Racism...Forever?

I live in a great neighborhood. Super safe. Very clean. Friendly people. Somewhat diverse. Everyone keeps to themselves. I can't honestly say 100% that if some random black kid started knocking on doors looking for help if he was lost that trouble wouldn't find him. Because, on the surface, everything seems normal, but all it takes is one panicked, frightened, and racist gun owner to put a hole in some kid, and the reality is that could happen anywhere, even on a street like mine. No neighborhood anywhere is immune from stupid, paranoid, racist gun owners who would panic in a moment over some black kid knocking on their door.

 

No one can say 100% anything.

 

Yes, and a true one.

We're not looking forward to killing any of you. The reverse is not true.

It takes only one angry conservative to end a Black life. Glad to read that it hasn't happened yet where you live.

 

Are you implying that I am looking forward to killing anyone (which would be quite a trick with a softball bat I have lost track of in the basement)?

It only takes one <fill in the blank> to end a <fill in the blank> life.

We've had quite a lot of shootings in Akron this summer. None were kids out collecting donations. Most (if not all) were white people shooting white people and black people shooting black people, with a few black-shooting-white situations (not sure if any kills). None of them had anything to do with anyone going door-to-door. Almost all were drug or alcohol or robbery related.

 

No, being confronted with a gun isn't normal, but aggressive hostility is not uncommon.

 

No, not you personally. That was a royal "you".

 

It's like they quit reading your posts or something.

 

Which royal "house" are we talking about here in your collective guilt-fest?

 

Well, I thought you'd made a change. Same old Timon.

Carry on.

 

It has the same math anyway-- in either case it is allowing the fear of something very unlikely to stop you from doing something that needs to be done.

Obviously it is a different equation for a single black youth than for a pair of white canvassers; but as one of the white canvassers I kind of owe it to Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney to not let the fear of James Earl Ray stop me from canvassing, I think; and I didn't and if still fully mobile wouldn't now.

And there's certainly no comparison to climbing into a B-24 to Ploesti knowing that people will definitely actively be trying to kill you and 25-30% of you will not come back. I met a guy who did that once. Or climbing into an LCI to go to Anzio-- my uncle did that. Or an LCVP to go to Tarawa-- another uncle did that. Or an Avenger to go hunt for Japanese carriers, knowing it is so late in the day already you will not have daylight to land back on your carrier even if you have enough fuel to get back-- my father-out-law did that...

 

Most people here have never spent a single day in skin darker than a manila folder. And it is all of the above. Allowing conservatarians to dismiss any atrocity or try to minimize discussion of its effects on POCs is not acceptable.

 

Like not fearing that a black person knocking on your door is there to rob you, so no need to bring that gun to the door? Should work both ways, but, no, it doesn't. You can't tell black people not to fear going to door-to-door when the reason why they don't want to go door-to-door is because racist white people are irrationally frightened that the black person at their door is going to hurt them or steal their things. Maybe we can start with the white people who causing this to not be so afraid before we start telling black people to take the chance they might take one in the face while asking for directions.

 

I think Goodman and Schwerner were arguably safer on their own than they were with Chaney. I appreciate their sacrifice.

As Kensington said, start with the oppressor's culture and then the victims' culture will eventually adapt to a safe environment once we perceive it as such. Takes time.

I'd love to be able to say I had a nation like that to defend. I don't.

 

Part of privilege is that the burden of change is never with the privileged.

 

Sorry to have disappointed your need for absolute agreement to be considered worthy of your time. Shucks.

 

But they're still out there, doing what they always did. So there's the fear in the head, and then there's the reality of black families continuing to send their kids door-to-door with nary a slowdown.

 

Who is dismissing?

If that's what you get, then I can't say I'm surprised given our history, but I'm telling you that life is mostly just going on as before in the great majority of places by way of anecdote.

 

I don't doubt that. The Black kids who are kept home will not be shot by a raging conservative because they needed band funds. And some of those who weren't kept home will be shot. The difference between this child and other children was the (lack of) skill of the shooter.

Growing up Black is tough enough as it is. No reason to deliberately poke the conservative.

 

This. It’s a colossal waste of time asking people to buy a bunch of pizza or bad cheese they really don’t need to fund school activities.

It’s also really predatory. I remember is getting BS motivational speeches that could have been lifted right from the Amway playbook.

It’s also really bad business. Knock on 50 doors on day 1. 80% of the doors either a) had a kid selling the crap or b) had another kid already offer to sell them the same crap. So you get 10 doors with actual people who haven’t heard the pitch. 3 doors might buy 30 bucks of garbage each if you’re lucky...out of sympathy. The school’s take might be 40%. So you raised 36 bucks at best for your school. And if you go out and spend another 90 minutes doing this 2-3 days after the promo starts, you’d be lucky to get one house with another 50 door knocks.

It teaches kids to be bad at business.
Instead: a) offer a service people want. Here’s a service I want. Get out with a group of kids and a parent and rake my damn leaves. Car washes. A school sponsored Italian ice stand all summer the kids work.
B) dont sell inferior garbage door to door. Don’t sell anything door to door.

 

Sounds like Memphis schools need more tax money.

Stories like yours make me wonder whether all activities of this type should be banned from schools, period. Even in football, we've got a bunch of private schools winning games and titles in a public athletic association.