Running racism in America thread

This is the point. We are not a meritocracy. The history of this country has always benefited people who have connections and who are white and who have penises. The pain is getting from that into something that looks more like a meritocracy. And here's the thing, if I'm running a business or government department or a cabinet, anything, I know that it is becomes more effective if I have a diversity of opinions, of backgrounds, of experiences. And you have to look beyond white people to get to that. We have certainly made strides, but maintaining the white status quo still happens far too much. So I think you look at the qualified pool of people, and you take the best fit. Now does that mean maybe the white guy that had an extra internship doesn't get the job because the black woman who might add more to the team? Yes. It's not hateful or it's not vengeance, it is maximizing my assets.

There was a lot of talk about the Kavanaugh appointment, and beyond the accusations and his apparent lack of fitness to the high court, the fact that he comes from the same exact background as Gorsuch made him a poor fit. There are nine justices, we don't need two who went to the same high school. That is not maximizing America's assets. For the court to work you need that diversity of opinion and experience and backgrounds. I am not ever going to apologize for thinking that diversity matters and it makes things stronger and better. I think that's why we strive to include different kinds of people. But it doesn't happen by the method that you're talking about, because there are built-in biases in this country. So if you don't actually try and look at different kinds of candidates who bring different kinds of things into the equation, then you will never do it. Because it's really super easy to just go with the status quo and keep hiring the white guys. And please let's not pretend that white guys haven't wielded the most power in this country for most of its existence. Because it just is what it is.

 

But the white guys who perceive themselves, or who are in fact, pushed aside to make the class picture look like a Coke Commercial aren’t the ones who wielded that power. Now the kids who went to New England Prep schools and Harvard and Yale are the direct beneficiaries of the whites who wielded that power and maybe don’t deserve equal consideration. Generations of privilege, your bill is due. But the kids of the cops and teachers and accountants and electricians and farmers who went to college, got a finance degree with honors and want to go to Wall Street not only have to compete with the rich kids from the Ivies, but the minority kids who went to the Ivies. And that’s why they are trump voters. 50 million middle class voters who don’t have prep school resumes and generational wealth or a special box to check on the application, have been told or they hear, you’re qualified but… Chelsea Clinton isn’t being pushed aside. The children of Beverly Hills, Greenwich Conn, Main Line … aren’t being squeezed. Th white left and their children aren’t the ones who perceive they are at a disadvantage.

Maybe its not true, but the middle of the country both in population and geography believe it to be so. And no one is treating their concerns as valid except the fascist right. And that means trouble.

If AOC can convince Appalachia that they have more in common with the South Bronx than they do the shareholders of ExxonMobile, things might change. But the left refuses to show empathy for the middle. While the right talk about nothing else, they won’t do a thing because its to their advantage to keep them hating each other while cConnell steals the country blind

 

While working for a legal outreach NFP, my counterpart at a similar agency and I went to see my executive director about setting something up for the working poor. Most of them made too much money to qualify for assistance. Legal care was still out of reach for this middle group. When my counterpart and I explained what we wanted to do, that we had interested lawyers, etc., my boss shook and cried he was laughing so hard. Then he sniggered and said, "You know, if they'd quit wasting their money on Garth Brooks CDs and Cracker Barrel, they might be able to afford a lawyer."

Counterpart and I walked out of his office without another word.

That guy? He's hailed as a "man of the people," talked up by the local ACLU and the county and state Democrat groups. One other thing, he's terrified of poor people. Whenever a client came to my office, he would lock himself into his and call the receptionist to check if they were gone.

Tell me again how much either side truly cares about the people they claim to help during election years. I'm amending my beds when I have low pain/good days and could use the horseshit.

 

You know how to write. Has anyone told you that?

Those are the worst types, the faux liberals who want everything for everyone... except when it affects them.

 

Thanks, mang. Feeling bona fide tonight.

 

“Maybe it’s not true but if we don’t pretend it’s true, people will be mad at us.” That’s some dumb fucking shit.

Meanwhile when are white males ever going to catch a break in this country???

 

It’s some dumb fucking shit to ignore 40% of the nation because you don’t think their perception is valid. You seem to think white males are homogeneous and fungible. That’s like lumping all Americans with Asian backgrounds together. Because Indian men and Chinese men are basically the same. White men from the Midwest with some community college and white men from North Atlantic states with college degrees are essentially the same person.

 

Enlighten me: What do these poor white kids need?

Reparations for the Critical Race Theory they’ve never had to endure?

 

Poor white kids need the same thing as poor black kids: better education, healthier food, access to affordable healthcare and a belief that if they try in School they can advance in life. It’s a class struggle.

 

Wait, wait ... is one's "lived truth" not a thing anymore? Man, I'm having a hard time keeping up.

 

This will get me flamed, but I don't see poor white kids in Appalachia getting too much of a leg up on poor black kids, unless they have some connections to power — and then they won't be poor for long.

Being white helps, of course, but poor and desperate is still poor and desperate.

 

Nah ... white is white is white is white ... we're all the same. Just plug us in and the tape'll start rolling.