainly not materialistic

but I just feel so guilty.

For now: I'm collecting the information and sharpening the skills necessary to attempt to fix this. But before I can do anything, there has to be a major shift in mentality.

Can we do that?

Can you help me?

Too Soon?

If you are looking...

"I have some bad news and some good news.
The bad news is - there is no key to the Universe.
The good news is - it was never locked."

- Swami Beyondananda

our true nature is our silent and unchanging consciousness

"Everything in the universe is constantly changing and everything is dynamically interrelated. According to what physicists have discovered, there is no such thing as nothing because even in a void there is the potential for things to come into being spontaneously, and they can vanish again, into the void: these events happen continuously. From this void all forms can come into being and it is the source of all life."

"Buddha and many Zen Masters never answered questions regarding the nature of things, or the meaning of life, because they knew there was nothing to be explained. Yet, the meaning of life is to firstly understand it, then to put meaning into it."





I found this quite interesting
Read more here

selah

There has never been another large historical event that has it’s decedents be told to ‘get over’ than the ancestors’ of the enslavement of millions of Africans transported across the Atlantic.

There has never been such any formal set of reparations for the 300+ centuries of enslavement of Africans, and needless to say, there obviously never will be one. (As more time passes, its getting easier to ‘explain’ why reparations simply ‘cannot be made’).

I ponder this question often. How exactly can that be done? How can you get over what is your identity in the US? Your heritage? Get over your lineage? Get over your ancestry? Get over your great grandparents legacy? Get over the fact that you cannot trace your family tree than a few generations?

Hey, any tips guys? You have yet to give out any.

I know many of you like to imagine that the transatlantic slave trade took place thousands of years ago. On some B.C. or some shit. I know its comforting if you compare it to the slaves of the Romans, Greeks or the Hebrews in Egypt [okay, I’m just entertaining the idea that the Biblical story of Exodus is real for a moment] because its ancient history. Too bad it isn’t. There were still former slaves around in the 1940s. (That’s during the time of World War II, by the way. I’m certain no one forgets that).

It seems as though anything that involves Black suffering should either be swept under the rug, or that we must ‘move on’ from it. We should never acknowledge it. Anniversaries should never be mentioned. Just move on and pretend it never happened.

Any time one attempts to bring up slavery in any kind of discussion we are immediately silenced or disregarded; our tragedies don’t matter, they are dismissed whether it be because it was too long ago [slavery was abolished 150 years ago, but the violence and discrimination along with Jim Crow did not end until the 1970s] or trivialized (deflecting direct responsibility by pointing out that the Africans were selling the slaves to the Europeans, as if that holds any relevance. If not that, but ‘Arabs had African slaves too!’ or ‘Blacks were not the only slaves. White people were slaves too!’ And if not, then of course than ‘well none of you guys are slaves!’)

There is no end to the excuses made. Every time I feel like I’ve heard it all, I learn a new one. There is absolutely no acceptance of wrongdoings. Its not my fault, leave me alone. Stop trying to make me feel “guilty”.

I’ve even read about some disapproving openings of slave museum because it might spark ‘anger’. Why is the history of African enslavement the only event that has ever been censored? I mean its not like this country wasn’t built upon slavery, the free labor of African Americans or anything. But the abundance of Holocaust (an event that did not even occur in the states) museums are okay.

America is such an immature young country. Nobody whines as much as the United States when it comes to facing their own past crimes. In Germany the Nazi flag and salute are banned. You will get arrested. The Confederate flag? Still flying in some places (by the way guys, in case you forgot, you lost).

The fact that the first public apology for slavery did not occur until the late 1990s says it all. This alone makes statements like ‘I’m tired of apologizing for slavery!’ and ‘I’m tired of being punished!’ from White Americans laughable bullshit. You’ve never had to apologize for anything. Not slavery, not Jim Crow, not Tulsa, not Rosewood (an event that was kept secret and not revealed to the public until the 1980s) ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

For all the centuries worth of colonizing, raping, murdering, genocide, self hatred and torture they have done/brought upon other people of the earth, what is this constant ‘punishment’ you keep bringing up? Being made fun of as being bland in comedy stand ups?

What were the repercussions…not being able to freely do those racist things anymore? Not being able to ridicule, harass and/or humiliate black people as openly anymore?

I’d say you guys got off pretty fucking easy.

[source]

The Black Diaspora

Watch the full episode. See more Black in Latin America.

Nothing Can Be Done Against the Truth

Wise Words from Brother Malcolm

Jury Nullfication - Rogue Juries for Justice

We discussed Paul Butler in class today - I agree with him 100%.
If a minority is accused of a victimless and/or non-violent crime, and I am on the jury for which there is plenty of evidence presented against him, I will find him not guilty... period.

I believe this is my duty.
I am not in law school to send my people to prison. I am so with you, brother.

Liberal vs. Radical

Where I begin to disagree...

1) I don't we are made up of "groups" but I also don't believe in individualism.

• I believe that we are all one.
• When we divide ourselves and create these hierarchies we hurt ourselves and go against our nature of oneness.
• I understand that in functional society there is a great divide of the have and have nots, but I strongly believe focusing on that divide is counterproductive.
• Anyone advocating revolution should hope that we are creating unity.

2) Education IS necessary.

• How do we take the systems apart brick by brick without knowing how to?
• How do we take the systems apart if we don't even realize they are there?
• I get what she is saying but, there must be a revolution of the mind before there is a manifestation of it.
• I don't believe everyone has to be on board, nor that we must systematically wait (generations) for people to understand - but I think it's silly to think education isn't a factor.

I do agree that we consent to our oppression.
But, the awful thing is - most people don't even realize they are oppressed.
They think everything is fine.
They are totally oblivious to the fact that a lot of these things are going on.
Which goes back to why I strongly believe that education is such an important factor.

Which are you?

Sister Souljah

Let's save ourselves
Let's save the minds of our black people

To live would be an awfully big adventure

...why are you crying?

Puer aeternus

or eternal boy is used in mythology to designate a child-god who is forever young. He covets independence and freedom, chafes at boundaries and limits, and tends to find any restriction intolerable.

"The one thing dreaded throughout by such a type of man is to be bound to anything whatsoever." - Marie-Louise von Franz

"Common symptoms of puer psychology are dreams of imprisonment and similar imagery: chains, bars, cages, entrapment, bondage. Life itself...is experienced as a prison." - Daryl Sharp

This is associated with/related to/similar in ways to Peter Pan Syndrome.

& well - I still believe in fairies.

Consciousness Drives The Universe

Expand your consciousness.
Change your mind - Change your reality.
Observe the world around you.
Notice the patterns.
Embrace the energy.
We're all one.

Perspective

I wish I could birth what I see so

you could understand why everything is beautiful

and maybe if my eyes could manifest everything I've found in you

you wouldn't feel so empty

and one day I'll show you all the reasons I love you

so you won't hate yourself

PHASE 1: INITIATED

It is quite easy to lose oneself in the system of "things".

http://www.whatis-theplan.org
Become a member and join us as we initiate a movement for real change.

RAGE Day

"July 4 is a holiday celebrated by all Americans. No matter what race, color, or creed most citizens wait for sun down to see the fireworks illuminate the night sky. From the annual “Taste” festival in Chicago, IL, to the laser shows in Stone Mountain, GA, loved ones unite to gaze upon their own version of the war torn sky, littered with bombs and polluted with gun smoke described by Francis Scott Key.

This night in 1776, Britain gave birth to its bastard daughter, America, giving us our annual holiday Independence Day…."

Download Kodeine’s new mixtape: RAGE

Stole this post from a friend
Because I love his music, and I find it relevant.

RAGE