21 Things You Can't Do While Black

[G_j]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/21-things-you-cant-do-while-black?utm_medium=Facebook&utm_source=mjfb

21 Things You Can't Do While Black
In the United States, sometimes your skin color is evidence enough against you.

<snip>

1. Listen to loud music at a gas station.

2. Walk home from a snack run to 7-11.

3. Wear a hoodie.

4. Drive after swimming.

5. Drive in a car with a white girl.

6. Appear in public in New York City.

7. Walk on the wrong side of the street.

8. Wait for a school bus to take you to your high school basketball game.

9. Drink iced tea in a parking lot.

10. Seek help after a car accident.

11. Inspect your own property.

12. Show up at your job.

13. Talk trash after an NFL game.

14. Throw a temper tantrum in kindergarten.

15. Buy designer accessories at Barney’s.

16. Buy designer accessories at Macy’s.

17. Be a 13-year-old boy.

18. Enter your own home.

19. Botch a science experiment.

20. Be a tourist.

21. Lay face down in handcuffs.

[RKP5637]

1. Yep, good old USA. Land of freedom and equality for all. What a bunch of bullshit that

has been since day one.

[Sancho]

2. Did you include shopping for a $10,000 designer hat?

Walk across the property you just bought to inspect it.

This could be a very long list...

[MADem]

26. Buy a big ass purse in Switzerland...! nt

[MrScorpio]

3. And that's the short list... nt

[HereSince1628]

4. True, terribly so... n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. What's the big deal? All those seem perfectly

reasonable. (As if it's needed. )

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R

[marble falls]

7. I couldn't be black, too many rules. And some say there is no such thing as white privelege.

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. +1 for #5 ...

I have personal experience with that one.

[freshwest]

47. Or work with a white girl, and then said white girl picks a place to eat she knows, and they go in

and the help acts like they can't see either one. Suddenly they are invisible. They've taken an unexpected field trip into:

White girl gets pissed and wants to raise a fuss, but black man tells her to be patient. That doesn't work for them either, so he says, it's okay, let's go somewhere else.

It's an example of when white privilege doesn't work. And all it took was seeing a black man with her. Yes, the power of blackness!

Ain't that cute? And people say it's a post racial society.

[1StrongBlackMan]

49. I haven't had that experience, but I have ...

had the pleasure of being mistaken for, and ignored as, "the help", when in actuality, the person that the help thought was the "boss" was my subordinate ... and so was the mistaking party; but he was so far beneath my rank, he didn't know it.

[freshwest]

50. Same thing happened to Obama, you know. I'm sure you handled it with undeserved grace. What did your

subordinate have to say, or was he embarrassed?

[1StrongBlackMan]

51. The subordinate that ...

was addressed as "Boss", kind of laughed nervously and said, "I don't know, I'll ask my boss."

The mistaken one just kind of disappeared back to the lower floors, that I rarely went onto, except to talk to my folks in the mail room.

[DeSwiss]

9. ''Looking'' is also not allowed.

[font size=1]New cell phone footage shows Miami-Dade
Police officers aggressively pinning an unarmed
teen to the ground while choking him. His
alleged crime: giving the officers “dehumanizing
stares” and “clenching his fists.” link[/font]

- A lesson in subservience. Look down at the ground boy if you don't want to get choked and beaten.

I know this drill.........

K&R

[KansDem]

11. 22. Tell police the Medic Alert alarm rang erroneously and that you're really all right.

[liberalhistorian]

12. This is all so sadly, disgustingly true.

And what's really sad is that too many Americans will just not, or refuse to, understand it, and trot out the usual "angry minority" label.

And this list could also very much apply to native americans here in South Dakota, even on their own reservations. I'm white and live on a reservation and still have far more "natural" privileges than they do. But, to too many South Dakotans, they're "favored" and "coddled by the gubmint", etc., etc.

[Heidi]

13. Kick, kick, kick!!!

[cinnabonbon]

14. This deserves another kick.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. You forgot, "Look for food in the aftermath of a major natural disaster"

[riderinthestorm]

16. .

All true dammit.

[Fred Sanders]

17. NOT having to even think about any of these things is defined as "white privilege", for those

not certain of the meaning of the phrase.

[freshwest]

43. Yes, the blissful state achieved by always being assumed innocent until proven guilty.

Being given the benefit of the doubt that one has good intent and never thought to be dishonest. It's a great way to live, builds confidence and promotes success. It's what gets many through the day in one piece.

Those not so endowed by their social environment, don't appear honest to those who have that privilege because they are defending themselves from negative opinions, creating anxious responses.

It's a recipe for social failure that starts in childhood and causes their world to shrink due to the energy they expend to pursue their goals despite the hostility of others.

Such a waste of talent and energy for those judged before they have even said one word or done anything to merit such condemnation.

Freedom to be oneself and be accepted for it is not granted to all people. Those that have that take it for granted and it also breeds a sense that those without that are lacking.

[heaven05]

18. truth in amerikkka

[Blue_Tires]

19. brilliant

kick

[Digital Puppy]

20. K&R!!

[gordianot]

21. I have number 22.

While being President make any descision, statement that is not closely scrutinized in terms of racial politics.

[wryter2000]

22. The kid from next door came over last night

He knocked on the door to let me know I'd left my headlights on. It occurred to me this morning, he could have been risking his life. He could have figured it wasn't worth the risk. My car wouldn't have started this morning.

In this case, we'd interacted before, and he could feel safe enough, but if he didn't know me better...

[CFLDem]

23. #23

Can't star in a Cheerios commercial with a white wife.

[G_j]

28. never seen such a sign, but I'll take your word for it

Getting shot for it is another thing.
I don't think it mentioned anything about wearing a hoodie and sunglasses into a bank..

welcome to DU

[Scuba]

25. Big kick.

[Kurovski]

27. Still goin' on.

post-racial my white ass.

K&R

[SummerSnow]

30. You forgot to add...

22. Don't ever reach into your pocket to take anything out because you might shot by the police. The ole " we thought he had a gun" card.

23. Don't use a credit card in high end department stores cause you might be accused of stealing it.

[treestar]

31. K&R

and the add ons.

[Enthusiast]

32. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

[uponit7771]

33. +1

[IADEMO2004]

34. Running, any where, any time not at a sponsored event.

[Cha]

35. Wow! Most of those resonate

from the tragic news..

I'm wondering about "Drive after swimming", though.

thanks G_j

[M0rpheus]

40. Here ya go!

http://kdvr.com/2013/06/10/sober-man-arrested-for-dui-claims-it-was-case-of-driving-while-black/

Sober man arrested for DUI, claims it was case of ‘Driving While Black’

SURPRISE, Ariz. – A 64-year-old retiree was charged with a DUI after being pulled over by police officers in Surprise, Ariz. There was just one problem: A breathalyzer test revealed that the man was sober, with a blood-alcohol content of 0.000.
Jessie Thornton, a 64-year-old retired firefighter from Ohio, said that cops told him that they didn’t need a breathalyzer to give him a DUI, ABC 15 reports. Police on the scene reportedly told Thornton that they knew he was drunk merely by looking at him, even though he was completely sober.
According to Surprise Police Department paperwork, Thornton was pulled around at around 11 p.m. for crossing a white line in his lane. Apparently, the 64-year-old had red eyes after swimming at a nearby LA Fitness, but the officer assumed that he had been drinking.

[Cha]

42. thanks M0rpheus :(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

36. Be married to a white woman in Jasper, Texas.

And have mixed kids.

[Art_from_Ark]

38. I rode my bicycle through Jasper, Texas one year

1979, to be precise. I was not bothered while I rode through the town. But with the recent racial incidents there, I wonder if things might have been different had I been black. And it's kind of scary to think I might not have even made it that far, because when I was in a small mom-and-pop grocery near Chicot State Park, Louisiana, a couple of guys in the next aisle were discussing the next Klan meeting

[Number23]

37. Wonder if this was the NSA?

The day he swore out the complaint, the government intercepted a telephone call between Daragjati and a friend. As detailed in the complaint, while referring to the victim’s arrest and prosecution, Daragjati told the friend that he had “fried another nigger.” The government subsequently intercepted several additional calls during which Daragjati allegedly used the word “nigger” to refer to African-Americans.

http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2011/nypd-officer-charged-with-criminal-civil-rights-violation-for-false-arrest-and-malicious-prosecution?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=new-york-press-releases&utm_content=38287

ETA: I've just read every one of the items in that list. First thread I've bookmarked in months. K&R

[gwheezie]

39. If this carnage were happening in the white community

to young white males there'd be a million man march every week.
My grandson is black, when he was 4 he was so excited when my daughter and her husband took him to "vote"for Obama and I thought he will always know you can be black and president in this country.
My son in law has been teaching him how to be black in a white community, the typical talk and corrections along the way so he doesn't get shot or jailed. They live in a typical middle class neighborhood but these risks are present no matter where he lives. He's a smart kid, very well mannered, but he doesn't let loose often. He's 10, he is learning how to fit in, his life depends on it and even that is not for sure. My son in law is a very grounded, realistic guy and a great dad but I have been wondering why a 10 year old has to learn these things and then I read the news.
Anyway for my part, I love that kid fiercely, I'd jump in front of a train for him, I figure if I would do that, then I cannot allow racism to go unchallanged, I can't tell you how many times someone looks at me and assumes since I am an old white lady that I agree with their sick racism and then I have to get real with them. And I think about all the young black males I've met over the years due to my career, most wind up where I work due to some kind of trouble, some threat in the community, some issues with mental health, some behavior that scares folks and I can't think of one of my regular repeat patients I don't love, yes love because they are my grandson or my son in law,because some of these guys would not be on the road they are on if they were white men, they would not have felony drug convictions that prevent them from getting jobs, or normal adolescent behavior where they wound up taken to a hospital because it is not tolerated when black males bump up against scared white folks. I knew exactly what Obama meant when he said Trayvon could have been his son.

[JustAnotherGen]

41. Kick

[freshwest]

44. #44: Be POTUS w/o inciting a lynch mob from Day One and found guilty of every imagined evil. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

45. kick

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. ….

powerful.

[rbrnmw]

52. Jim Crow never went away

he is alive and well in a different form