Geez Che,
You are more than likely unaware of this and that's okay. However, the emphasis black people put on color is not because WE are stuck on the idea of color or "race" as in reality there is only one race which is the "human race". The reason we have to focus on color is because we have an adversary that targets us based on our color. That adversary has an agenda whether you see it or not. That adversary wants to advance their own "race" AT THE EXPENSE of "ours".
Now there are probably some people in white supremacist groups like the KKK who are happy to simply be part of a club, who feel included and cared for. Perhaps they only joined seeking friendship and comradery. Someone told them that they protect each other and they could help them get a job. Maybe some of these members are kind to animals and like several black sports and movie stars.
Hear me when I say, I DON'T GIVE A F-CK ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE.
Harsh? No matter how I may humanize them it doesn't change the FACT that they joined an organization based on hate. It doesn't change the history of that organization, the people they lynched and tortured, nor the families terrorized with burning cross or confederate statues. It doesn't change what it is.
These groups have been trying to rebrand themselves like Chucky saying "I'm just a doll baby for kids". And the whole point of the rebrand is to normalize this idea of "White Nationalism" and cause the white masses to defend it, while at the same time the organizations under this banner promote racism, antisemitism, sexism, and hate. I don't want to be a "brother" to that. It has nothing to do with me. I am an intelligent person. My color doesn't matter in that. There is no way, as an intelligent person, I'm going to buy into some notion of white brotherhood being a good thing. It's not.
What you need to understand is that black people didn't start this whole business of color. But since it started we can't ignore it. We can't go about our days ignorant to the dangers and threats we face. If you were in a scary movie with Jason and Freddy living in your neighborhood, drinking tea on their porches during the day and killing people at night, it would be stupid for you to ignore that. Most people in America lock their doors and doors come with locks built in because people who make door knobs for front doors are not ignorant to the dangers that are out there. White people typically are the biggest advocates of self defense and gun ownership. Anything they are afraid of they actually will arm themselves against. And if they aren't enough by themselves, they'll join groups of people who are afraid of the same thing(s).
This is all okay when white people do it. However, and this is no disrespect intended towards you, it's simply part of a very long pattern, and not an isolated incident, but when black people recognize the threat from racism and white supremacy white people be like "why can't you get beyond color and race?"
We don't have the same threats. And a squirrel is not being a victim when it recognizes the threat from a predator. White supremacy is a predator because it has "power". And when Trump supports chant "WHITE POWER" they're not talking about some tea sippin social club or the latest 9 iron in their golf bag. They are talking about white people's power to dominate other races. A video of a such a supporter doing exactly that was retweeted by the current president of the United States. I don't know where you live, but I live in a country where racists are taking off their masks now and gunning down black people in churches because they want to start a race war.
So forgive me if I don't see race or color as an "oversimplification". No, it's actually quite simple. As long as there is an inclination among whites to dominate and destroy us there will always be a reaction to that. And that reaction will eventually grow to be equal and opposite. Right now we are still trying to figure out if that equal reaction is violence or whether it will be equal and opposite which is love. So we, although not a monolith, are trying to figure out how to respond in a way that helps to end the threat that too many whites ignore because it's not a threat to them.
And I have to differ with this assertion that is used over and over about "victims" and how that's not going to help us. If we continued talking about slavery and Jim Crow and nothing else was happening to us, that would be one thing. However the common denominator of slavery and Jim Crow is racism and white supremacy and those things are still present and still being used as weapons against us. These weapons are employed in every area of life from economics, jobs, education, justice, health, etc. etc. And all the time we have to fight just to be believed as white people ignore it because it is convenient to do so. I appreciate your long time meditation but the suffering of black people at the hands of white people is not a thing that makes black people inferior. It is a thing that questions the morality of those that seek to cause us to suffer because of the color of our skin. When there is a serial killer you don't look at the victim and ponder how it was their fault. And you don't discount them. Counting them is how you know that you're dealing with a serial killer. Blaming the victim is a tactic used to help the predator escape responsibility for who and what they are. Whether successful in the attempt to oppress me or not, that doesn't excuse the attempt or the number of attempts beyond measure that have succeeded or failed. It says more about THEM then it says about us.
You should read the article I posted.
When it comes to Russia I did NOT say Putin was for white supremacy. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. I don't think there's enough black people in Russia for anyone over there to really see them as a threat, rather they may or may not be influenced by white America's racial biases the same way that Asians are because whites taught Asians to fear black people. This we know. But whether or not Putin believes in white supremacy is irrelevant. He knows he can USE it to his advantage. He knows he can use it against the United States. Supporting racists means supporting division among the American people.
It should be surprising when whites support Vladimir Putin, but what we can clearly see is that they don't care if he's a friend or foe as long as there is some alignment in their common interests. The same can be said for black Trump supporters. First of all, there are very few. You can literally see the same black guy at several Trump rallies and pick him out of the crowd like Where's Waldo. Because there's not that many. A Daily Show correspondent when to a rally and asked where all the black people were and the white people literally looked around. Why did they look? Because they hadn't noticed. That in itself says a lot. Black support for Trump is fake news. About 99% of the black people who support Trump only do so because of conspiracy theories. And these conspiracy theories are the reason this thread exists. The company I work for has started getting numerous posts on our social media from conspiracy theorists because we're selling masks. And it is AMAZING what they have to say and how they have been mobilized into tiny weapons. Do you think that's a coincidence? It's not.
This is the power of propaganda. And government intelligence agencies use propaganda against their enemies. The US does it. And Russia does it. So Russia doing it to the United States shouldn't shock or surprise anyone. The fact that we're falling for it, should.
Americans are used to being untouchable. Americans are arrogant in their approach to the world. They never imagined anyone other than their own government would lie to them; as if everyone else in the world likes them. And so it wouldn't be hard for Putin's Intelligence Agency to pose as Q anon and make white supremacists in America feel like they have Russian support as long as they can work together to take down NATO and other oppositions to Russian power. Again Putin doesn't have to be a racist but the fact that he's comfortable using racism to further his own agenda doesn't remove the context of black and white from the discussion. And typically it is only racists who are comfortable using racism because they don't care about the race being targeted or hurt in the process.
Instead of defending white brotherhood I suggest you try to see beyond the innocent veneer. We've pretty much ignored these groups for years. Now that they have a president they are gaining power, resources, and recruiting at record pace. If we continue to ignore the people who are trying to maintain white supremacy then we shouldn't complain about the results of white supremacy and their effects in the everyday lives of black and brown people.
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