07-12-2016, 03:52 PM
Space Jockey, based on your past two posts in here and the last edit, I get the feeling you don't really support anything related to Black Lives Matter or any similar movements. I must agree that some terrible things have been said and done by it's supporters in the past few months. There is no excuse for the above video and the actions aboard that train. Some things have went wrong. But to deny that race relation problems exist is also horridly wrong.
Let me just say that I type this as someone of mixed race, with a Father of German heritage and a Mother who is of Hispanic descent. I inherited many of the physical characteristics of my mother's side, from being barely over 5 feet tall, to having jet black hair and dark eyes to darker skin than most white people. Over my entire life, I have had problems due to just merely appearing different in an area that's about 99% Caucasian.
In school, I was beat up by my classmates nearly every day and even occasionally received death threats. There were a few fellow students in particular who did this simply due to my heritage. I have lost count how many times I have been told that I should go back to Mexico or that I have been told I should be deported. I have been cursed at and even spit on once for daring to walk in public by racist people. One that has hurt a few times has been a few people saying to me that they can't wait for one particular candidate to put up a wall to keep out trash like me. Ironically, my father's family has been living in what is now the US since the 1600s, and I am third generation American on my mother's side. Also, my mother's family didn't come from Mexico in the first place. I've had very different encounters with the police than my friends who don't look as dark as me, such as being patted down and searched after committing the heinous crime of rollerblading on a sidewalk without a helmet on.
I'll never forget when I started at college either. I remember having another student get angry at me for saying that I was coming due to scholarships for free. She IMMEDIATELY started yelling at me that I shouldn't have gotten such privileges just for being Mexican (again, not Mexican and part white anyways). I remember her saying that the money could have went to kids that got better scores than me and that Affirmative Action was ruining colleges. Funnily enough, she wouldn't believe me when I told why I had received scholarships: my 4.0 GPA in High School or getting an ACT score higher than about 98% of people that took the ACT that year. Sadly, I actually had that conversation multiple times at school. The people who complained also never did as well as I did in college: graduating Magna Cum Laude with two separate degrees at 19 years old.
After I dealt with that, I'll never forget my first interview for a job. I was told that I just "didn't look right" and that patients wouldn't trust me. How could I argue against that? Could they not thank me for being quite literally the only person to show up on time for the interview and in a nice suit? It took me months to find work after graduating despite how well I did in school, and I can't help but question if my physical characteristics didn't play a role in that.
What's funny is that my younger brother has never dealt with these issues. You see, he looks much more like my father, being quite a bit taller than me and possessing blonde hair with blue eyes. Sure, he has met plenty of jerks in his life, but they haven't been jerks to him for his appearance.
Now, this is all merely anecdotal evidence, but imagine the frustration you would have for being treated like a lower class of person for just the color of your skin? It wears on you over time, and that pain can make you do stupid things in retaliation occasionally.
It's by far the truth that the actions of some BLM supporters are inexcusable. It's also the truth that most people aren't racist. But, it's also a massive fault to ignore race relations problems that do exist, because it is only going to hurt us all in the end.
Let me just say that I type this as someone of mixed race, with a Father of German heritage and a Mother who is of Hispanic descent. I inherited many of the physical characteristics of my mother's side, from being barely over 5 feet tall, to having jet black hair and dark eyes to darker skin than most white people. Over my entire life, I have had problems due to just merely appearing different in an area that's about 99% Caucasian.
In school, I was beat up by my classmates nearly every day and even occasionally received death threats. There were a few fellow students in particular who did this simply due to my heritage. I have lost count how many times I have been told that I should go back to Mexico or that I have been told I should be deported. I have been cursed at and even spit on once for daring to walk in public by racist people. One that has hurt a few times has been a few people saying to me that they can't wait for one particular candidate to put up a wall to keep out trash like me. Ironically, my father's family has been living in what is now the US since the 1600s, and I am third generation American on my mother's side. Also, my mother's family didn't come from Mexico in the first place. I've had very different encounters with the police than my friends who don't look as dark as me, such as being patted down and searched after committing the heinous crime of rollerblading on a sidewalk without a helmet on.
I'll never forget when I started at college either. I remember having another student get angry at me for saying that I was coming due to scholarships for free. She IMMEDIATELY started yelling at me that I shouldn't have gotten such privileges just for being Mexican (again, not Mexican and part white anyways). I remember her saying that the money could have went to kids that got better scores than me and that Affirmative Action was ruining colleges. Funnily enough, she wouldn't believe me when I told why I had received scholarships: my 4.0 GPA in High School or getting an ACT score higher than about 98% of people that took the ACT that year. Sadly, I actually had that conversation multiple times at school. The people who complained also never did as well as I did in college: graduating Magna Cum Laude with two separate degrees at 19 years old.
After I dealt with that, I'll never forget my first interview for a job. I was told that I just "didn't look right" and that patients wouldn't trust me. How could I argue against that? Could they not thank me for being quite literally the only person to show up on time for the interview and in a nice suit? It took me months to find work after graduating despite how well I did in school, and I can't help but question if my physical characteristics didn't play a role in that.
What's funny is that my younger brother has never dealt with these issues. You see, he looks much more like my father, being quite a bit taller than me and possessing blonde hair with blue eyes. Sure, he has met plenty of jerks in his life, but they haven't been jerks to him for his appearance.
Now, this is all merely anecdotal evidence, but imagine the frustration you would have for being treated like a lower class of person for just the color of your skin? It wears on you over time, and that pain can make you do stupid things in retaliation occasionally.
It's by far the truth that the actions of some BLM supporters are inexcusable. It's also the truth that most people aren't racist. But, it's also a massive fault to ignore race relations problems that do exist, because it is only going to hurt us all in the end.