Thoughts on race relations after last night's shootings in Dallas
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238340)
Walnut Creek, California
July 8, 2016 11:59am CST
By now, everyone has heard about the shootings of eleven police officers in Dallas last night during a protest around the treatment of black citizens by police.
Shortly before all this occurred, I was at McDonalds, watching my 8-year-old black kid client playing tag and having a great time with white, black and latino kids on the play structure.
A 4-year-old black girl I hadn't met started talking to me, and we spent 15 minutes poking those colored electric dots on the table I was sitting at, eating an ice cream cone.
When her mom and a couple of other ladies got up to go, the mom said something like "Say bye to your new friend," and the little girl waved bye to me and smiled warmly.
Fifteen minutes later, my little buddy and I walked home through a mostly black neighborhood.
At my friend's young friend's house, I spent another ten minutes chatting with his Grandmother about music, wood restoration, and who knows what else.
Then I went home and saw the news.
Is there someone to blame for what's been happening in our Country? I'm still convinced the media is largely responsible, but my argument is a rather lengthy one.
I know from personal experience that most cops are good and most black people don't "want to kill white people." But that's not news.
I suppose all we can do as citizens is strengthen our resolve to spread love at our personal ground zeroes.
24 people like this
22 responses
@sallypup (69206)
• Centralia, Washington
8 Jul 16
How does hate start? Where does its roots come from? Fact: I was the only white kid in a midwestern big city. Did I have Kill me taped to my back? Why did those kids not only try to harm me in dodge ball and later tried to make me run in front of a bus? And later in university I met a sweet black guy through somebody who became my husband. We still are deep friends with Bernie- now a professor. But the thread of violence and hatred runs through my life. Some Native American kids tried to drown my daughter. Did she have Drown Me on her back? I wish I had answers to these troublesome moments that could have ended horrifically. And the time my hubby and I walked cause we like to walk and kids threw eggs at us. Who teaches children this stuff? Who makes it okay in their minds to act like chickens run amuck? Troubles me.
6 people like this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
8 Jul 16
Black v White hatred in this country has its obvious roots in slavery, the War Between the States, the Jim Crow era, Brown v Board of Education, and so forth. Animosity of the descendants of the First Inhabitants of the Continent toward the more descendants of the migrants from Europe is understandable as the First Inhabitants believe, and rightly so, that they were dealt with unfairly by a racist government that saw them as less than fully human.
At the root of it all, though, is the love of money. Certain people and groups have a vested interest in maintaining the division and hatred between select groups because they profit from it. The media, the Jesse Jacksons, the Al Sharptons, and their counterparts among the other races, have enriched themselves at the expense of the very folks they claim to be working for. There is a reason the Bible includes the warning that the love of money is the root of all evil.
5 people like this
@sallypup (69206)
• Centralia, Washington
8 Jul 16
@RubyHawk There are so many gradations to hate and mean acts. My hubby has been without sight since he was 5. He had some nasty stuff happen when he was a kid but mostly its occured when he was an adult. Job discrimination is another form of inborn hatred in a way.
3 people like this
@garymarsh6 (24028)
• United Kingdom
8 Jul 16
What saddens me is that this is international news practically as it happens and yet last week over 200 people were killed in Iraq in a shopping mall and again a few days later another 50 in a market and yet there is very little mentioned in the press about it. What a weird world we are living in. Racism is learnt. It is wonderful to see kids playing innocently together and no race issues with them. Shame it does not continue for the rest of their lives.
6 people like this
@garymarsh6 (24028)
• United Kingdom
8 Jul 16
@DWDavis They are so evil aren't they so cruel and barbaric.
3 people like this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
8 Jul 16
We hear about the bombings in distant places, but it stays in the news longer when it's closer to home. I always worry that the kids I work with, black white and other, will be drawn into the vortex of racism at some point. But my hope is that early positive experiences with diverse races with buffer them.
5 people like this
@nanette64 (20363)
• Fairfield, Texas
9 Jul 16
@TheHorse You are doing an excellent job and wish there were more people like you doing it.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (102698)
• India
8 Jul 16
Pony...I have discussed this in Porridge's post at length..so I will be brief about it. Let us face one thing, there is no way the differentiation about looks is going to go away, anytime soon and in fact as long as we can see. Agreed some are disadvantaged. Can we change the world? No. Can we change us? Yes.
My way would be
1st, accept the drawbacks in my looks, and lifestyles. 2nd, change lifestyles, and go out of way to be nice so that people notice how nice I am and quite forget the color of my skin or my hair variety. 3rd. Reduce numbers by bringing down population. Smaller ethnic groups often get taken care of.
4th..don't ask for concessions based on on race, color, caste, whatever. It creates resentment.
1st one is the hardest. Rest simply fall in place.
We can't change the world, we can change ourselves. And these four steps can only bring any race, caste, religious group, etc., acceptance. These are a bit harsh thoughts, but if they reduce racial tensions, why not.
4 people like this
Thank you.
I can almost hear Pony saying ...Vanny...I thought you had more empathy than that...how mistaken I have been.
But there is borderline to realism and idealism. Mine is realistic view. @DWDavis (25797)
• United States
8 Jul 16
The media thrives on violence and destruction, and the liberals rely on division and animosity based on differences in race, ethnicity, economic status, etc. With these two powerful forces vested in a violent victim culture, the rest of us have to do all we can to counteract the narrative they want to write for us.
4 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
9 Jul 16
color is only skin deep, hatred goes deeper sadly
4 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
9 Jul 16
@TheHorse learned behavior, sometimes stemming from either actual behavior in others, or from a rooted fear of differences, or even low self esteem. IE I feel inferior so if I put others lower than me I can use that as a ghetto way to feel better about myself
1 person likes this
@Rohvannyn (3098)
• United States
8 Jul 16
My immediate supervisor is a lovely dark skinned woman. Another team lead, also black, high fives me every chance he gets. One of my favorite people in all the world is an older gentleman, also black, who is practically a saint. I fixed his computer once. I work alongside hispanic folks, white folks, another friend of mine is Spanish, Filipino, and Japanese, and I myself am a european mutt. The only people I know who make a big deal about skin color or ethnicity are, sorry to say, the idiots who don't like to read or learn. They may be educated but that doesn't make a learner.
This fake race war thing has been popularized and encouraged by the liberal media. It's not about color, it's ultimately about power.
4 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
8 Jul 16
The general approach to race relations would never make any difference to incidents such as this.
It is not the attitude of the general public that causes such incidents, it is the prejudiced minority. There is no way to change their attitudes because they would have to find someone else to target.
2 people like this
@crossbones27 (52978)
• Mojave, California
8 Jul 16
I actually recommended the news do some uplifting programs that people are doing positive. All I saw them do was a program about small businesses at 4:30 in the morning one day on the weekend. All technical talk. Not really what I had in mind. They definitely seem to have their own agenda.
2 people like this
@crossbones27 (52978)
• Mojave, California
12 Jul 16
@TheHorse Maybe we should start looking at people as people and not research. Trust me I hate people but our leaders are taking the cake.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Jul 16
@crossbones27 Heh. They could do a piece about my work in Oakland for all those years. But I haven't been contacted by NPR or anyone else so far. I did publish an article in Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, but only other research types read that stuff. I think I understand what you mean by positive yet difficult, not fluffy.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
12 Jul 16
@crossbones27 In my clinical work, people are people. But my mind does not rest.
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
9 Jul 16
After living through the riots of the late 60's with national guard troops on roofs of shopping malls and all the stuff that went with it, I thought that was bad....it's much worse today.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
11 Jul 16
@TheHorse I know what you mean. It's like some people who have lots of issues love those issues and hold onto them forever.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill It can become a big part of who they are, and get in the way of being productive.
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
8 Jul 16
I call for a silencing of the media for 7 days and see what happens. I know I am much happier when I'm not hearing about the issues of the rest of the world.
2 people like this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
11 Jul 16
@TheHorse If we worry about bad things happening they likely will. I bet if the media outlets played happy news and moving stories, even the would-be criminals out there would turn into big softies. When I see all the stories about violence and corruption and politics I go into 'genocide mode'. When I see uplifting and happy stories I go into 'world savior mode'.
I doubt that those feelings are limited to just me (although the extreme portion probably is).
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Jul 16
@OneOfMany I agree about the effects of worry. But I think parents and environment trump the media in terms of turning people into softies.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
8 Jul 16
I am also not watching the news. I believe that their focus on "sensational" news is making it spread. They should stop focusing on the bad. There should be a rule, show something crappy and give equal time to something uplifting. I didn't know about this until I came to myLot this morning. I am focusing on having a wonderful life. I don't need the depression and upset that the media seems to encourage.
3 people like this
I'm sure you have.
@RubyHawk (99367)
• Atlanta, Georgia
8 Jul 16
it's puzzling to me, I don't know what is going on. I know policemen put their lives on the line every day, but I hear unhealthy things about them. And we have as many black policeman as white. I think most policemen are just doing their job, but as in anything else there's bound to be bad ones. I know the media blows everything out of proportion. It's a bad situation any way you look at it.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
9 Jul 16
You are so right, most cops are good and most black people are not there to kill white people. The media are partly responsible, they only give importance to bad events and they almost never talk about the very good people who live in a country. This is very sad.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Jul 16
@LadyDuck In some ways, it's the opposite here, and in some ways it's similar. Most black, white and other people get along well. But the press prefers to report about violence and strife. However, here, the press likes to report about black perps who get injured by cops, and frame it as oppression of blacks (inflaming tensions), while they don't report enough on our incredible epidemic of black-on-black violence in our poor inner-city neighborhoods.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
10 Jul 16
i agree, 'tis media driven :( they seem to be so keen'n spreadin' all the hate 'n strife that goes'n, not jest'n this country, but world-wide. i aint quite figured who keeps pokin' that badger'n makin' such possible? sure'd like to hunt 'em down 'n show 'em to the world fer what they're though.
yepperz, 'tis gonna be the responsibility 'f all citizens 'cross the globe. not jest spread love, but compassion 'n respect fer self'n others. 't takes a village to raise a young'un, we need more villages with that sorta mindset.
young'uns're taught to hate - not jest other races, but other cultures, beliefs 'n the like. 'tis most shameful...
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
11 Jul 16
@TheHorse if'n folks showed their distaste fer such, the media'd no option but to rethink their plans, eh? sadly, some seem to feed off the 'schtuff' :(
i agree with ya, what a shame coz there's better ways to handle those issues 'nstead 'f burdenin' the next generation with their nonsense.
@nanette64 (20363)
• Fairfield, Texas
9 Jul 16
We were brought up differently than most people today @TheHorse . Values, respect, etc. It is a lot of the black leaders that instigate the problems. In a lot of the videos, it shows the 'perps' refusing to listen to commands by the police and then that's when the fights ensue. And then it's the 'perps' that are supposedly being 'picked on'. Well, if they would have followed directions, there wouldn't have been a problem. I also think the cops are getting sick and tired of having to repeat themselves and all they get is a bunch of BS from the 'perps'. There is not ONE time where someone from the media says to the 'perp', "When the officer asked for your ID and insurance, why didn't you just give it to them instead of arguing about why they stopped you?" "Had you done what you were told, there would not have been an altercation would there!" But nooooooo, the 'perp' is suddenly a 'victim'. What a crock.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238340)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Jul 16
@nanette64 I can watch it over and over and it still makes me laugh.
1 person likes this
