[king_jester]

This is the equivalent of saying the author of this post is a reverse racist. When was the last time a white person was killed for being white? When was the last time someone came up to a white person and said they should be grateful that their ancestors were slaves? When was the last time the government systematically dismantled the white community in order to enforce racist class oppression?

Repeat after me: WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT SUFFER FROM RACISM. Even if an individual was prejudiced against someone because they are white, they would not be affected outside of that one interaction. White folks' social standing and ability to survive are not attacked daily on the basis of their skin.

EDIT: This is in context for the United States based on the blog author being in SF.

[JPKab]

Take a walk through half of Baltimore, friend, and you will discover that you will get the shit kicked out of you for being white. Murdered? Hopefully not, but I can assure you that, while the old, racist, static power structures of the USA are oppressive towards non-whites, power is not a static thing. It shifts depending on where you are. When you are taking said walk in Baltimore, and become surrounded by people who don't like you because of your skin color, you don't have power anymore. They do. I know this first hand. When I was 16, I took a short cut through a neighborhood that I shouldn't have. I was chased, cornered, and beaten by 5 young men. They were black, and they were yelling white slurs as they beat me and then branded the back of my neck with a lighter. I still have that little smiley on the back of my neck to this day. They didn't rob me by the way. NONE of my money was taken. They didn't even touch my wallet. They didn't want a white person in their neighborhood. Your theory holds up because you, clearly, have never lived in a majority black neighborhood in your entire life. It's obvious by your stupid statement. And no, I'm not a racist. Most of the black folks I grew up with would never have tolerated such a thing. They would have stopped it if they had seen it, but they weren't there.

[sown]

He was wrong a couple of sentences but I think what OP is getting at is that the government has not and will not engage in a systematic apparatus of prejudice like Jim Crow laws, the radio-active half life of which stay with us for a long time.

So what about the rest of what he said?

> It's obvious by your stupid statement

There's no need for name calling. It's the lowest form of debate.

[anthonyb]

And now imagine the entire country was like that half of Baltimore? How would you feel then? You can at least avoid that area - they can't.

[ctdonath]

The entire country ISN'T like that half of Baltimore.

Most of the country doesn't give a shit what color you are so long as you don't start with a presumptive "you're a fucking racist!" attitude.

[ceol]

>Take a walk through half of Baltimore, friend, and you will discover that you will get the shit kicked out of you for being white.

Hey there! I'm a white guy who has taken walks through Baltimore before— in fact, all of Baltimore. What you're talking about isn't at all systemic like the shit the OP has to deal with. Yes, white people are victims of racially-motivated crimes. In fact, some of them are event prosecuted as hate crimes! But it's not systemic, so comparing it to white-on-black racism isn't fair.

[bryanl]

I've taken walks through Baltimore. Unfortunately an oppressed people will lash out at those who they think are oppressing them. You could have never performed any ill acts to those black men who beat you, but to them, you represent the reason why they think they can't get ahead. It's not right, but it is a reality.

Also, please don't support your views with the, "I have black friends" excuse. It doesn't help your cause.

[ditonal]

This attitude, and the casual "reverse" racism of this author, sets back social progress against institutional racism against blacks/hispanics so much.

I totally accept that blacks face more racism in many aspects of society today, especially professionally. But in Baltimore a bunch of black kids jumped me, and they told me it was because I was white and I "thought I could walk around their neighborhood" (a block from Penn Station which is actually pretty gentrified). It wasn't even a robbery, although they did rob me, but if that was their only goal they wouldn't have continued to beat me for the ten minutes after I had given up. Oh, and of course that's not considered a hate crime.

So when that happens, and then you tell me, in all caps, that white people are never the victims of racism, do you think I'm more or less inclined to agree with your other points?

[JPKab]

Welcome to my world buddy. Any white (or middle eastern, as my good friend from Detroit can attest) person who has lived in a poor, mostly black neighborhood has had to deal with this shit. The fact that it is actively ignored by the media and government and dismissed as being criminally, rather than racially motivated is terrible. But having to listen to whites who have no idea it even exists proclaim that racism, a condition that all humans are prone to, can only infect whites is simply insulting.

[RivieraKid]

Aren't all racial attacks criminally motivated?

[clavalle]

"When was the last time a white person was killed for being white?"

I wasn't killed but I was beat to a pulp one day for being white by a group of people. My crime? Trying to shake a guy's hand that walked up to me. Apparently that was some sort of insult. Not institutional enough for you? A non-white police officer was literally 20 feet away from me and did absolutely nothing. Probably because he was scared.

I've never had it happen to me before or since but to say someone cannot be violently targeted for being white is absurd. Was it racism? Well, that depends on your definition of racism. Some only consider it racism when perpetrated by someone who belongs to a group that traditionally has less power. But, I'll tell you, I felt pretty powerless that day in the face of a group with more power than I possessed at that moment.

[sanswork]

White people might not suffer from racism where you are but thats not to say they never suffer from racism. Racism exists against all races and all over the world. We shouldn't be focusing on the race of the victims or even the perpetrators we should be focusing on stopping it period.

[king_jester]

Good point, I've added a note to point out the context as referring to the United States.

EDIT: I would point out that some groups suffer much more from racism than others, so we should be aware of that reality in dealing with racism. To that end, whites in the United States are largely unaffected by racist attitudes.

[protomyth]

> Repeat after me: WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT SUFFER FROM RACISM

That's a load of crap. I am considered "white" (you need papers and blood quote to prove you're Native American despite what some senatorial candidate thinks), and I have gotten a ton of crap because I grew up on a reservation not of my father's tribe. And no, I did not get to flee to the mystically accepting fellow white folk in the the town next door (I lived on the rez after all and am related).

The brain is an amazing pattern matching machine. You missed matching the whole pattern.

[defen]

> When was the last time a white person was killed for being white

You're not helping your cause by making ridiculous statements. The most recent one I could find was 2 weeks ago. http://kstp.com/news/stories/s2778011.shtml

You have to go here to see the police report: http://lakeminnetonka.patch.com/articles/arrest-made-in-conn...

But you have to understand the rules of the game. Unless a black person is literally shouting "die whitey" while stomping someone to death, then it's not a hate crime when a black person attacks a white person, regardless of actual motivation or lack thereof. It's just another random senseless crime and not part of a pattern. See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Channon_Christian_an...

[ctdonath]

Oh, yes we do and are.

[stephengillie]

The concept that "Only white people can be racist" is widespread, similar to "Only women can be raped" - implying that it's impossible for white people to be discriminated against, or for males to feel sexually threatened. These lies are part of the problem.

[solveew]

Just look at the interracial rape and murder statistics. Blacks target whites for rape and murder in great quantities. During the Trayvon Martin debacle, a white kid in Kansas city was DOUSED IN GASOLINE and SET ON FIRE while two black kids say "you get what you deserve, white boy." Of course, you don't hear this in the media because the media wants to perpetuate a myth that whites aren't victims of racist violence. In reality, they are the primary ones.

I am slavic. Wendish, specifically, if you are familiar. I am glad that my ancestors were enslaved for a while. It brought my culture out of petty infighting and settled us in Northern Europe. My life is better today because my ancestors were enslaved. For me to run around with a chip on my shoulder demanding reparations would be ridiculous.

The government does systematically dismantle white communities. Try running around saying you're proud of being white. You're instantly labeled a bigot. A man recently tried trademarking the phrase "white pride, country wide". Despite trademarks for everything from "jewish pride" to "latino pride", he was denied. The FBI specifically targets white nationalist organizations-- Randy Weaver had his wife and son murdered at Ruby Ridge because he refused to falsely testify against his Aryan Nations associates.

Respectfully, I think you are mistaken. Whites are the people that built this country, and we are under attack for the same reason that Marathis are under attack in India, and Gazprom is stealing land from Nigerians. Bankers and commodity magnates would separate those attached to the soil from the lands which rightfully belong to them, so they can endlessly charge them for being there, as well as steal all the resources.

[king_jester]

> Just look at the interracial rape and murder statistics. Blacks target whites for rape and murder in great quantities. During the Trayvon Martin debacle, a white kid in Kansas city was DOUSED IN GASOLINE and SET ON FIRE while two black kids say "you get what you deserve, white boy." Of course, you don't hear this in the media because the media wants to perpetuate a myth that whites aren't victims of racist violence. In reality, they are the primary ones.

Incidents of violence crime based on race occur, there is no disputing that. What we are talking about primarily is racism as it affects whites, both on a micro- and macro-level (which is annoying that you taking a derailment in this direction since the original story is a black man talking about individual racist experiences working in the valley, notice how you and others have made this about whites rather than racist treatment of people of color).

> I am slavic. Wendish, specifically, if you are familiar. I am glad that my ancestors were enslaved for a while. It brought my culture out of petty infighting and settled us in Northern Europe. My life is better today because my ancestors were enslaved. For me to run around with a chip on my shoulder demanding reparations would be ridiculous.

This is post hoc reasoning. You have no idea how the Wends would be as a culture today in the absence of enslavement. Also, your current standing today in no way makes amends for the rape and murder of a people in the past. It should be noted that the history of the Wends is much further removed than the history of blacks in the United States, and that white-ness has become the social norm in the western world, so you benefit from a social condition that directly depends on the exploitation of people of color if you live in one of those western countries. Also, the experience of you as Wendish is extremely different some a black person living in the United States, so I don't believe there is even a comparison to make here.

> The government does systematically dismantle white communities.

Show me where the United States is actively dismantling or has actively dismantled white community based on race in modern history, because AFAIK there is no such scenario.

> Try running around saying you're proud of being white. You're instantly labeled a bigot. A man recently tried trademarking the phrase "white pride, country wide". Despite trademarks for everything from "jewish pride" to "latino pride", he was denied.

In the United States, white-ness is considered the cultural default. Most of society in the United States already promotes white-ness above the cultures of people of color. Also, white supremacy groups continue to operate and hate speech is not a crime in the US, so these groups may continue to operate if they so choose to. Note that if you are trying to promote white superiority, then yes you are a bigot.

> The FBI specifically targets white nationalist organizations-- Randy Weaver had his wife and son murdered at Ruby Ridge because he refused to falsely testify against his Aryan Nations associates.

The Aryan Nations are not just an advocacy group, they are a separatist group that advocates and performs acts of violence. These groups are investigated by the FBI for operating in that way.

> Respectfully, I think you are mistaken. Whites are the people that built this country

This is grossly mistaken. While whites have contributed to what this country is today, so have non-white immigrants and slaves and their descendants. If you truly believe that white people made the US, you need to crack open a history book.

> we are under attack for the same reason that Marathis are under attack in India, and Gazprom is stealing land from Nigerians.

I won't be making comments about society and cultures that are not western, as rarely do such comparisons actually contain truth, and I do not have enough knowledge of those situations to accurately describe them.

[anigbrowl]

Statistically, you would expect more crime against white people since there are so many more of them. What matters is the probability that a person of a given ethnicity is likely to be a victim of8 violence at the hands of someone else, not the absolute number of such instances.

Suppose in a population of 100, there are 20 blue and 80 green people. Suppose that 10 blue people are the victim of green crime in a given year, while blue people commit 20 crimes against green people in the same period. So you could say that blue people commit twice as much crime as green people, which is true, but that leaves out the fact of the population disparity. If a blue person has a 50% chance of criminal insult from a green person, while a green person only has a 25% chance of experiencing that, then it's obviously better to be green than it is to be blue because you are only half as likely to become a victim of crime.

Unfortunately, people such as yourself often look at the absolute numbers, compare the 20 blue-on-green crimes with the blue population size of 20, and leap to the conclusion that all blue people are criminals. While the percentage of criminals in the blue population is almost certainly higher on the basis of simple probability (as blue criminals would otherwise need to be >8 more active than green ones), what you have there is a correlative rather than a causal relationship : we don't know to what extent the incidence of criminality in a population causes crime against that population, a classic chicken-and-egg problem that most likely does not have a simple binary solution.

[w1ntermute]

> Statistically, you would expect more crime against white people since there are so many more of them.

Actually, the crime rate among blacks is much higher even after normalizing for population.

[anigbrowl]

Maybe you should read the rest of my comment, which addressed exactly that issue.

[comlag]

"Whites are the people that built this country." You are surely very wrong. This country was very literally built on the backs of minorities and slaves. You really think America would have near the economic power today without those years of free labor to farm their free (stolen) farm land?

[saraid216]

Case in point, one of the strongest arguments against emancipation was that it would actually cripple the national economy. I expect that's not only in America either.

[solveew]

The vast majority of slaves that we got of African origin were traded to us by other Africans. I'd say of the two possibilities of enslavement in Africa, being to a ship bound for the new world held the most promise. If you disagree, I will buy you a one way ticket to Liberia on the condition that you renounce your citizenship.

As a Slav, my people were in bondage much longer than blacks in the United States. Try an order of a millenia or two. I do not care. It is far more advantageous for me to be industrious and build personal wealth than blame distant oppressors for a few centuries of enslavement. I benefitted from the bad conditions of my ancestors, and guess what? So did blacks in the United States. They should stop being professional victims and make things if they want to have equal cultural influence.

Beyond that, this whole discussion is a distraction from the people that have real undue power, those in control of the banks and the media.... If we fight amongst ourselves about race we miss the man behind the Zion curtain.

[anigbrowl]

If we fight amongst ourselves about race we miss the man behind the Zion curtain.

Go troll somewhere else, weev.

[timoni]

Out of curiosity, which country's government are you talking about? I looked up "Wendish" but can't tell which country you grew up in from that, and it sounds like you're talking about the USA otherwise.

[ucee054]

Whites are the people that built this country

If "built" == "shot the Native Americans who settled"