“It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this. If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.”
you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.
That is until you go as a single person and live in
the black community then you will see discrimination
and risk directed at you.
There are racists and bigots of every color and in
every community.
Because I can guarantee you millions of poor WHITE families have long conversations with their children about how to interact properly with a policeman and survive.
The real truth behind the difference in treatment is NOT RACE it's class. It just so happens a larger percentage of blacks are poor and the POOR disproportionately commit crimes and a disproportionately a danger and are thus treated much more warily (and rightfully so) by police.
Lets face it a soccer mom in a SUV of any race poses little risk and has little to fear from being pulled over for a broken tail light. A tuff thug looking male of ANY race driving a vehicle popular at the moment with the criminal element is ALWAYS going to be treated more carefully.. because they POSE MORE RISK!!
I am 100% sure poor white trailer trash red necks get pulled over and treated the exact same way as poor blacks from the ghetto.
If there is a context, other than trying to say one thing out of one side of his mouth in one formulated sentence to one audience, and another thing out of the other side of his mouth to a different audience, I don’t understand how context is relevant here.
I am at a loss to think of any groupings of statements either before or after this quoted statement that would change the meaning of this statement due to a change in context, unless he says “A liberal once told me...”
Let's start slow here, before the messenger gets shot.
Just consider the last phrase: "the level of additional risk". I think most people who have posted on this thread would actually agree that members of the black community face higher risk than whites OF BEING ACCOSTED OR KILLED BY ANOTHER BLACK!
Let that sink in! How would you like to have to live your life with that type of risk from you own community?
The next step is to realize that even though you, as a black person, might actually feel safer around whites due to the above, any notion you might have in this regard is stifled by the reality that the whites with which you come in contact are also quite aware of the higher crime rate of the black community, in general, and this translates into them treating YOU with suspicion.
Wouldn’t the opposite also be true? Blacks cannot possibly understand what it’s like to be white in America, because they don’t lead lives of a white person. The fantasy world of easy living that they project onto whites just doesn’t exist. White privilege isnt real and being white does not help the vast majority of Caucasians.
I once had a black person accuse me of being born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had to stop him right there and explain that my father was a blue collar member of the United Auto Workers, and my mother didn’t work at all. She stayed home to raise children. There was no wealth or privilege in my home as a child. I had no special advantage growing up other than what I could do with my own talents and abilities and mostly hard work.