Breitbart headline:
Michael Eric Dyson: U.S. Legal System Rigged to Protect White Privilege
If you are not familiar with Michael Eric Dyson, you should read his biography. He got his Ph.D from Princeton and he teaches at Georgetown, plus he has published a bunch of books and is a regular on television. He seems to be doing rather well for an oppressed minority.
I would like to ask Dr. Dyson, “What country does it better than we do?”
Seriously. What country should we emulate? What country is a better place for black people to live?
I am not just talking about racism, although that’s definitely important. But I am also talking about individual freedom and economic opportunity. Is there any nation on this planet where he thinks he would have been better off?
I think we can rule out the entire continent of Africa, if only for the poverty. But over there all blacks are not created equal. Take a look at Darfur if you want to see what happens when tribe trumps race. On the other hand if you want to see some serious racism, check out Asia. They were hating each other long before the white man came along.
Is there any nation outside of Africa that has elected a black man to lead them? Certainly not in Europe. The Brits like to brag that they outlawed slavery long before we did but they exploited people of color in their colonial empire until the mid-20th Century. The same thing for the French, although the Belgians, Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish lost their colonies years earlier.
There are some former European colonies in the Americas that have had one of more black heads of state, but they are all small and impoverished, like Haiti. I don’t believe any of them are models of economic opportunity or racial relations anyway.
I’m not saying we’re perfect, but I don’t see anybody doing it better. So why does Dr. Michael Eric Dyson hate America? That’s biting the hand that feeds you.
The Crawdad Hole 
This is doesn’t speak for me. Oops, I am a “white Hispanic” so that probably doesn’t count unless I shoot someone.
I really hate it when someone says, “Speaking for all _____”. Who died and made him our spokesperson? Women who push for unlimited abortion rights often do the “Speaking for all women everywhere” thing. If they even looked at the stats, they’d know they don’t. If Matthews was a racist, and he’s tried to change, good for him, but he has no right to assume the rest of us need to apologize for his sins.
Speaking as a white person I’ve never needed to change the way I feel. I’ve never been racist. I guess Mathews can’t say the same.
Matthews? Nigga be trippin’…
Yes A, nigga be trippin’.
Speaking of trippin’…
Kanye West racist rant leaked tape after VMA confrontation with Taylor Swift.
Really a great post, myiq! Having lived, worked and studied in the Caribbean, Europe and West Africa, I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Posted this in one of yesterday’s TCH blogs:
“Some of these words and ideas are getting really mixed up and confusing….melting pot, multicultural, diversity…
And America isn’t the only place….Great Britain and France have huge problems that most Americans are not following very closely or even aware of….it’s a worldwide issue come to think of it….Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal also have their “colonial era” issues.
Ay, hate the the thought but maybe it should be a border-less world….live where you want. America is pretty open compared to lots of other countries. I lived in Liberia, West Africa for four years and was very aware of the constitutional fact that you could not be a citizen there unless you were a “person of color”. Love that…..didn’t define color but that was in their constitution, still is, I believe.
But then, I think everybody is colored! Plus, everybody’s got a mother and bag of white bones!”
Reflecting this morning on what you wrote, it seems like a big problem is with “assimilation”. It really doesn’t work because, in the end, people really do prefer to be in the comfort and recognition of their own kind. The French, maybe, came the closest to actually letting many of their colonial people become “French” but when you look at parts of France now, especially Paris and southern France, various “banlieue”/suburbs and “environs”/neighborhoods are determined by their ethnicity. What’s wrong with that? Well, when these people don’t want to conform to the laws of their host, it becomes a problem.
Some race baiters are now calling Florida an “apartheid” state. Really shows their ignorance of the history of apartheid and the Dutch and British involvement in it. Having just come from Hispanic dominated Santa Fe, to a small, seaside community in South Florida with a large Cuban and Haitian population, I can say first hand that these “immigrants” live where they feel most comfortable, and in a sense, at home. What’s wrong with that?
And as I have been thinking about it recently, “assimilation” goes both ways. This is the hard one. I am fortunate to speak both Spanish and French so I can have detailed conversations with people who are not expecting a “cracker” to be able to speak with them. They become more friendly and open….and, voila…..there is a different relationship.
When my Haitian yard people come to work on our yard, I “hang out” with them and work with them. While I struggle a bit with Creole, I’m getting it and they love it….and then we talk about music….my favorite subject.
One of the principles that I always used in the city planning design work that I did over the past 35 years was a respect for “hanging out”. Creating safe and open places where people can hang out and enjoy being together. The great places of the world allow this.
I don’t know….”assimilation” seems to be the big problem at hand. A great leader would understand this and try to bring people together rather than to divide them.
Sorry for the length here this morning but this subject has weighed heavily on my mind and there is little real discussion about it….except for here “in the hole”!
Great observation. Love your philosophy about open spaces.
I like the “hang out” concept, but their are others who disparage it as “loitering”, and and the police actively discourage it. “This dark empty parking lot near the beach is closed after sundown.”
What binds us together as Americans, I think, is what I call, “The Four and the Three”:
The Four Pillars of Personal Prosperity:
1) Can-do attitude
2) Diligence
3) Continuous Learning
4) Trustworthiness
They can be given to no one, only encouraged. They apply regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or disability.
The Three:
The primary job of the government (“We the People”) is to protect each person’s Life, Liberty, and Property.
But structured “hanging out” is much different. There are three principle design features in any major “place”–plazas/town squares, mainstreets and cross roads. In the book that I am currently writing about all of this called “A Philosophy of Yard”, I add another that I call “meandering country roads” that provide for such things as roadside selling etc.
By “hanging out” I don’t mean loitering at all. If you are familiar with the amazing book “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander you may recall his emphasis on the things that, in fact, bring people together, or to hang out together….celebrations, parades, festivities, markets, music, outdoor restaurants and such. They are easily monitored for problems. “Hanging out” in the place-designed concept does not include “the dark empty parking lot”. That’s what I refer to as a mis-place (one of my many new, made-up urban planning words). But your point is well taken in one regard and that is the serious parking problems that most most places have….they end up in the wrong places. Neighborhood parks, unfortunately, can also be like that.
A parking lot tailgate party is quite acceptable during the daytime at a sports arena.
There are those who would enjoy the same at night without the glare and burn of the sun, even if there weren’t a pending sporting event.
Love the Four Pillars and how they relate to well-designed public, “hanging out” places.
1. Can do Attitude – yes, let’s celebrate something of importance to our community!
2. Diligence – Let’s make it an annual event
3. Continuous Learning – Let’s make it better and more inclusive every year.
4. Trustworthiness – Let’s listen to a variety of opinions and trust each others judgements to make it better….especially our young people.
One of the saddest things I see in our society at the moment is the lack of involvement of younger people in local government. Have you attended a local city council or county commission meeting lately? if so, were there any young people there? Until we can engage them in how local governance works, the only things they will attend will be rallies and protests of something directly related to them or to their emotions.
🙂
“Have you attended a local city council or county commission meeting lately?”
Actually, that’s one of my failings; I almost never attend.
I attended a city council meeting some years ago because my son was being honored. Attendance by ANY age group was sparse.
The lack of public involvement is what enabled the Bell city authorities to give themselves huge pay raises.
Oh, and by the way, if you love music, especially r&b, soul and pop, don’t miss “20 Steps from Stardom”….it’s an awesome film with great music….playing in a theater near you.
My cousin who is a musician loved it also.
This is a great country. Seattle just got a ice cream delivery service and an ap for your phone so you can just push a button and they’ll deliver it to you.
Do you think they’d deliver to Boston?
Seriously?! How did I miss that. Of course I’m kind of addicted to Menchies and Bluebird. But I could suck it up and try a new ice cream.
The system protects the wealthy, but sometimes the system works for the little guy. Zimmerman continues to be hounded by the two blacks, Obama and Holder, who Dyson claims are “symbolic.” “Symbolic,” my ass; they are thugs.
“The System” is We the People. One of the founder’s said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
I spent most of my life letting my parents’ generation do that. Uh-oh! They’re gone now!
And the legacy media are generally not giving us clear, concise, complete information on the stories that matter.
OT, an interesting blog post from sf writer Sarah Hoyt, which posits that the numbers are wrong and human population is in a gradual decline.
http://accordingtohoyt.com/2013/07/18/no-need-for-the-new-world/
read the rest … very counter-intutitive and thought-provoking
Interesting. But I notice a difference in classes or education level. Kids who graduate from college wait to have kids and have few. It seems the kids who don’t get an education or start their own business have kids early but still not more than one or two. And then there is all the talk about needing immigrants since we wouldn’t have enough unskilled workers without them. I think that is crap, with 30% of Americans not graduating from High school, if they aren’t unskilled workers what are they? Illegal Aliens seem to me to be the new slave labor, low wages, no rights and terrible living conditions.
This seems like an interesting book – mentione din the comments:
What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13587034-what-to-expect-when-no-one-s-expecting
The post before that, “These are the crazy years” is also interesting
http://accordingtohoyt.com/2013/07/17/4357/
(talks a lot about Henilein)
“How in hell did ‘liberating women’ turn into ‘make them available for men’s fun with no pressures and no commitments’?”
It’s called Free-Fuck Feminism.
“Muddled definitions lead to muddled thinking.” – Peter Kreeft in his most excellent book:
http://www.amazon.com/Socratic-Logic-Questions-Aristotelian-Principles/dp/1587318083
That was quite interesting. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/07/18/Scott-Meets-With-Protestors-Rejects-Demands-Protests-To-Continue
and the beat goes on
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/07/19/bill-cosby-called-an-uncle-tom-ngger-for-not-calling-zimmerman-a-racist/
Crosby spoke out and now is under attack
Tracy Martin also continues the false narrative of racism. The haters and race-baiters have to be fed.
http://patriotaction.net/profiles/blogs/ibd-obama-honors-trayvon-martin-ignores-fort-hood-survivors-and
not only did backtrack ignore the Fort Hood survivors, he and holder hurt them again by calling it workplace violence , which denied them benefits
My mom used to use the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” a lot. I listened to my minority students rant about how getting a good education was doing what white people wanted them to do, and they weren’t going to take orders from white people. Then I would ask them if a black person told them that they needed to get a good education, would it become more important to them? But then they’d say only Uncle Toms and Oreos would try to make them white. Then I’d ask who their not “becoming white” hurt more, them or white people? And who their not “becoming white” helped more, them or white people? It was hard for them to grasp that white people benefited from black people remaining uneducated. It leaves a lot more money and power for us. But they should go ahead and stick it to us by remaining uneducated. But cultural influences are hard to dislodge. I had a lot of experience with that. No matter what Harvard grads say, the Earth is only closer to the sun in the summer time if you live south of the equator. And if you throw a ball straight up from the front seat of a moving car, it will not come down in the back seat.
There is no logic in the “Trayvon” grievances. It is all emotion and denial of reality. It’s summer time, and the “If only’s…” are running around loose. Beware!
😯
I just woke up in time to find out that Obama used to beat up Hispanics 35 years ago.
I don’t feel good. I’m going back to bed and I ain’t getting up until the world makes sense.
So cryogenics then.
Seriously? The legal system is rigged to protect the rich. The poor are forced to plea bargain or settle because of bad lawyers or good lawyers who want to limit their losses due to a client who can’t pay much even if their client is in the right. Like the Civil Rights attorney said, these guys are embarrassing themselves.
The only color that matters is green.
honk
I think Obama coulda been Trayvon but I don’t think Trayvon coulda been Obama. Just saying.
Since Obama is only half-black, I really don’t see how either is possible.
lets see heatwave through out most of the country. week end and backtrack pushing the racist rant. what could possibly go wrong.
maybe the protests could start at the white house. oh wait will backtrack be there or up at the vineyard?
backtrackin’….
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/19/obama-takes-romneys-advice-on-detroit/
Is Chicago next? 🙂
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/07/19/msnbc-race-baiter-toure-on-obamas-trayvon-remarks-wow-we-really-do-have-a-black-president/
and here come toure spewing bs
Where the fuck did he live, with people just sitting around all day in their parked cars?
Obama is a half-black man who did not grow up in the African-American culture of this country. This entire administration and all of its minions are truly disgusting!
Has Obama ever said that he respected the Zimmerman jury’s verdict? “The jury has spoken” is all he has said.
He walked by cars where people were living in them.