Or did you receive an introduction via Eyes On the Prize, Roots etc or did you receive a live-action crash course via public encounter? How open are you with your children about racism?

I finally watched a vid thats been circulating on Tiktok/Insta where a 55-60 yr old woman talks about her experience as a child and the trauma it brought. She says her mother gave her words of encouragement however she still carried low self-esteem and just couldnt fathom why white people were so mean and evil. It was sad, and I thought about my first encounter w/racism and how unprepared I was in not only dealing with it but also recognizing it. I would like to think Ive prepared my sons much better.

What’s your take?

There were the occasional comments I heard from family about how white people are, how they do racist things, but never a legit talking to or education like I should've had. One of my brothers married a white woman and my mom had a big convo with him, asking why he couldn't just find a nice black woman. But she'd never taught us the importance of building at black family, so I was young and confused why she was even asking that (at the time). I was taught more what Jesus say and all that. Grew with this advice to love all people until I realized white people don't see me as human. That was a really traumatic period, because I'd had white friends and just saw them as people. Looking back and realizing that was never really reciprocal was hard, not to mention the incident that finally truly woke me up. But I won't go on and on about that.

This is why I'm VERY selective about who I have children with. I was on the verge recently, but our ideas of how to educate our children, what it means to be Black, etc were just too different, and I will NOT raise unaware children. Absolutely not.

~
~
~
~
~
Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

Spirit felt on that last line.

My mom told me but she still put me in negative environments like catholic school and when the shit hit the fan with a number of racist and abusive teachers, she really didnt know how to handle it. In short, I was physically attacked by my 3rd grade teacher. My mom shouldve had the bitch arrested and got a lawyer, but she took the “highroad”. I think after that experience she stopped intergrating me into places&spaces. I’ve done the same as far as schools go and a little further by sitting in at least once on classes up to freshman year, particularly if my kids or the teacher notified me of a problem.

I gave them both the black girls/women first talk as well as the understanding on colorism within our community. My oldest has dated a white and latina girl before but most are Black/Pan-African and his current gf is Black and they shacking(lol). I think he gets where Im coming from but like any young person, he’s exploring.
Younger son isnt dating yet but he’s more aware of racism and is very leery of white people.

I was looking at candy but didn’t have enough for what I really wanted.. white dude behind the counter (teenager) gave me the candy bar. I went home and told my dad thinking he eiuld be like “that’s cool” and my parents were like “dont you EVER do that again”

that was the first time I got a talk about race.

but it still didn’t prepare me for white teachers in elementary school. Those motherfuckers are racist POS. Things like getting in trouble for doing the same thing white kids were foing but being the only one gets punished.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Although our parents and grandparents have gone through the US education system, I dont think many of us realize that its that particular system thats the root introduction into racism through a child’s eyes. Its the first place where you learn to feel inferior.

Recently visited a h.s that had always been a hood school, Black students and 85-90% Black teachers. The school was rebuilt and still holds a majority of Black students with some Latino students, but now the teaching staff looks 60% white. The 40% Black teachers are a mix of main teachers and subs. I doubt theres some super shortage of Black teachers, it definitely feels like its by design but the most infuriating part is that the public school network is still majority Black and Latino administratively. We’re allowing it.

anytime a student had an issue with the school they called my mom. She didn’t play and didn’t let white folk off the hook.

She had no problem calling shit out.

She was even on the school board for a few years.

I was talking to my older sisters and aunts and they all had stories of teachers doing racist shit that they didn’t even realize until years later. My aunt said they kept the Black kids inside at recess and let them do whatever they wanted. Didn’t dawn on her they were being segregated at recess. She ran up on the teacher years later after she graduated and let him know she would never be that type of teacher.

I cursed out my 3rd grade teacher and I’m still looking for my basketball coach, lol.. bastard faked like he was separated from his wife so he could have his midget son play basketball at our school. The shit these white folks at schools is incredible.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

I almost hate to say it but Im glad I never ran across my 3rd grade teacher cause I would be in jail for poppin her spine.

kid's parents were loaded. we're in a big cul de sac in a house FULL of white kids smoking weed, doing coke, drinking etc. me and my 2 guys, the only black people there fell back and stood in the street, talking to some other white kids who were hesitant about going in at all. police rolls up and immediately start harassing me and my dudes talking about there's been complaints, pretty much ignoring all the debauchery going on in the background. one of my dudes (white kid) had a big brother home from college who came to our rescue and basically lit into the police for messing with us. that was my first experience with learning that there are 2 justice systems in the US. me and my guys left around 11 but the word around school was the party lasted til about 3:30 that morning. so much for the complaints huh.





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cause my grandma was pure 100% all white people are evil. idk if i ever heard her say a kind word about more than 5 white people in my life.

my parents were more "yeah some of em are but some of em are solid too"

<--- Big Baller World Order

Did that prepare you for your first encounter with racism (blatant/hidden)?

pretty sure i told this story on here before.

it was the time we all discovered punching each other in the nuts as humor/horseplay. and this one white kid that participated in it, told a teacher on me and a couple other black kids and they got the SRO to come threaten that he was going to take us to jail for assault if we kept it up. and the other kids were crying and carrying on and i'm like "bet i can't wait to tell my mom about this cause yall are in for it"

long story short, the white kid ended up having to admit he was in on it too. the SRO got reassigned to desk duty or some shit. and we got a written apology from the principal and the school board. im pretty sure she still has it collected somewhere like a trophy

ive never really had issues maneuvering or identifying racism because my grandma always told me white people were the devil. i never really had a chance to have childhood innocence on that front

and my parents socialized me around white people and activities at an early age so i wouldn't have a limited social perspective. as long as i can remember i've been familiar w/ the ways white people move

so as i got older, things like a viet kid yelling nigger at me over and over because i did his team up in a soccer game didnt phase me nearly as much as it did my teammates (black, white and hispanic) because it wasn't a shock to me that it could happen.

<--- Big Baller World Order

The situation with the SRO brings to mind the Central Park 5.

I don't think my mom even brought of racism a way that would've been informative. shit has been on the job training, especially as a teen.

one of my boys were really into white girls. I'd never really dealt with them before. just not my thing. he set up a double date with me, him, and two white chicks.

I was hella uncomfortable while riding along. don't remember much of it now, but clearly recall the one in the back seat with me smiling real big and saying I got me a nigger! she was proud af.

I gave her a death stare and she apologized, but I was done. I couldn't punch her in the face like my 16 yr old self wanted to because I knew that would make it worse. my buddy was still trying to get some ass, laffing and shit.

I've talked to both of mine about it. not in a sit down, here's a whole thing kind of way, but more like random convos at the table or when driving.

my daughter is 19 and seems to be pretty aware of things. however, she's thinking about transferring to UGA. I warned her about willfully placing herself in situations where shit could go sour because she's black.

my son went to a more mixed middle school last year. he became more aware when a YT kid would go on about his love of country, god, and guns. told him to watch that one cuz none of that says he likes black kids.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

So what became of your boy who thought all that shit was funny?

we've been out of touch as adults. I called him recently thought. he didn't sound good. has a thyroid issue.

he's still talking like he's 16. talking about pulling chicks, hanging out, and fighting. he's also divorced and grandpa. hasn't grown up.

not sure he messed with white chicks afterwards, but I knew I wasn't.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

I grew up outside of Pittsburgh which is the birthplace of interracial dating.

I was messing with one back in HS and when prom came around she was like “so when are you going to ask me to prom” and I responded “aint no fucking way I’m taking prom photos with a white girl.. I got a momma and sisters”

She lost it. OMG, I been fighting my mom and her boyfriend and this is how you do me? You guys are just as bad as my mom”

me: “yup.. ikr? aint that some shit? Not gon be able to do it!!!”


had a friend or 2 who kept dipping after HS and these dudes been in and out of jail over these broads. I read a small town paper of my homie getting arrested that had to be written by someone we know.

“when police arrived, Jon was sitting on the curb drunk and told the cops “go ahead and arrest me now, yall always believe the white chick anyways”

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

My parents were activist lawyer types, my dad was a civil rights lawyer. It was a lot of Martin & Malcolm, Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, Huey Newton, Last Poets as a kid. Black Liberation Theology though no one called it that. As I got older it was Isis Papers, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization. My dad even got heavy into Public Enemy as an older man.

We watched Eyes on the Prize in my majority black elementary school. I grew up in a majority black county in VA with majority black teachers so I don't have a lot of the racist school incidents people are sharing here. Well not in way that would make me feel powerless.

For example, I did have a 5th grade teacher who starting talking about how slavery couldn't have been that bad because "if you had a horse who you used for work , you wouldn't beat that horse unnecessarily. you would have to take care of it".

I came home and told my parents about that convo. My dad called the superintendent of schools that night (who was black), and the teacher apologized to the whole class the next day.

I remember this pwt white kid called someone the n word once and he got his ass whupped.

I was talking to my uncle last night who grew up in segregated baton rogue and one of the things he talked about was all the folks he looked up to were black. The doctors, lawyers, teachers, home builders. His parents were able to shield him away from segregated fountains and he grew up in a very black world and didn't encounter much blatant racism. I kinda grew up like that and really didn't inherent ideas that black people were supposed to be inferior or thought of as less than.

That's how I am trying to raise my kids even though there environment is totally different.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>...he grew up in a very black
>world and didn't encounter much blatant racism. I kinda grew
>up like that and really didn't inherent ideas that black
>people were supposed to be inferior or thought of as less
>than.

Since nearly everyone was black, race wasn't a big factor in how I perceived myself. I was free to be whatever I wanted without race being attached to it. The high-achieving smart kids in my school weren't smart for black kids," they were just smart.

You were definitely blessed.

I’m working on my youngest to be in the mindset to attend/graduate an hbcu and bypass the white majority institutions.

I grew up in a neighborhood that was around 50/50 black/white. So there would often be situations where I'd be hanging with friends and they'd explain to me that what I can get in trouble for vs. the white kids could be very different. I remember when I was maybe in first grade, and in our sub they were building new houses. Me and a couple of my white friends were checking out the construction sites, and my dad saw us. He schooled me on the danger of walking through a construction site, but also the impact of "trespassing" while being a Black kid.

Also little things like I remember bringing a Transformer toy home that one of my friends let me borrow, and I got schooled to NEVER bring something home that wasn't mine, whether given to me or not, because I could get accused of stealing.

As I got older, it's funny that you mention Eyes on the Prize and Roots because I JUST mentioned that to a friend of mine. I'm reading Michael Harriot's book Black AF History (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - and the audio book is currently free on Spotify) and I'm realizing how much I never learned when I was young. As a kid my only education on our history was from Roots, Eyes on the Prize, and Black history programs at my church which were very much surface level.

I didn't fully get racism - with an understanding of institutional racism and micro aggressions - until college. I remember the summer before college, I was working a retail job. I mentioned to a white coworker that I was about to be a freshman at Michigan. That kid (who was going to community college) told me "yeah, you only got in there because you're Black." I was livid. Told my parents about it that night, and I told them that I didn't agree with Affirmative Action because I was so offended that someone would say that. I had a 3.98 GPA and a 32 ACT score - I deserved to get into Michigan regardless of being Black!!!. My parents were taken back by me saying that and checked the MESS out of me. Then I could see on their faces that they realized that they'd never really talked to me about racism. They straight up schooled me that evening, and got me all the way together. They were transparent in sharing their experiences from the 50's and 60's, all the way through that present time in the 90's with the racism they saw in their careers as a firefighter and a teacher. They explained the reasons WHY they'd always been so strict with me.

After that evening I realized I had much to learn, because before that I thought "racism" was the blatant stuff like lynchings and police forces stopping Black kids from going to school, and I didn't notice the more subtle every day racism. The combination of that conversation with my parents with me moving out and going to college that fall, living on my own and starting to see things myself, is what made me really start to learn it.

I remember having a quiz at our after school program at the community center on Black inventors. We got all those questions wrong because Carver and the peanut.

We were pissed. Why hadn’t we learned about any of these amazing people in school?!

I also remember 7th grade riding back from a basketball game and we were talking Black history and my homie said “they talk about MLK but never talk about Malcolm X.

Who???

Went to the library and started taking out books.

Also have to give a shout out to hip hop. BDP, PE brought up names that made me search for knowledge.

YOU.MUST.LEARN!!!

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

>I'm reading Michael Harriot's book Black AF History (HIGHLY
>RECOMMENDED - and the audio book is currently free on Spotify)
>and I'm realizing how much I never learned when I was young.
>As a kid my only education on our history was from Roots, Eyes
>on the Prize, and Black history programs at my church which
>were very much surface level.

Thank you for mentioning this book. Got a copy from the local library late last week. I'm about a quarter of the way through and while the majority of the jokes he makes in the footnotes don't always land, I do like how relatively easy dude's writing style is. The chapters so far don't get too boring or overwhelming to read.

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

Not just my parents, but my aunts, uncles, camp counselors and scout leader. They certainly didn't sugarcoat anything. Stories about the racist cops, Frank Rizzo, racist people at their jobs, the racist army, racist people in northeast Philly, the racist justice/jail system, racist Reagan & the government, the racist USA, etc.

The stories from their past were crazy too. Scout leader said when he was a kid in Philly, the cops once drove down the street real slow, and the cop in the passenger seat leaned out the window and pointed a shotgun at them. Held aim on them for a while, then drove off laughing.

Philly was quite segregated growing up, so a lot of stuff they taught me was right in front of my face. Almost everyone I interacted with daily was Black. Occasionally, when I'd be in a non-Black environment and people were treating me coldly or like shit, the reason was pretty obvious.

When I went off to college in '94 I had my oldest aunt warn me to stay away from the white girls. Wasn't hate, she was concerned for my safety.

It’s funny cause I remember my mom making mention about Reagan, white folks and politics as early as kindergarten too.

My mom did. My dad didn't til I was older, and he's pretty racist. So thank god my mom got to me first.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

>My mom did.

jk.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

My mom was a 60s hippie kid who really latched on to Civil Rights, and was adamant about basic human rights and things of that nature. I can't really remember specifics of the conversations she had with me, but I know her early lessons to me were along the lines of, we're all human, you and I are insanely lucky to have been born here, to be white, some people were born in disadvantageous situations that we can never fully understand, and thru no fault of their own, have empathy and always stand up for the underdog (for lack of a better term). That sort of thing.

I vaguely remember her talking about police harassment of Black people around the time of the Rodney King beating, but again I don't really remember specifics. I just know that that's where I'd first heard about police brutality.

One specific anecdote I *do* remember was when I was about 11 or 12, and she pointed out to me that in the show "Friends" (which I never liked to begin with) they live in New York City and there's not a single Black person in that show. Like not even an extra. That was a "pay attention to this sort of thing" moment that she pointed out to me. Representation, even if she didn't use that word.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

I live in a liberal college town where there are a lot of white progressives and see some interesting levels of awareness. The fact that you remember that much of what your mom taught you shows some strong impact and her sincerity.

I'm adopted as well, so the fact that I ended up being adopted and raised by someone like her, who gave me such important perspective(s) and building blocks, especially that early in life (she died of cancer when I was 16, and for example the anecdote I told you about the Rodney King stuff happened when I was I think 8yo) is something I don't take for granted either, for a million reasons.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Like the folks show here at some point black people/kids are going to have to talk about race but it is remarkable how in this country its relatively easy for white people to never have to talk about race which is why so many find it so difficult or default to "what's the big deal?"



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>Like the folks show here at some point black people/kids are
>going to have to talk about race but it is remarkable how in
>this country its relatively easy for white people to never
>have to talk about race which is why so many find it so
>difficult or default to "what's the big deal?"

Definitely. These past few years have really highlighted this for me. I'd long assumed that since I grew up in the Boston area among mostly "liberals," that my situation was typical, and that most of my friends' parents would have had similar discussions with them.

Learned the hard way that that is *definitely* not the case and that I was one of the very, very, very few. Which has made for some very frank and very hard discussions with some close friends. Harder for them than me; the only hard part for me was realizing how ignorant (willfully or otherwise) so many of my friends have always been, without my realizing it. And that's saying something, cuz I'm pretty ignorant in the bigger picture, because of the bubble I grew up in, even having had those types of conversations at an early age.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Im curious as to how your parents came together with such vastly different perspectives on race.

Also, this post is directed at those who are Black. Although your experience is unique, it comes off as a push into a conversation that you recognize but have not at all experienced.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

by the way he described moms

the hippy mom and racist dad def has a “goils were goils and men were mennnn” vibe

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

and it's not just Brew's folks - I have this question in general. it kinda fascinates me, think that there is obvious answers, but believing that it has to be "deeper", right?

it goes into relationships with family, as a whole.

how complicated are those convos and moments of co-existence - or - how "hard" is it to ignore certain things?

iono.

_____________
if racism is a cancer, black thought is the answer.

Rjcc is code for "bitch-ass troll"

DROkayplayer™

I grew up in North Philly and went to an all black Public School.

When I was bussed out to Richmond, I encountered racism face to face. I was called; porch monkey, jungle bunny, tar baby and the first time I remember being called the N word.

That's when I was given "The Talk".

IG: https://www.instagram.com/illharmonic.orchestra
FB: https://www.facebook.com/illharmonicorchestra
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/theephantom

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Almost everyone on my bus had tested out of their neighborhood school's into Magnet or Advanced Learning Programs.

Those neighborhoods weren't ready for all those black and brown faces.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/illharmonic.orchestra
FB: https://www.facebook.com/illharmonicorchestra
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/theephantom

Port Richmond in the 80s/90s might've been worse than VA with the racism.

One of those neighborhoods that I never set foot in until ~10 or so years ago, and I still feel uncomfortable being there. Fishtown & parts of South Philly too.

It was definitely crazy racist in the 80's and 90's. Those Caucaparents were none too pleased with the blacks coming into their neighborhood.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/illharmonic.orchestra
FB: https://www.facebook.com/illharmonicorchestra
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/theephantom

learned really early on that children learn racism from their parents
or whatever environment they are in. it's pretty sick.

went to san diego recently and was taken aback at how racist some of
those people are and what they teach their kids, and they were not
white. asians, hispanics, etc. can be racist as f*ck over there.

and they say things like “them.. a certain group of people”

and usually its Asians.

Just said they are shitty af in large groups on those ships.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Based partly in that. Charter on the northwest side of chicago, predominantly latino. Grades k-5th were nice, miss a lot of those babies, but a number of the older students were racist af and punk af too. The principal didnt make it much better being a latino make that upheld white women. When I put in my resignation 3 weeks after orientation he was so worried and kept asking ‘was there anything done here for you to want to leave’.

On another note I ended up teaching just 20blks away, at a public school (much more $) where the kids had a similar ration yet did not display racist traits, but a number of them were bad af. Lol. The principal had his hair cut in a Mayan style while suited up everyday for work. His own child attended the school as well. I say all that to say I believe he set a tone there were racism was not tolerated. On the other hand there were some staff that tried not to reveal their true selves but it would seep through.

As for Asians, as anytime they are in groups or w/white friends they go apeshit racist. Its the most Igorish, bootlickenish, ‘did I do good master’ shit to ever see. They’ll also step on each other and lower themselves for white approval. It’s sad af.

then she said like 8 of them showed up from across the street and tried to intimidate her.

She knows a little spanish so she heard one of them tell the driver “don’t give that bitch your insurance info”

and yes, most groups will go above and beyond for white approval.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

I was friends with the popular white kid who moved to our town. He was rich AF and really good in sports so we were competitive at recess.

We beat his team in football and I was talking mad shit in line on the way in because its what we always did but this was the first time I really spanked his squad.

He hit me with a NIGGER that caught me off guard

He was big af but I damn sure tried to beat his ass. He got the lecture and we shook hands but that shit threw me off.

I had heard the word because I watched The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and knew about racism but to hear it directed at me in front of the class?

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Not to mention from someone you considered a friend.

obviously

kept my guard up at all times after that shit.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

The West Side of I-35 was white, the East Side was Black, south of the city was Mexican and white and north of the city was transplants of all races.
We apartment hopped from the ages of 4 to 8 and then from 8 to 12 we had a house in the Northern suburbs
From 5-12 I participated in all of my youth activities on the East side. Like a reverse busing.
I would go to school in these racist ass environments, often time the only Black kid in the room, definitely in my GT and honors classes
Take the bus home, wait for my dad to come pick me up, he'd drive me to the East side and I'd play basketball or football there.
In all of my years there, there was little intermingling between demographics. Even the North side Black folks never made their way to the East side.
I didn't have to have a talk about racism. I lived it.

------
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

Don't you think all the other black people here lived it as well?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

I didn’t get invited to birthday parties or sleep overs or really have any interactions outside of school hours
And during school hours I had to fight … a lot

------
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

I wish I could tell you that I got important life lessons from my parents but thats not the case
They were high schoolers from the projects that had me in highschool
I learned to read and write when I was 2 and they got me into advanced schooling by the third grade and that was the last age they were able to help with school
They went to bat for me behind the scenes to ensure that I got treated equally but they never brought that home
I never got the be twice as good talk
I never got the dont let your white friends get you in trouble talk
I never got the watch out for cops talk
The closest I came to a talk was my dad taking me to see Menace and Sugar Hill in theater as a kid and on the rides home him telling me that the difference between our life and that life was doing whatever it takes to get out

I didnt get race talks.
I got work your way out of this shit talks.
I got responsibility and no excuses talks.
Nobody denigrated my community folks and said your cousins are like this because of xyz.
Nobody said the suburbs are better because of abc.

------
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

sorry my dude but I laugh at folks who tell me what they were doing at 2.

You were shitting and eating my dude.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

It’s whatever though. The point of that wasnt to point out how book smart I was or am.
Shit didnt prepare me for the institutions it gave me access to.
The question was did our parents talk to us about racism. My answer no, they immersed me in racist structures that they didn’t understand and said swim.

------
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

like, nah my nigga your life is what i said it was because im too dense to comprehend it

yet another post turned into The Legsdiamond Show

understanding perspectives NOT his own just isnt in his dna

https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/fatal-bear-attacks-2021/

2021 Has Been a Year of Brutal Bear Attacks—And the Worst May Be Yet to Come

Snip- It’s not just more bears. There are more people recreating in bear country than ever, and a lot of them don’t know how to recreate safely. Following restrictions on indoor activities and international travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic, people from all over the country have turned their attention to public land in the western U.S. The sudden increase in visitors has put local land managers in a bind.


People dont learn how to navigate bears and thats with land managers and park rangers. There are stores that’ll sell you all of the equipment to go and be outdoors but the actual knowledge of how to be outdoors safely is learned. I learned from my wife about digging holes, elevating food, and urinating away from campsites. I was in my mid thirties. To me racism is no different as a concept but deeply worse. Because nobody talks honestly about it and often the victims of it have internal mechanisms to downplay it. “My parents, elders, and ancestors survived worse so who am I to complain”. For me. My folks put me in bear country. My parents couldn’t teach me or talk to me about things they didnt know or couldnt conceptualize because their solution was to give me better opportunities. To them racism wasnt scoring me different on tests, alienating me on assignments and activities, weaponizing calling my parents or the principal for the slightest infraction … it was always on me, a kid, to have done the right thing or pick my punishment. Follow the school rules which were against what was being taught in the house and get punished at home or break the school rules and get punished at home for having the school call.

And since racism is so insidious and systematic and not always overt, folks just didnt know and still dont know what people are being subjected to. We see it every year with national news now between mock auctions, racist homework assignments, school beatings, Halloween costumes … etc. And thats just the overt stuff.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

It definitely happens. There are parents that dont know how to address it to their kids or just figure the kid will figure it out. I know of parents that purposely refuse to inform their kids about racism. One mom said she didn’t want to ruin her kids childhood with it. I get it though, couldnt see having my kids just get attacked out the blue with no understanding.

>I get it though, couldnt see
>having my kids just get attacked out the blue with no
>understanding.

I lived a very "you figure it out" ass life. Race was one of the easier things to figure out. Most everyone notices being othered.
Much easier than when I was 10 and my dad needed the garbage disposal fixed and he just handed me the replacment part
Or being 9 and "taught" to iron clothes by having me iron his pants and instead of telling me what I was doing wrong or right him just handing me them and telling me to do it again.
My entire upbringing has been being the first person in the family to do something, having them ask ME questions about how I did it, and not being allowed to as a kid to ask "why" or "how"

What I've come to imagine my life is that if I was a first generation immigrant kid it would've looked very similar to what my experience was
And so I consider myself first generation poverty and think of everything in that vein.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

with her son. he's also in a very white world.

I get having limited convos so it's not the entire focus of household discussions or turning it into hate speech towards others. however, because it's so pervasive, it shouldn't be completely off limits in the house.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

Then there was an ah ha moment to be talked about
And what Im saying as a specific difference is that there was never an ah ha or oh that what that is moment for me
When I was 8 and the teacher had all of the 10 non Black kids in the grades be rats in the nut cracker play and I said to her I wasn't going to be a rat specifically because thats what she assigned to only the brown kids, nobody talked to me about that I knew
There was never a talk in my house about how I was going to be treated differently. There was immersion.
The friends, community, and team mates I was around never left East Austin
Youth and rec leagues were full on segregated
It wasnt until AAU tournaments became more prominent down here in the early 90s that folks from the community would get a chance to compete against other groups.
Hell we weren’t even pop warner football until like 95.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

And I didn't have an a ha moment (but my folks did talk about it).

I'm just trying to figure out why you think your experience was so different from everyone else.

What's the smugness about?



>Then there was an ah ha moment to be talked about
>And what Im saying as a specific difference is that there was
>never an ah ha or oh that what that is moment for me
>When I was 8 and the teacher had all of the 10 non Black kids
>in the grades be rats in the nut cracker play and I said to
>her I wasn't going to be a rat specifically because thats what
>she assigned to only the brown kids, nobody talked to me about
>that I knew
>There was never a talk in my house about how I was going to be
>treated differently. There was immersion.
>The friends, community, and team mates I was around never left
>East Austin
>Youth and rec leagues were full on segregated
>It wasnt until AAU tournaments became more prominent down here
>in the early 90s that folks from the community would get a
>chance to compete against other groups.
>Hell we weren’t even pop warner football until like 95.


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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

If anything I feel as if I lost something.
To grow as a kid without any innocence or illusions was a loss.
Im not better for it. No kid should have to be so hard.
At least sell me the dream that getting out of environment meant getting an opportunity to succeed
Instead I was the first generation of our entire family thrown into the pool of integration and told if I drowned it was because I didn’t work hard enough
Nobody in the house prepared me to be around whiteness because they didnt know what it meant in their own lives.
They knew the surface level, go on this side of town and x, end up in this part of the state ay night and y, date this kind of person and z. That surface level shit.
They’re just now as adult adults navigating shit Ive been dealing with as a kid. The systems.
No smugness. Not at all. I lost out.
Children shouldn’t have to navigate systems alone.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

It's a response several people have given here.

But I think you wanted to be above all the responses here so you come with the "I didn't have to have a talk about racism. I lived it." like everyone else here didn't live it. Or there was nothing really to talk about because I guess you just intuit.

This whole, I wish I had the innocence of you ignorant mofos had but I was cursed with the brilliance to see through the illusions you all lived; it's a low key flex. It's so hard to be so aware and smart!!

COme on man. Give us a break. We get it. You are super smart.

But Imma leave you alone man. Even if you didn't have an a-ha moment, it sounds like you did have a complicated relationship with race growing up (like the rest of folks) and my point isn't really to belittle that experience.

I'm just coming at you for trying so hard to make your experience sound soo different and above it all then the everyone else.

Peace God.





>If anything I feel as if I lost something.
>To grow as a kid without any innocence or illusions was a
>loss.
>Im not better for it. No kid should have to be so hard.
>At least sell me the dream that getting out of environment
>meant getting an opportunity to succeed
>Instead I was the first generation of our entire family thrown
>into the pool of integration and told if I drowned it was
>because I didn’t work hard enough
>Nobody in the house prepared me to be around whiteness because
>they didnt know what it meant in their own lives.
>They knew the surface level, go on this side of town and x,
>end up in this part of the state ay night and y, date this
>kind of person and z. That surface level shit.
>They’re just now as adult adults navigating shit Ive been
>dealing with as a kid. The systems.
>No smugness. Not at all. I lost out.
>Children shouldn’t have to navigate systems alone.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I just skipped the flufferies. My parents didnt talk to me about race as a kid
We have the conversations we were supposed to have then, now and with respect to my children and family members that are leaving us.

My dad still feels strongly that since they worked their way out that anyone that didn’t achieve was 100% due to laziness, greed, and/or stupidity. That’s their relationship to race today in 2024. And I understand not wanting to be a victim. But my contention now and as a kid was that you can’t ignore systems, you can’t fight them head on, but dont give them your brain.

For my parents what I had been dealing with didn’t set in until I was in the eighth grade. We moved to a wealthy all white school in San Antonio and my teammates were “jokingly” writing KKK on the bus windows after a basketball game. When I got in a fight with them I got kicked off the team. When my mom came to pick me up the team and coach never denied the writing, it was chalked up as kids being kids.

I got to do all of highschool at a solidly lower middle class school with a large Black and brown population. We never talked about anything before. But that was when things changed.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

I dont think Im so smart yada yada
You mentioned in other posts your family name has a legacy
Mine doesn't my great grandfather was a sharecropper he died when I was one, my grandmother cleaned houses most of my life, my dad had me in highschool and boom there I was. Being raised in a segregated city. The closest parallel I got would have been being raised in Richmond. But shit even they got a culture of HBCUs and only two hours for DC.

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

I can see the glasses and 2 tone smedium winter jacket

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

It does come off with gun powder for breakfast responses. However, one poster also said they were enriched in Blackness from birth and taught the ways of white folks so when they started throwing racist words, it rolled off his back cause he already knew them for who they were.
It kinda came off as ‘above it all’ but its his story, same w/ MEAT.

Thing of it is despite being informed or not, all of us as Black children were introduced to the ways of racist in some way, some sooner than others but still in during childhood (3- 15).

but folks be on some weird flexes on here

“I walked across the Birmingham bridge with Martin when I was in my daddy’s nutsack”

“I was in jail with Detroit Red” ass niggas.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

He can't stand to hear black folk focusing on it

So how did he teach you to deal with it or get a premonition of when it was coming your way?

He's always been the "keep your eyes peeled" type, be cool and just remove yourself from situations that could be trouble. He's just always said that racists will always be out there no matter what and that I was the only person that could hold me back today.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

grew up picking cotton in the 40s, only one in his family to graduate high school, went into the military ended up in Boston, then college, grad school and whatnot. He's had a Forrest Gump type of amazing rise lol. Like the people he knew along the way and all that.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

but also had access to positive images of ourselves growing up (at least during the high school years). NOI used to provide security at the subway stations, so I never experienced the bad cop deal; there were Black classmates who were clearly more well off than some of the white kids in class. So, I didn't internalize any of the blatant racist stuff: I was a nerd and one of the HS teachers...wasn't even my teacher...grilled me with a buncha science questions during class, because he thought I was cheating (on some, no way you negroes can be this good at this stuff). To remember that white guy walking off in a huff makes me laugh even to this day.

I try to do the same for my kids, show them the best of us and avoid the the psychological warfare (aka, local news) as much as possible. I mean, during the lockdowns, we did nothing but watched Black travel vloggers who went to places like Nigeria, Kenya, etc...to have them see how it isn't just a buncha people in huts was a big confidence boost...and hopefully they realize they don't have to be confined to the borders of this country (everyone has their passport).

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A bad Samaritan averaging above average men (c) DOOM

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i will not let finite disappointment undermine infinite hope
- Cory Booker

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win
- Gary Lineker

Watched with my youngest too and he is so excited to see the world. My oldest who checked in now and then is now ready to tell the US to kiss his *** and wants me to move with him. I dont mind and glad both my boys are beyond this country.