Why I don't Care About Boston -or- How I Became a Black Panther

[the]

http://blackgirldangerous.org/new-blog/2013/4/22/hey-white-liberals

Except:

Your constant prioritization of the lives of white people over the lives of people of color is taking a serious toll on my psyche and those of many in my community. And by that I don't mean what you might expect. Most of us already know that racism and its BFF white privilege have detrimental effects on people of color. Racial oppression leads to any number of unhealthy conditions, including high blood pressure, depression, heart disease, diabetes and even asthma. But what I’m talking about is something different. Something I’m going to call DSWP: desensitization to the suffering of white people.

A few days ago, I was having lunch with a good friend who is Korean-American, and she told me that when she heard about the bombings at the Boston Marathon–the marathon itself being something she knew nothing about and immediately associated with white people–she found that she had a hard time…well, caring. I’m sure that sounds shocking to many people. But it didn't shock me. Because I was having the same feelings myself.

What do you think about this kind of thing? What do you think about the idea of 'Privilege' ? Start a discussion and thumbs down in this thread means you think the poster is sexy.

 

[this is only temporary]

My goodness, you sure manage to come up with some very extreme and controversial websites. Do you go out looking for them, or do they just find you?
About the article and her opinion -- okay, first of all -- what about the Chinese lady who died? She was white too, or something? Are we allowed to care for her, or is there Asian priviledge that makes her death less tragic as well? I'm fairly certain the people who were injured were not all of them white, either. Secondly, since when are marathons are a "white thing"? Black people run -- and win -- marathons regularly. Good grief. I think that if this bombing had taken place at a black-only event it would have received huge amounts of coverage and been considered a tragedy and a hate crime by the vast majority of people. Evidently the writer disagrees, but I'm certain it would have been covered extensively and people of all races would have been affected by it and saddened by it. (The ones that aren't assholes, anyway.)

 

[Rcs6r]

After reading her entire article, it is very clear she is upset with the mainstream media (she even states it herself). And I would agree, the mainstream media does prioritize whites over the tragedies of other fellow Americans and the rest of the world. However, this article should be directed towards the CEOs of said news corporations, and not a blanket statement of "white liberals."

That said,

the marathon itself being something she knew nothing about and immediately associated with white people

shows that her friend might have some sort of prejudice and is ignorant.

 

[the]

After reading her entire article, it is very clear she is upset with the mainstream media (she even states it herself). And I would agree, the mainstream media does prioritize whites over the tragedies of other fellow Americans and the rest of the world. However, this article should be directed towards the CEOs of said news corporations, and not a blanket statement of "white liberals."

That said,

shows that her friend might have some sort of prejudice and is ignorant.

she is definitely lashing out at the wrong people.

Idk how you could not just put two and two together and see that "hmm boston marathon, must be a race located in Boston." I mean what Is there to know? Part of me feels that she took some creative liberties with that part.

 

[sassafras]

Clearly neither of you have been on tumblr (and you're better for it, trust me).

There's social justice and then there's ignorance posing as social justice. This article falls heavily in the latter category. How can you possibly want for racial equality when your most basic human empathy is contingent on racial representation? Yes, mainstream media needs to embrace diversity and yes this is a big problem, but categorizing and dismissing issues as a 'white' problem or a 'black' problem or an 'asian' problem just furthers the divide and breeds resentment instead of a solution. If you want true unity, forget about race. Look at people as people instead of the colour of their skin.

 

[Stu]

i find the expressed sentiment less disturbing than the truther mindset.

 

[SpecialEdition]

She must not be remembering the coverage of Trayvon Martin very well because I remember THAT story far more than I remember any story about Sandy Hook. Then again, I was apathetic to that school shooting just as I am to all other school shootings and essentially all tragedies everywhere that have no impact on me personally. I wouldn't call it numbness, it's straight up apathy and has nothing to do with race. I don't know why she's choosing to focus on white people but I guess that it's easier for people to perpetuate a racial divide for the sake of having a point to be made than it is to just look at the fact that most tragedies are conveniently sensationalized and made to saturate the media so all of us can weep together over the bad things that happened.

Reading this article I just want to tell this girl to shut the fuck up. There's no question that white people have a certain privilege over blacks in some circumstances but I also believe that where there's a will, there's a way. There's only so long that you can fly the victim banner until a point comes where you actually have to take action and make your lives better for yourselves. Opportunities exist should you choose to see them. Of course some black kid in a third world country is probably not going to get anywhere but if people of "colour" are so passionate about how bad things are then maybe they should start taking strides to make changes. Of course it's not just that simple and it's not just that easy but it grates on me to see people still casting themselves out while yelling and hollering that whites are still doing the casting.

People identify each other by their differences, regardless of tragedy.

What disgusts me about this article is the fact that this chick is continuing to lay the blame and responsibility on white people to make the changes. Fuck you. Make the changes yourselves. If you want something different, then do something different. If she wants media coverage about black and brown kids (she conveniently excludes Asians a lot), then maybe she should start her own news column or dedicate her blog to them. Instead, she's just interested in telling the media what it should be selling to people. Please. If black people all feel this way, if brown people all feel this way, maybe they should be less complacent and make sure they're heard. They didn't get their rights because they wrote blogs telling white people to give it to them. They DID SOMETHING.

 

[hk427f3]

Zomg, sensationalist mass media is bad. I felt nothing after Sandy Hook or the Boston bombings. I felt nothing because there is no utility in feeling about something that happened thousands of miles away from me, that I can't have any effect on and that doesn't really affect me in any way. And I've got all the privilege.

So, I would say that I sort of agree with this person, but only tangentially. Her premises and conclusions are absorbed in irrelevant things. People need to stop seeing real life like some kind of soap opera. Having the news include more black people in their sensationalist garbage won't really help much. After all the kerfuffle over Sandy Hook, is America a less violent and paranoid place? No, people had some fun getting emotional over something and then it's back to the status quo. So, my point is kill your television.

This would be a good week to read Fahrenheit 451.

 

[Stu]

i find the expressed sentiment less disturbing than the truther mindset.

I got a thumbs down on this from [MENTION=731]the[/MENTION]. I really do find the sentiment that non-whites are sick and tired of white people only really caring about other white people less disturbing than those who believe the government is committing acts of terrorism upon its own citizens.

I do not think it is good that whites generally don't care about non whites. I think that is fucked up, but it is true and has a long history. Spielberg's "Lincoln" represents this current extremely well.

I agree that the number of elementary school aged children who are not white and who get killed by gunfire in the streets of their towns and cities goes largely unnoticed by white society at large. In fact the main push behind the Obama gun control initiative was to remove guns from the streets. (can anyone really stop a derange man with an automatic weapon with laws?)

But the "truther" mentality is more disturbing to me than even white entitlement. Often these views are expressed by some of the most materially comfortable folks you can find. Yet they see an evil conspiracy in almost every mass media reported tragedy. These people are deranged. Their world view affords them an immorality that is heinousness.

 

[sassafras]

I got a thumbs down on this from @the.
.

Read the OP again, grasshopper. Carefully.

 

[CindyLou]

lol

 

[lenina]

To be honest, I feel worse when I hear about US drone strikes that kill children in the Middle East. Cuz those kids won't be avenged and no justice will be given to them, their deaths are in vain, no one will be held accountable. At least with Boston the bad guys were caught and will be persecuted. It's not a "white" thing, it's a justice thing. The murder of innocent people is terrible, add to that zero accountability for the perpetrator, well that's worse.

 

[the]

I got a thumbs down on this from @the. I really do find the sentiment that non-whites are sick and tired of white people only really caring about other white people less disturbing than those who believe the government is committing acts of terrorism upon its own citizens.

I do not think it is good that whites generally don't care about non whites. I think that is fucked up, but it is true and has a long history. Spielberg's "Lincoln" represents this current extremely well.

I agree that the number of elementary school aged children who are not white and who get killed by gunfire in the streets of their towns and cities goes largely unnoticed by white society at large. In fact the main push behind the Obama gun control initiative was to remove guns from the streets. (can anyone really stop a derange man with an automatic weapon with laws?)

But the "truther" mentality is more disturbing to me than even white entitlement. Often these views are expressed by some of the most materially comfortable folks you can find. Yet they see an evil conspiracy in almost every mass media reported tragedy. These people are deranged. Their world view affords them an immorality that is heinousness.

Idk if you are mad about that thumb or not, or if that is what compelled you to go into a long monologue about it, but you should retread the OP if that really bothers you.

 

[Stu]

if you think 300 words is long......

 

[INFJok]

I'm black, brown..whatever and I don't think a child of any color should be killed. And they did endorse the death of Trayvon in the media because I remember seeing it. Marching 2 miles like it's 1955 for Trayvon didn't do anything. They should've marched to the authorities and asked why and how did that fat fu€% get released! And they gave the grieving parents a life supply of Skittles. Really? Skittles?

People die and/or get killed everyday. The problem is there's an increase in children! All children are innocent and know not a thing about racism, too innocent to see color.
Racism is an adult person's disease.
-Ruby Bridges

Racism is orchestrated by media.

 

[toska]

Racism is orchestrated by media.

A lot of it definitely is. It's a tool of the privileged elite who want to promote negative stereotypes and keep us all hating and fighting each other instead of seeing our common humanity, realizing our strength and power in unity and respecting each other as individuals. It's the divide and conquer technique. And this woman has fallen right into the trap of thinking the way they want her to think.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

Why does race have to come into it?

I think desensitisation via television and radio news is worth looking at. One often hears people fretting about the effects of violent video games; yet constant exposure to non-simulated media coverage of carnage and calamity seems to pass unquestioned. The daily news may be less graphically explicit than video games, but it is more conceptually explicit and disturbing (or desensitising) than games because it portrays actual, not simulated events.

 

[Apone]

The reason that she doesn't feel anything is because she's racist, and feels justified in her racism, which actually makes her worse than the people she's so upset with. What exactly is supposed to happen-- we were all supposed to ignore the Newtown shootings and keep on talking about Trayvon? Was there also a mass-shooting in a poor, mostly black elementary school?

As soon as someone comes out with 'check your privilege' I write them off as immature and probably stupid. It completely shuts down any potential discussion of what is always going to be a complex and difficult topic... the point is always going to be 'just admit you're wrong/evil/empowered'-- guilting someone about something they can't change isn't going to make them want to agree with you... or it shouldn't anyways.

Plus, one of the Newtown kids was black.

Also-- the global society is a new phenomenon and it's only recently that everyone has been so actively guilted over not showing compassion for people on the other side of the world... it's too much and to be honest I don't think it's natural or healthy to try to convince yourself that you care about all of it... you can't.

 

[this is only temporary]

This article by LZ Granderson (who I've always liked) was on CNN this morning and I thought I'd post it as a sort of... well -- saner -- version of the article in the OP.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/24/opinion/granderson-chicago-terror/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

In it LZ asks:

What's responsible for the bloodshed? Gang violence, as usual. Police estimate that of the 532 murders in 2012 -- nearly 1.5 a day -- about 80 percent were gang related. And yet, despite that rather staggering statistic, the national outcry is muted at best -- nothing, to say the least, like the kind we saw last week in Boston. What is it about the word "gang" that brings out the apathy in us? Would we view Chicago differently if we called the perpetrators something else?

My answer to those questions is that when I hear the words "gang violence" I think of things like the Hatfields and McCoys; internal feuds aimed solely at a particular opposing gang. If you don't go to Chicago, and don't get caught in the crossfire, you are not likely to be a victim of gang violence (is the thought process of most people). The Hatfields were mostly only interested in killing the McCoys, right? Same with gangs. Whereas with the word "terrorist" leaves the impression is they just want to kill as many people as possible, anywhere they can. Although the two concepts are really similar.

Also, if those street gangs were all minorities, and all got put in jail or gunned down like terrorists, then I think many people would consider that to be an even bigger problem. I don't think LZ would like that approach at all.

I am not sure what the solution would be, however.

And P.S., just in case I didn't make it clear enough, I find that situation appalling, no one should have to live like that, regardless of race. It is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Skoffin]

This person and her 'friend' just sound like racists that think they can justify their racism. Tragedies such as the Boston Bombing don't become huge stories because white people have been attacked, they are huge stories because of the mass suffering inflicted and also that after such a story people think 'It could happen to OUR community, to our families'. People take these stories more personally because it's not specific people targeted and it leaves you feeling like you can be caught in a bomb blast at any time.

This writer and her friend immediately jumping to 'oh, Boston.. are white people there? who cares' says a lot more about her than anyone else.