Obama is uniquely qualified to comment on race matters. As those of us who have lived in predominately White neighborhoods, and gone to White schools know, we become privy to comments, not thought to be racist. If I've given the offender a look, they make sure to assure me whatever they said, doesn't apply to me. But that means whatever was said, does apply to Blacks they don't know.

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When I began reading alternet, I used to be very careful about generalizing all whites as having certain negative behaviors because I was aware that all whites are not racist. However, I often noticed that same courtesy about generalizing blacks (and other groups) was not always extended in the opposite direction. It is disheartening to read hateful and stereotyped posts from my fellow liberals/progressives that sound exactly like the crap Limburger and ilk spew every day. I'm like, where do these people get their information about blacks from Faux News or have they been watching too much 'Boyz in the Hood'?

I admit that now, I often don't bother to quantify my statements which is fascinating because the posters that actually understand where I'm coming from (many who happen to be white) don't see themselves as targets of my ire.

One of the most important things that will go a long way to open the doors of understanding is learning about history. History, like it or not, shapes the present and the future. We have to learn from it in order not to repeat is (as it's been said time and again). I am more than aware that racism is an ugly and painful topic, but burying one's head in the sand will not make it go away. Ignoring it or getting defensive (i.e. "My ancestors didn't own slaves") only sounds like one is trivializing the damage racism has done and continues to do. We have to become adults and we have to deal with this thing called "race" sooner or later.

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argument, let me set you straight.

What you're talking about is symmetry. And you ought not confuse symmetry with equality.

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"So Obama's got to be careful about broad generalities when he talks about race, even if what he's saying is true. 'Typical white person' isn't a phrase that's in any way suggestive of racial harmony to a casual white listener."

First of all, so what? Of course it isn't "suggestive of racial harmony" because it isn't suppose to express racial harmony because, and here's the clincher, there is no racial harmony at the moment. To suggest that it should is to abandon a discussion of race for racism, which is just empty rhetoric without the former, out of which no racial harmony is going to come. "Typical white person" is a phrase suggestive of the social inequality that really does exist. On one level, just this level of how we articulate our racially-charged experience, it is the inequality between black people being able to articulate their experience as "typical" to anyone else but, perhaps, other black people and be understood. That Obama can say "typical white person" itself emanates from white privilege, not a non-existent privilege as a black-person to mis-represent and de-fraud white people, which is the typical take on it.

I also don't understand why Obama should "be careful" when speaking the truth. That sounds as dubious as the Fox News jerks (or anyone else) talking about how black-people "get away" with typifying white experience, but not the other way around. So what if people don't like it; so what if it might mean people don't like you? If Obama isn't willing to say fuck you to this constructed reality (among others) of what is and isn't acceptable to say in politics, then I have no reason to vote for him.

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Yep, I admit I'm a typical midwestern, American, middle class, white person. I consciously struggle against my racial bias on a daily basis. Racism is an American cultural norm and is perpetuated by our media, schools, entertainment, justice system, financial institutions, government, and health care system - just to name a few extremely influential institutions.

Because I grew up culturally isolated in an all-white town, what I learned about Blacks I learned from these racist institutions, my racist parents, and other racist family members. My Grandmother, whom I loved dearly, used the "n" word frequently, up until her death a week and half ago. How could I not develop racial biases?

Thankfully, somehow I always knew, even as a young child and even in the face of all of this hatefulness, that they were all wrong - I knew that Black kids weren't bad, or violent, or stupid. I knew they were just like White kids. Just as good, just as peaceloving, and just as smart - maybe even better, more peaceful, and smarter.

On occasion, the biases from my upbringing rear their ugly heads sometimes. All I can do is be on the alert and continue to struggle against them and beat them down.

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Since I am Objective, I ALWAYS exclude myself when making judgments, assessments and evaluations about others and the world!! This is because I'm Dis-passionate and Dis-interested and I just Observe, that's all. My name is Norm, and I am Mean.

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... is "uniquely qualified" to solve anything by virtue of blood. Until we realize that we're never gonna come together.

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If a typical white person is fearful of black people on the street then obviously a typical white person is fearful of black people on the street. Duh. We shouldn't dance around the truth when we speak so everyone can go home feeling good about themselves.

I'm white and afraid of both black and white people on the street. Take that.

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As a person of so-called mixed blood ancestry (racist in itself by giving credence to this man-made, unnatural notion--race is in our heads, not our skin)we are talking about Obama's ability to talk about both cultures here. He grew up with "whites" and "asians" primarily, discovered his black culture later and so can comment on his close observations of the cultures of which he is aware.

There are "white" folks who are culturally black and "blacks" who are culturally white--by choice and experience.

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The word 'typical' is by nature offensive to a culture built on the notion of individuality. White culture generally values individualism for many reasons, one of which is the instant disassociation one can claim when a "white" person does something of which others disapprove.

Negative actions belong to individuals, success belongs to individuals (an instant rebuke to white culture privilege) and to say otherwise is racism. What a wonderful game it is to control ones own social image through exceptionalism while freely damning other groups (e.g. Japanese, German, Islamic, Latino, Black, Gay) on the basis of limited and often erroneous information.

But being part of the white culture means never having to say you are sorry or to be wrong in the first place! (ask Dr. Rice)

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That would be me.

On the old article about Disney casting a white Pocahontas, a member named kimbari gave us a link called White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh, a prominent feminist and combatant against racism.

I thought it was one of the most powerful statements on the covert effects of racism I had ever read. In it, Dr. McIntosh lists some of the daily effects of white privilege, and says:

"I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and time of work cannot count on most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

(Continued in next post)

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White Privilege (continued)

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

(continued in next post)

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White Privilege (continued)


39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social."

This is the net effect of racism on people of color in our country. Until we all take a part in some activism to note it, talk about it, and end it, it will go on and on. Proof? The McIntosh article was written in 1990, and it's still relevant to the same degree today.

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Americans get into trouble when they words like "typical" because they do not understand what it means. Typical is not labeling an entire group of people. Typical means typical or average or more than half. Most white people do engage in negative stereotyping of blacks and Latinos. That makes them typical on that subject. Most white people love sushi. That makes them typical on sushi. Get the point. Americans are woefully ignorant and dumbed-down when it comes to power of language or linguistics and they prove that they are when they overreact like this to what is really a harmless phrase. Blacks have been the ones historically that have been labeled as hypersensitive but blacks live lives of double-consciousness that afford us such. White people do not. What whites are upset about is being racist when they are racist. The typical white person spends tremendous energies trying to hide how they really feel about people of other races because they have all been raised under the banner of white privilege and supremacy. The anger is just an expression of whites who do not feel whites get a break when it comes to race. Why should they? Blacks may have made some financial gains over past forty years but people's hearts and minds remain largely unchanged and it is reflected in the continued imbalance in this country. The only difference now is corporations are also screwing white people over and they don't know who to blame. Since blacks are the default scapegoat for everything negative in this country we naturally, and wrongly of course, get the blame. Some of it also goes to Latinos, Arabs and the rest but blacks are the mainstay of scapegoatism in America. To say that there would be an uproar if Hillary used such language is to say that blacks and whites are on an equal socioeconomic footing and that slavery never existed. Whites cannot see the forest for the trees. Even the poorest whites still get some forms of white privilege although they usually take them for granted. Even the richest blacks get negatively stereotyped. Racism is about power and this nation was founded to ensure the existence of white supremacy for a very long time to come. If we do not acknowledge that then it is impossible to have a meaningful debate. That conversation has never happened and will never happen. What will happen is time will pass and eventually enough racist people will die that it seems like racism is over but humans will simple replace skin color with something else to stratify society. Sorry for not paragraphing.

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Here

You see, I'm getting tired of this contractor from Direct Impact using AlterNet to pass on the HRC message de jour that matches the Fox News Obama-bashing de jour.

Please, go peddle yr. 2nd wave feminism elsewhere.

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The Plan!
?

Robin Williams, wearing a shirt that says 'I love New York ' in Arabic.

You gotta love Robin Williams......Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.

Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)

'I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines . They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave We'll give them a free trip ho me. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' ove r age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddle d masses. ' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' '

If you agree with the above forward it to friends...If not, and I would be amazed, DELETE it!!

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Black folks love white people. They intermarry with white people, they live and work among white people and they associate with white folks all the time. The only whites they really hate are Jews. They blame Jews for everything. Despite the fact that nearly all the slave holders were English, Irish and Scots-Irish and that most of these ethnic groups have a greater likelihood of decending from slave holders than Jews most of whom come from Eastern Europe which was utterly unconnected to the Atlantic slave trade, they still enjoy taunting Eastern European Jews about allegedly being slave traders and slave holders. They also find the claim that the Jewish community split in the middle ages during the crusades creating two communities, one Sephardic (Spanish) and one Ashkenazic (east european and speaking Yiddish), incomprehensible and irrelevant. They ignore the fact hardly any Jews were involved in the slave trade and those few that were came from Spanish controlled western europe which expelled most of the Jews in 1492 to Holland and the New World colonies.

Black folks have harbored bitter hatred against Jews for about four decades and I think it is ridiculous. They blame them for all the ills of the world. Black folks don't hate white people per se. They most just hate Jews.

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But (not to be facetious), policy is always made by those people who never have to walk anywhere...

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