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The National Park Service has approved an application for a year anniversary commemoration of Charlottesville's violent white supremacist rally to be held in Washington, DC.
DC's WUSA9 reported that NPS approved the application but has not yet issued permits for the rally set to be held at Lafayette Square, a seven-acre park just north of the White House. The event is to be organized by Jason Kessler, the organizer of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was hit and killed by an alleged white supremacist.
"This year we have a new purpose," Kessler said, discussing the upcoming rally. "That's to talk about the civil rights abuse that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia last year."
Kessler claimed it wasn't his fault that "that stuff happened," and said that in the months since the rally ostensibly intended to "defend" a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, "white civil rights" have taken a hit.
"We're not able to peacefully assemble. We're not able to speak," he told WUSA. "I keep telling people if your right to rally and your right to protest means that someone else's life might be in danger, then it is no longer free speech but it is hate speech."
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @08:50PM (25 children)
Azuma, you're just wrong about this.
First off, people of white European descent are not a majority in this country. The country is about 35% white, 25% hispanic, 20% black, so while there may be slightly more, it's hardly a majority. Even in Utah where I live, supposedly whitest place on earth, the population is only about 50% white. Most are mixed at this point.
Second off, these rallys are not simply about showing the powers that be that we are a force to be reckoned with. In fact the primary purpose is solidarity around a common cause or goal or identity.
I realize you're Asian and you have a viewpoint informed by that, you probably identify as Asian-American and all that which is why you're objecting to white people standing up to be counted, but let me tell you something.
We all need to get over this hyphenated america crap.
There's no such thing as Asian-American, African-American, Mexican-American, Canadian-American, or White-American, there's just American.
Get your hyphen the hell out of our country, send it back to it's own country. America only has room for Americans and people who want to become American, anything else really is an invasion, I'm sorry but it's true.
If you don't identify as American, you don't belong here.
I live in an apartment complex, there's a Latino family to my left a white family above me and a black family on the other side. 4 units, 4 families and race is never a subject that comes up.
But being white, especially white male in this country isn't easy and it's getting tougher.
First off, for some reason I'm supposed to feel sorry that someone I never met (possibly an ancestor, possibly not), mistreated someone else I haven't met.
This simply because my skin is white.
If that's expected of me, I expect every black person to personally apologize for the 500 years that Nubia had Egypt in chains and even the slavery going on Eritrea to this day.
I swear, I've got to walk on eggs shells any time I talk in a "diverse" group because something I might say, might be construed to be racist or sexist.
Yet it's somehow impossible for the fella with a better tan than me to be racist even though he's slinging the N word every other sentence and dropping f bombs about white folks.
This wouldn't be a big issue except it can lead to real repercussions now, including loss of job and even employability. Now days you can even sue someone who says something that offends you and hate speech is defined as "Anything that I hate", rather than what it's supposed to be ... A call to violence based on an impersonal yet unchangable factor such as race or gender.
Race should NEVER be a factor in any decision.
And yet if a company doesn't hire enough diversity, it is by default considered a racist company and fined millions of dollars. Many companies have begun to flat out not hire you if you're white and male because of fear of this.
Colleges too have begun a similar tract, allowing students opportunity based not on their SAT scores, but on the color of their skin and "the hardships they have had to overcome", as though Jimmy from the Trailerpark somehow had less to overcome than Qwanesha from the Projects.
Giving a boost without enough seats to go around is the same as denying the other kid based on race. Half the problem here is the expectation that college is going to save you. Now days it just results in a lifetime of debt for most people, while still flipping hamburgers.
There needs to be a neutral way to objectively measure potential for college, perhaps while still in Junior High and High School and start steering kids into the trades which we really don't have enough of, such as electrical, plumbing, carpentry etc.
Eitherway. it's not fair to deny white children opportunities in the name of giving someone with a better tan an opportunity that they did not otherwise earn.
Now if each are equally qualified, use a coin toss, not a diversity decision, or simply remove race from the application process all together.
This default association "oh he's a white male so he must be a racist redneck because he wants to stand up for white rights", is exactly why this kind of rally is needed in DC and everywhere.
As white folks, especially white males, we need to start speaking up and standing up for our rights and the rights of our children, which are being patently denied every single day.
And yes racism is offensive even to whites. When I do hear some racist jackass making jokes I am forced to wonder why it's the skin color and not the hair color or eye color he/she's objecting to.
Doesn't matter if they're from the projects or the trailer park, idiots are everywhere.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @09:00PM (6 children)
When you lead with fake facts, no one will read further. Pro tip.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @09:12PM (5 children)
When you call everything you disagree with a "fake fact", few will listen to you, either. (different AC)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @09:43PM (4 children)
Not just fake, intentionally fake, as if mendacious.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
Poor, poor white peoples! Such an oppressed minority! Only 77.7%! It's White Genercade, I tell's ya!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:32AM (2 children)
OP lead with White people of European descent, which is far more limited group than the rather, overly broad definition used by the Census Bureau by your own quote.
It's not a fake fact, its a failure to understand the limitation placed on the demographic. It's very hard to call any Arab, Lebanese or Near Easterner "white". When people speak of White American, they generally mean "white skinned person of European descent".
For a better breakdown try this...
Sum the "majority white" countries here...
http://www.businessinsider.com/largest-ethnic-groups-in-america-2013-8 [businessinsider.com]
Divide by the population here...
https://www.census.gov/popclock/ [census.gov]
I come up with 53%
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:39AM (1 child)
You can come up with whatever you scaredy-racist ass wants to. Why cannot racists read? Again, this is why there cannot be white supremacy, white folks too dumb! The non-hispanic white is 62%, like, you know, a supermajority?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:52AM
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
Demographics are just a statistic and they can be spun anyway you want.
However neither the OP nor the census bureau gets this right, because literally it's a "no-true scottsman" argument in disguise.
How white is white enough? If a person migrates from South Africa, do they tick the African American box, or the white box, what if they're the couple in Die Antwoord?
Race is just a farce, the entirety of differences amount to less than 1.5MB of genetic data between any 2 people, no matter how "diverse" their pedigree.
The part of your DNA that codes for skin, hair and eye color is around 10kb.
Get a razor, shave exactly 1mm of skin, everyone is suddenly the same color.
https://training.seer.cancer.gov/melanoma/anatomy/layers.html [cancer.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @02:35AM
Sand niggers are no more white than a slovak, you dumbasses!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday June 24 2018, @09:38PM (11 children)
I'm white, actually. My name, like it says on the publicly-visible profile page, is Marissa van Eck, though I *did* grow up specifically in the parts of NYC where whites are a distinct minority. "Azuma Hazuki" is the name of the protagonist from a very weird and borderline-x-rated piece of anime that watches like a cross between Quantum Leap and The L Word. It's honestly trash, but the story was a bizarrely-close metaphor of something that happened to me, and I look a lot like her to begin with, so this is a sort of call sign for friends who know who I am.
Now then...most of your post is bullshit, and not only is it bullshit, it is *precisely the kind of bullshit I called out directly freaking above it.* Un-bloody-believable. Not surprising, really, more disappointing, but still. You have one valid point about how offense has replaced morality, and on that I will *partially* agree with you, but the rest is the whinge of someone who's been on top his (his, right?) whole life and is worried he's about to have the rug pulled out from under him.
That, my friend, is what is meant by "privilege."
When you *are* the normative barometer, you don't even need to think about these things. The world fits you like a tailored glove to a hand. Don't give me that "butbut poor people" stuff either. I *am* poor. I spent years eating out of trash cans. I had all too many, but at the same time not enough, meals of plain rice or "air sandwiches." I still have white privilege, which is to say, as much as it sucked being this poor, being black or Latina on top of it would have made it so so much worse. Much harder to get work, for one thing.
Now if you don't like "This default association "oh he's a white male so he must be a racist redneck because he wants to stand up for white rights" then THINK about where this stereotype comes from. And ask yourself, boy, doesn't it SUCK to be judged by people who don't even know you as a person JUST because of your skin color? Isn't it completely unjust for someone to pre-judge (hmmmm...) you based on some set of assumptions about your entire race?
If that doesn't make the lightbulb go off I don't know what will.
See, what you're seeing here is you're getting a taste of what minorities of all kinds go through every damn day. And most of your problems aren't actually racial; they're financial, imposed on you from above ALMOST ENTIRELY BY OTHER WHITE MEN, who are now *telling* you to blame minorities, women, the poor (especially those poorer than you) and to look away while they rob you blind.
They are *laughing* at you, do you get this? This is about class, what's being done to you, not race. That's a distraction. You are having your Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, health benefits, vacation, savings, your very livelihoods, ripped away from you by wealthy white men, as they point in the other direction and say "Watch out for darkie over there, he's gonna steal your job."
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Troll) by Arik on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:03PM (10 children)
I'm sorry that had to happen to you.
"When you *are* the normative barometer, you don't even need to think about these things. The world fits you like a tailored glove to a hand. Don't give me that "butbut poor people" stuff either. I *am* poor. I spent years eating out of trash cans. I had all too many, but at the same time not enough, meals of plain rice or "air sandwiches.""
So you know from personal experience that this is bullshit, but you still believe it. That's some mental gymnastics.
"I still have white privilege, which is to say, as much as it sucked being this poor, being black or Latina on top of it would have made it so so much worse. Much harder to get work, for one thing."
Really? You really think it 'would have made it so much worse' to have looked like the majority? You did say "whites" were the minority where you grew up, we're still talking about the same area, right?
Didn't you just tell us that when you're the 'default' that's privilege?
But somehow when the default is black, it's no longer privilege?
Did I say gymnastics? I think we might have to upgrade you to contortionist.
If you really want to be sensitive to privilege and fair to all people, those are supposed to be some of your core beliefs, right? If you really want that you should try to develop some empathy for the other side. That's not to say that they are right, or that you should adopt their position. They aren't right, and that's the last thing I would want you to do. But as it is you clearly don't have any clue where they come from in life, how they could think what they think or say what they say - with that empathy I really think you could really reach people and change minds for the better. But you can't develop empathy for those you view as subhuman.
And don't tell me that being "white" somehow guarantees you empathy, it doesn't. The life of a white person in NYC doesn't actually have much in common with the experiences of most of the country.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 25 2018, @02:38AM
Great post. I'm all out of mod points. I forgot to water the mod garden several times last month, so there aren't enough to go around.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday June 25 2018, @05:31AM (8 children)
*face-fucking-palm*
Actually the default where I grew up was southern Chinese, didn't become black default until I was in the Bronx, and even then there was plenty of competition with Latin@ people for "default" in that neighborhood. Know something odd, though? *All my bosses were white.* And I never had trouble getting work. I got interviews and even promotions I really did not deserve, even (maybe *because* of...) being the only white girl in the place. It was a very clear pattern. Even odds that if I had been Marisol or Laquisha or whatever that would not have happened.
What even are you saying here with this post? I honestly don't get it. So "the life of a white person in NYC doesn't actually have much in common with the experiences of most of the country," but I was also...er...help me out here, disadvantaged because of being rarer than hens' teeth in the neighborhoods I lived in...um, but somehow that makes me viewing *someone else* as subhuman. What the actual fuck. Untangle yourself and try again, please?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Monday June 25 2018, @01:28PM (2 children)
The most openly racist boss I ever worked for was Chinese, and I really thought he hated Indians like nothing else. He told some of the most vicious 'jokes' I've ever heard and the butt was always an Indian. Really nasty stuff that I couldn't even bring myself to repeat. And yet he surprised me by hiring Indians, several of them, and he treated them well, at least as well as he treated everyone else if you get what I'm saying. He might hate Indians in the abstract, but he loves money more, these guys were making him money so he loved them. And so it was this really crazy situation in a way, all this hatred and prejudice concentrated in this little company and money and also status and privilege (he was the boss, we were the hired help) was all focused together and there was so much potential for such a very ugly situation and... it didn't happen. Everyone involved was more interested in doing the job and making the money and keeping the situation stable so it would keep working for them that expressing their racism (and believe me, the Indians had plenty of vicious jokes of their own, and so did the white guys for that matter) just got pushed waaaay down the priority stack for all involved. And over time I saw those hard attitudes soften. Not all the way, for sure not! But noticeably.
I'm sorry if you find it tangled, but I guess that's kind of my point. Reality is tangled. Your position is complicated *and so is everyone elses.* Simplistic slogans and formulas don't work so well for modelling it. Dark skin, or light skin, can be an advantage in some situations and a disadvantage in others. You don't accurately reflect that when you sloganize it into things like 'white privilege.' There was a time in this country and others when that was a real thing, there was a time when we had segregated drinking fountains you know, but that was a long time ago. That was before I was born, before most of us were born, in many cases before our parents or even our grandparents were born. A lot of your rhetoric seems to be aimed at reassuring yourself that it is still that way, I can see how that gives you outrage and purpose. But there is no white privilege today, in fact anytime the law respects race at all it is to favor non-whites, so if there is any privilege left in the system, in the structure of the system rather than in individuals administering it, it is actually non-white privilege.
Now is there individual prejudice left? You bet your arse there is! But that reality is a very complicated and tangled mess, and it is not well suited to sloganeering, not suited to legislative remedy, and examining it deeply leads to empathy rather than outrage. Would that be such a bad thing? If Americans from different backgrounds could start to understand and appreciate each others positions and concerns?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:13AM (1 child)
Excellent point and one which most any liberal person will agree with. I guess you're "side" hasn't been paying attention when "we" agree with you on topics, instead you listen to Fox News and take their word for it that all the liberals are "coming to getcha!" The piece I quoted is exactly what liberals want but we're fighting against generational racism that is very widespread to the point of being subconscious even in "liberals".
What conservatives need to do is approach this situation with humility instead of indignation. A massive % of your fellow conservatives are quite racist, with a small % being actually not racist. With the Muslim issue we've seen plenty enough comments calling for Muslims to condemn the actions of violent Muslims, why don't we get that with conservatives? Regarding the Charlostville vehicular murder all we're getting in this article are defendants! What. The. Actual. Fuck.
Look in the mirror! If that looks good then look to your left and right, statistics say you will find a racist asshole. Start there.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:00AM
You started off so well but that second sentence, wow.
"My side?" That's entirely the point here. I'm not taking a stand for one side or the other, I'm taking a stand against polarisation, against BOTH regressive leftists and regressive rightists.
I've never fit in the right-left duopoly, I consistently reject both of these 'sides.' As a result, when I'm talking with blue folks, I get typecast as a red, and when I'm talking to reds, I get typecast as a blue. I'm neither. I'm team purple I guess, all by my lonesome out here, trying to pull people back to the center not split them up further.
"Look in the mirror! If that looks good then look to your left and right, statistics say you will find a racist asshole. Start there."
Yeah, look, here's the thing. You're actually not too far from right on that. Racists are everywhere. On the right - and on the left, I see it constantly. But we have to live with these people, we can't just go shoot them all, that wouldn't work. We have to start from tolerance, not from the inquisition.
What if I gone nuclear outrage on my Chinese friend when he started talking about Indians, do you think that would have changed his attitude in the least? Probably hardened it. Instead I rolled my eyes and tolerated him, and a few months later I introduced him to some Indians that I knew he would really like... and that DID change his attitudes, slowly, a little. Think about it.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @08:58PM (4 children)
Welcome to the wonderful world of affirmative action. How do you think the more deserving applicants feel about your undeserved success at their expense? Did you stand up for their violated civil rights and mistreatment? Or was it rules for thee, not for me?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:40AM (3 children)
Yes, I did ask "why did I get this when $PERSON's been here longer?" The usual response was "because you do the job better." And you know, that's likely not a lie. Still felt weird, though. Maybe I was overthinking it?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @02:03PM (2 children)
Did you really expect them to say it was because women were under represented in your position even if was the true reason? Whatever the case, it kinda undermines the whole gender gap/unfair treatment of women agenda doesn't it? My employer has hired plenty of horribly incompetent employees into management positions regardless of their sex. Our board just hired a totally useless president and I have no doubt she was chosen for optics because of the current diversity climate. She immediately hired a man from her former employer to make the decisions and do the job she was hired to do. (newly created VP slot) But hey, she's the queen of selfies and photo ops. Consider that next time someone rolls their eyes when listening to outrage over the good-ole-boy hiring network.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday June 26 2018, @06:39PM (1 child)
Uhhh...considering this was at the perfume and jewelry section of the local Macy's, no, women were *not* under-represented in that position. What the actual fuck. It was ALL women.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @07:54PM
Interesting... You said:
And all of those interviews and promotions were at Macy's jewelry counter? Or that was the only one you bothered to ask why you received preferences? And it does not change the fact that no manager is going to admit hiring based on AA quotas. That leads to unwinnable lawsuits from the rejected applicants.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:18AM (5 children)
Um, I know this is the hard part for your kind to understand, but if you "might" say something racist or sexist, you are racist and/or sexist.
From behind the Zion Curtain, are we? Good thing the Mormon Church has now apologized for decades of racism. https://religionnews.com/2018/05/17/fake-mormon-news-story-goes-viral-claiming-the-lds-church-has-apologized-for-racism/ [religionnews.com]
I'm sure they will getting around to apologizing for sexism real soon now. "Spiritual Wives"? In Nevada?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:41AM
I'm not Mormon, I just live in Utah. But again there's no need for me to be apologetic for something I didn't do, especially to people it never happened to.
I find it ridiculous that anyone feels that there is.
Fun fact, the Mormon church is more racially diverse than than you've assumed.
https://www.mormonwiki.com/Demographics [mormonwiki.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 25 2018, @02:45AM (2 children)
In an actual adult world, people say whatever the hell crosses their mind. Listeners try to keep up, and sometimes question what the other adult said. Discussion ensues. No one walks around on tippy toes, hoping not to break any eggs. I notice that some person has a complexion that perfectly matches his car - I'm not permitted to comment on that? Doesn't matter whether the person is off-white or milky brown, or shiny black - it is worthy of notice that his/her car is the same color as his skin. After all, he SHOPPED that car for a reason!
I've never seen a car the same color that I am, unless it had been driven hundreds of miles on salted snow covered roads.
Clothing. EVERY_WOMAN_IN_THE_WORLD shops for clothing that complements her own color. I'm not supposed to notice any of that? Or, I'm only supposed to notice if she is a WHITE_WOMAN? But, then, that's sexist, right?
How about we get one of the amendments amended? You have the right to be offended - you have the right to get over it. You have no right to bother me with your being offended.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:16AM (1 child)
Because most of the time when such comparisons are made the person has a prejudice against that skin color which is WHY they find it "worthy of notice".
*most* of the time
You're just pushing some sort of "muh oppression" complex PRECISELY because can't figure out your own advice: "You have the right to be offended - you have the right to get over it"
Did someone pull a gun on you and tell you to apologize? Did you spend a night in the drunk tank for being an ass that just made a bad joke?
No? That's what I thought Mr. Snowman.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 26 2018, @01:12AM
No, you're the authoritarian here. You want to tell everyone, "You can't say that!" You want free speech that you approve of.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @05:56PM
The parent post said "might be CONSTRUED to be racist or sexist". Not that it actually was racist or sexist.
There are people out there looking to twist anything said so they can be offended by it, and even sue for settlement money. The best solution is never talk to anyone, ever.