A Navy Veteran’s perspective on racism

[Irrelevant]

I’m glad you commented.

I’m glad you commented. My personal life is very sheltered, but I’m a teacher and see it all the time. The first step is to open our eyes to learning, and accepting we all see our world through different binos. I can be sitting right next to my brother on a hillside and he spots a deer I cannot see...

My ignorance is so profound it's daunting, I've struggled to discuss the current protest with my children as everything starts with "I've read, or I've heard..." and when they ask what the protesters want I often struggle even worse. I don't know the specifics, and some of the specifics I don't agree with (no police?).

I also don't know what I personally could be doing better from a racism point of view, I don't feel racist, I don't think anyone is born better than anyone else, but should be judged on the decisions they make in life, I try to keep equality on my mind when I vote, I try to teach my children that everyone is equal, yet it seems like the media is telling me that I should be doing more and oddly that I should feel guilty for who I am, and I struggle with that. I'm proud of who I am and where I came from.

 

[MTGomer]

I really never put a lot of thought into race unti my sophomore year in college, I had a black girlfriend for about 10 months. Hearing her stories of some of the incidents that took place growing up in an all white, rural town was sad, to say the least.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Watching how the events of the past few weeks unfolded and the conversations surrounding these events just seems to remind me how much all of us view reality through the lens of our experiences. Just because I haven’t personally experienced racism doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Several things stand out to me.
1. Accountability. How does an officer with 18 registered complaints about his professional conduct retain his job? How do the people responsible for holding him to a professional code of conduct STILL retain their positions of responsibility even after their failure to provide accountability allowed an employee to commit murder in a manner that he obviously expected to not be held accountable for?

How many more abusive officers are still under the oversight of these failed managers? George Floyd wasn’t the first, he won’t be the last.
2. Racism exists.
3. Everyone has a level of discomfort and fear of others they deem, “not like me.” I have tried to examine my own feelings about people different than myself and have to admit I am uncomfortable or even scared around certain people. I don’t think I am racist, for me it is more socio-economic cues and behavior that I interpret from individuals that spark acceptance or fear. I do realize that because of my experiences or lack of exposure to other cultures, that bias might unfortunately extend more along racial lines than I want to admit.
5. Simple solutions to ending racial prejudice and discrimination aren’t simple to achieve.
6. Listening to the experiences of someone else is the best way I have found to understand their experiences and see their perspective of life. It might not be in my power to change anyone else’s mind, but I can change my own to do my best to see everyone as a fellow person made in the image of God and treat them with respect and dignity.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Watching how the events of the past few weeks unfolded and the conversations surrounding these events just seems to remind me how much all of us view reality through the lens of our experiences. Just because I haven’t personally experienced racism doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Several things stand out to me.
1. Accountability. How does an officer with 18 registered complaints about his professional conduct retain his job? How do the people responsible for holding him to a professional code of conduct STILL retain their positions of responsibility even after their failure to provide accountability allowed an employee to commit murder in a manner that he obviously expected to not be held accountable for?

How many more abusive officers are still under the oversight of these failed managers? George Floyd wasn’t the first, he won’t be the last.
2. Racism exists.
3. Everyone has a level of discomfort and fear of others they deem, “not like me.” I have tried to examine my own feelings about people different than myself and have to admit I am uncomfortable or even scared around certain people. I don’t think I am racist, for me it is more socio-economic cues and behavior that I interpret from individuals that spark acceptance or fear. I do realize that because of my experiences or lack of exposure to other cultures, that bias might unfortunately extend more along racial lines than I want to admit.
5. Simple solutions to ending racial prejudice and discrimination aren’t simple to achieve.
6. Listening to the experiences of someone else is the best way I have found to understand their experiences and see their perspective of life. It might not be in my power to change anyone else’s mind, but I can change my own to do my best to see everyone as a fellow person made in the image of God and treat them with respect and dignity.

Well said!

 

[SAJ-99]

Watching how the events of the past few weeks unfolded and the conversations surrounding these events just seems to remind me how much all of us view reality through the lens of our experiences. Just because I haven’t personally experienced racism doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Several things stand out to me.
1. Accountability. How does an officer with 18 registered complaints about his professional conduct retain his job? How do the people responsible for holding him to a professional code of conduct STILL retain their positions of responsibility even after their failure to provide accountability allowed an employee to commit murder in a manner that he obviously expected to not be held accountable for?

How many more abusive officers are still under the oversight of these failed managers? George Floyd wasn’t the first, he won’t be the last.
2. Racism exists.
3. Everyone has a level of discomfort and fear of others they deem, “not like me.” I have tried to examine my own feelings about people different than myself and have to admit I am uncomfortable or even scared around certain people. I don’t think I am racist, for me it is more socio-economic cues and behavior that I interpret from individuals that spark acceptance or fear. I do realize that because of my experiences or lack of exposure to other cultures, that bias might unfortunately extend more along racial lines than I want to admit.
5. Simple solutions to ending racial prejudice and discrimination aren’t simple to achieve.
6. Listening to the experiences of someone else is the best way I have found to understand their experiences and see their perspective of life. It might not be in my power to change anyone else’s mind, but I can change my own to do my best to see everyone as a fellow person made in the image of God and treat them with respect and dignity.

Couldn't agree more. Racism exist, but it is rarely overtly expressed. In my last position, in the middle of #MeToo, I employed the firm to hire more women and minorities. To put it plainly, our diversity sucked. Despite diversity in the interview process, five of the next six hires were white males. When I asked 'why', the answer was always "team fit". In some ways, hiring someone you think will fit in with the firm culture is what HR would tell you to do, but it reinforces the problem, racism or sexism. The management of the firm wasn't overtly racist, but it was clearly seen in its hiring. Change is uncomfortable. Individually, we need to look at everything we do and take the opportunity to push that change and take a larger step forward, even if it tougher for us.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I have heard lamentation on this directly from members of the Minneapolis PD; individuals who I work alongside on a regular basis, and don't like being represented by their worst.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/politics/police-union-reform-protests/index.html

 

[azelkhntr]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it? If racism is systemic then what’s the system? Blacks in America today should focus on the elimination of cradle to grave dependency on the welfare system. Pr. Johnson (D) implemented that system or rather inflicted it upon the black family and effectively destroyed it. Prior to that “program” black families were stable, owned successful businesses, owned there own farms, property and homes. They had to work to get ahead like everyone else because big welfare didn’t exist. In work is dignity but when the Great Society program was instituted to eliminate black poverty and social injustice, it backfired. But as Pr. Johnson said about it’s passing; “I’ll have those n1¥¥€#} voting democrat for the next 200 years”! In essence the D’s simply forged a few more links in the chain then locked it down by destroying the Black families. All in the name of social justice; whatever that is? That system has been in existence for 55+ years now. I’d say it’s failed spectacularly or it did exactly what it was intended to do. ?

 

[KB_]

On a lighter note. One time when my friend and I were taking our seats together on a plane to Alaska, a flight attendant asked us if we were traveling together. She seemed concerned that an old grey bearded white man and a large black dude would be seated together. When we said " Yes, we are traveling together" then you could see her face change and now she saw us as an inter-racial gay couple. Why else would black & white mix. LOL

You should of played that one out a bit. Hold hands, whisper some sweet nothings to eachother. Would make for a great camp story. LOL!

 

[FI460]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it? If racism is systemic then what’s the system? Blacks in America today should focus on the elimination of cradle to grave dependency on the welfare system. Pr. Johnson (D) implemented that system or rather inflicted it upon the black family and effectively destroyed it. Prior to that “program” black families were stable, owned successful businesses, owned there own farms, property and homes. They had to work to get ahead like everyone else because big welfare didn’t exist. In work is dignity but when the Great Society program was instituted to eliminate black poverty and social injustice, it backfired. But as Pr. Johnson said about it’s passing; “I’ll have those n1¥¥€#} voting democrat for the next 200 years”! In essence the D’s simply forged a few more links in the chain then locked it down by destroying the Black families. All in the name of social justice; whatever that is? That system has been in existence for 55+ years now. I’d say it’s failed spectacularly or it did exactly what it was intended to do. ?

That had more to do with racist lending policies in the 1970 financial crisis than it did with the Great Society. Black property ownership was on the increase, and when the financial crush came down croney lenders bailed out white farmers and foreclosed on black farmers.

It was the good ole boys club from the very beginning working to keep things segregated.

 

[TwistedSage]

I have heard lamentation on this directly from members of the Minneapolis PD; individuals who I work alongside on a regular basis, and don't like being represented by their worst.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/politics/police-union-reform-protests/index.html

There is certainly an irony in highlighting prejudice by painting a broad picture of a whole profession as the same due to the actions of individuals.

I also think the media is entirely complicit in just creating chaos and outrage and would aid in burning the country down as long as people watched it on their channel, and politicians have lost thier minds trying to trend on said media. What's going on in Minneapolis with disbanding the police scares the hell out of me and I think is a step in the wrong direction. I had no idea a city council could just hold it's own vote without hearings and formal input from the community. The lack of voting for anything and "leaders" just passing thier own inclinations in the past few months has me very concerned and a little puzzled.

 

[rtraverdavis]

@JLS, thank you for starting this thread. I'm grateful we can talk about this most important issue here. One thing that I've come to realize lately is the extent of my own privilege as a white male, which has resulted in opportunities inherent to that unearned station. Opportunities that others who were not born as white males in middle class families have not had. I've realized that the best thing I can do right now is to STFU and listen, to teach my kids about racism, to stand against it when I encounter it, and to live a life of openness and love as best I can.

Mostly, I need to stand down and listen.

 

[FI460]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it? If racism is systemic then what’s the system? Blacks in America today should focus on the elimination of cradle to grave dependency on the welfare system. Pr. Johnson (D) implemented that system or rather inflicted it upon the black family and effectively destroyed it. Prior to that “program” black families were stable, owned successful businesses, owned there own farms, property and homes. They had to work to get ahead like everyone else because big welfare didn’t exist. In work is dignity but when the Great Society program was instituted to eliminate black poverty and social injustice, it backfired. But as Pr. Johnson said about it’s passing; “I’ll have those n1¥¥€#} voting democrat for the next 200 years”! In essence the D’s simply forged a few more links in the chain then locked it down by destroying the Black families. All in the name of social justice; whatever that is? That system has been in existence for 55+ years now. I’d say it’s failed spectacularly or it did exactly what it was intended to do. ?

As well as, our entire criminal justice system spawned from the post civil war criminalization of African Americans. Misdemeanors were designed to put recently freed African Amercians into work camps.

It is systemic, we just don't remember the foundation often enough to understand that.

 

[LopeHunter]

I grew up in a town well over 90% white, likely 96% with a few blacks and fewer Hispanics. No Asians. Only Catholics, Lutheran and Protestant churches. One Protestant church attended by only blacks and rarely a black member of the other churches. No other religions. Heck, no one was openly agnostic or atheist. Nobody gay was out of the closet. So, very homogenous.

And, some families struggled and in some "good" families there were kids that struggled. There were food security issues. There were parents that did not value education. Parents that did not seek dental care for the kids. A required physical to participate in Grade 7 sports could well be the first interaction with a physician for a young man or woman.

I cleared hurdles put in front of me. Have done well and presumed was my work ethic and willingness to be coached and seek out better ways to do things that made me successful. I tended to gravitate to other driven people by the time I was in my mid-20s.

Has only been since turned 40 a couple of decades ago that I figured out that while I cleared the hurdles put in front of me and certainly deserve the "atta boys" I get that some hurdles never were in my path. Sort of like the video where the kids are going to race for a prize but before the race starts you get to advance a bit towards the finish line if you had two parents, went to private school, etc. The kid that never advances prior to the race starting may win. The odds are not favorable to a win though a strong finish vs. peers and some of those that even had a head start is likely if apply yourself.

How do we move kids ahead before the start of the race rather than make some kids take steps back to "make it fair"? I support removing hurdles. I am conservative but now embrace the school not only being all year but also providing up to 3 meals a day for K-12. Food insecurity and the pang of hunger is not something a 6 year old or 10 year old should be distracted by during class. I support removing public schools from property tax roles as makes no sense why a 6 year old in one part of town should have newer text books and learning materials that a 6 year old in another part of the same town or state. Think if Post Offices were funded by local property taxes. We all use Post Offices so are uniform in function and offerings. To me, shcools should be the same.

I support law and order and personal accountability. I want a SWAT-like function responding to an active shooter situation, a domestic violence situation, serving a warrant on a person that is likely to use a weapon, etc. I do not need LEO with military gear to respond to a 15 year old girl that was caught shoplifting lipstick at Target. Send a lightly armed or unarmed social officer. Same for writing parking tickets and moving violation tickets. If the parking or moving violation officer suspects there is a heightened risk then can request armed LEO. Responding to an abandoned vehicle, taking a burglary report, escorting a funeral, parade duty? No need for a military-like officer and likely no need to even be armed. Firefighters do not carry Glocks or shotguns and if they decide there is a risk or come under fire then call in the SWAT-like armed LEO. The LEO likely to use lethal force have a more focused mission and train for that rather than train on how to get a homeless person with mental confusion help or how to perform a rolling roadblock for a funeral procession.

Colleges should be year round. Who works in the short summer to pay for college by returning home? You often are living off campus and the rent agreement is likely 12 months so difficulat to return home when paying rent at school. Cut out the summer between high school and freshman year of college and the next two summers and graduate about 1 year sooner so less cost. Why do colleges shut down? We no longer are tending the fields. A factory does not shut down for 20% of the year, why would a school "factory of learning"?

Shut down private prisons. Period. Society needs to run prisons, not a corporation. Privatize road repair or running utilities but not incarceration facilities.

I support free college. Get the grades and put in two years of service in a government organization (military, park service, etc) and you get community college two-year degree sponsorship or apprenticeship to be a welder, etc. Put in 4 years and your get college or university four-year degree sponsorship. No income limit. Degrees are limited to degrees that society values as demonstrated by expected career earnings. Accounting? You bet. Medieval French Poetry...you are on your own to pay for that one but feel free to minor in it. Do your service time, get accepted to school, keep up your grades, get a degree. An educated society is needed for a representative democracy. The cost is huge.

I support a one-payer medical system. My car insurance follows me in my career and has since I was 18 so over 4 decades. I have had 10 employers in that time and not only have none of them offered the same health insurance but most changed providers no less than every 3rd year. Sure, I want to be a smart consumer of medical service but guess what? That surgery by an in-plan surgeon that took place in an in-plan hospital used an out-of-plan anesthesiologist that I never met or had a say in using that day of my surgery. In fact, exactly zero anesthesiologists are in-plan at the closet 5 hospitals that offer the surgery I needed. We screw up the VA and screw up Indian Affairs so takes a huge leap of faith to let the Feds hit me with 5% or more on income to pay for health care but I am spending that anyway with a loss of job before 65 creating a troublesome route to health coverage at anything less than $6,000 a year and $10,000 deductible. There is no free lunch and much like free college we are paying one way or the other for our kids to become educated and for us to have health coverage.

When I see stuff broken, I look for a different way. Some will be better ways and some will be utter crap. Doing the same tomorrow as yesterday gets the same crappy results, though.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it? If racism is systemic then what’s the system? Blacks in America today should focus on the elimination of cradle to grave dependency on the welfare system. Pr. Johnson (D) implemented that system or rather inflicted it upon the black family and effectively destroyed it. Prior to that “program” black families were stable, owned successful businesses, owned there own farms, property and homes. They had to work to get ahead like everyone else because big welfare didn’t exist. In work is dignity but when the Great Society program was instituted to eliminate black poverty and social injustice, it backfired. But as Pr. Johnson said about it’s passing; “I’ll have those n1¥¥€#} voting democrat for the next 200 years”! In essence the D’s simply forged a few more links in the chain then locked it down by destroying the Black families. All in the name of social justice; whatever that is? That system has been in existence for 55+ years now. I’d say it’s failed spectacularly or it did exactly what it was intended to do. ?

I doubt you will hear any of this, but for others . . . .

If you want to get a sense of what is meant by systemic racism do some reading on housing red lining - how banks, fed regulators, local zoning commissions, home owners associations, real estate agents, etc systematically restricted where black Americans could own homes. There is much more, but this alone is a shocking story.

As for Great Society - I am not a big fan of it, but far more $$$ ended up in the pockets of poor whites than poor blacks. Drugs, lack of economic opportunity, the over criminalization of non-violent offenses, the defunding of schools, intentional and unintended racial disparities in housing/employment/etc all have played a role. Blaming blacks themselves and the Dems in general for the situation we find ourselves is a very poor read of history and the present.

We are a long way from a solution, but how about we start by (a) acknowledging there is a problem and (b) not laying all the blame on the ones who are struggling under the burden. Time for all Americans to raise this up their person priority list.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it? If racism is systemic then what’s the system? Blacks in America today should focus on the elimination of cradle to grave dependency on the welfare system. Pr. Johnson (D) implemented that system or rather inflicted it upon the black family and effectively destroyed it. Prior to that “program” black families were stable, owned successful businesses, owned there own farms, property and homes. They had to work to get ahead like everyone else because big welfare didn’t exist. In work is dignity but when the Great Society program was instituted to eliminate black poverty and social injustice, it backfired. But as Pr. Johnson said about it’s passing; “I’ll have those n1¥¥€#} voting democrat for the next 200 years”! In essence the D’s simply forged a few more links in the chain then locked it down by destroying the Black families. All in the name of social justice; whatever that is? That system has been in existence for 55+ years now. I’d say it’s failed spectacularly or it did exactly what it was intended to do. ?

I am hesitant to post this, as it is fairly graphic and hard to watch. It's not something to watch with children around. But my wife and I saw this woman, Kimberly Jones, speak last night and I have been thinking about what she said ever since. I am all too comfortable in my white bubble, and so it is necessary for me to push past that, and get uncomfortable so that I can better understand others' perspectives. This video puts a lot of what I've been struggling with into perspective, and addresses what systemic racism is, does, and looks like.

 

[VikingsGuy]

There is certainly an irony in highlighting prejudice by painting a broad picture of a whole profession as the same due to the actions of individuals.

I also think the media is entirely complicit in just creating chaos and outrage and would aid in burning the country down as long as people watched it on their channel, and politicians have lost thier minds trying to trend on said media. What's going on in Minneapolis with disbanding the police scares the hell out of me and I think is a step in the wrong direction. I had no idea a city council could just hold it's own vote without hearings and formal input from the community. The lack of voting for anything and "leaders" just passing thier own inclinations in the past few months has me very concerned and a little puzzled.

It was a statement of intent - not an actual law. They are going to have to amend the city charter and that will require a city popular vote. Democracy is still in order.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

There is certainly an irony in highlighting prejudice by painting a broad picture of a whole profession as the same due to the actions of individuals.

I also think the media is entirely complicit in just creating chaos and outrage and would aid in burning the country down as long as people watched it on their channel, and politicians have lost thier minds trying to trend on said media. What's going on in Minneapolis with disbanding the police scares the hell out of me and I think is a step in the wrong direction. I had no idea a city council could just hold it's own vote without hearings and formal input from the community. The lack of voting for anything and "leaders" just passing thier own inclinations in the past few months has me very concerned and a little puzzled.

The media and politicians do this in literally every aspect of our society. There is nothing that isn't a political football.

I believe the point of multiple new stories, and individual LEOs, is that you have unions circling the wagon around their bad apples and fighting any meaningful improvements. It isn't the whole problem, but it sure as shit isn't helping....

 

[rwc101]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it?

It might be new to you, but it has been talked about since the 1960s.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

There is certainly an irony in highlighting prejudice by painting a broad picture of a whole profession as the same due to the actions of individuals.

I also think the media is entirely complicit in just creating chaos and outrage and would aid in burning the country down as long as people watched it on their channel, and politicians have lost thier minds trying to trend on said media. What's going on in Minneapolis with disbanding the police scares the hell out of me and I think is a step in the wrong direction. I had no idea a city council could just hold it's own vote without hearings and formal input from the community. The lack of voting for anything and "leaders" just passing thier own inclinations in the past few months has me very concerned and a little puzzled.

I should probably caveat; I cannot speak to every union or every department, only what I have witnessed in MPLS over the years and the last few weeks.

 

[Big Fin]

Systemic racism. That’s the new buzzword isn’t it? If racism is systemic then what’s the system?

What is systemic racism? Could your post have provided an example to answer your own question?

Blacks in America today should focus on the elimination of cradle to grave dependency on the welfare system.