"…We have to take it seriously."

[MrScorpio]

http://mic.com/articles/127262/watch-obama-defend-black-lives-matter-in-his-strongest-comments-yet?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social

[dreamnightwind]

1. Good words, glad he's making this point

Maybe he knows somebody in power that can do something about it.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "Maybe he knows somebody in power that can do something about it."

Or maybe Bernie "can do something about it" considering the current President is a victim of it perpetrated from the majority group in this country who most certainly aren't black.

[dreamnightwind]

8. Sure, Obama and Holder are nothing but victims.

Actually they rose to power by largely buying into the same old worldview, and work in the interests of the same institutions in whose service these problems are a feature, not a bug.

I must have missed the last 7 years of epic fights put up by this administration to remedy this problem while I was watching them fight for things like the TPP.

Sorry, I know this sounds harsh to a lot of people, and I know even if he had truly fought these battles, he would have lost a lot of them, but you make progress even in waging those battles, you educate the public, you validate your party in the eyes of the public, and eventually if you fight long enough and with enough consistency, never relenting, you just might win. I've seen precious little of this from Obama.

Anyway, it's very hard for me to just nod in grateful agreement for his empty words of support when he hasn't fought to do much of anything about it 7 years into his presidency.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Their black faces

have brought about unprecedented disrespect, disruption, and blockage from the legislative branch, the entity that many on DU forget exists for some reason.

Running around banging podiums and stomping your feet does not bring about any change. And the continual "But TPP!!111!!" nonsense is truly tiresome as only pure naivete allows one to believe that this corporate-founded nation, originally and currently run by wealthy white male landowners who dragged my ancestors over here for free labor, will suddenly give that up if someone yells enough.

[dreamnightwind]

10. That's probably why Elizabeth Warren does so little fighting

Because it wouldn't help anyway. /sarcasm

I get the black component, it is a factor in how Obama is treated by the other side, no argument. In no way does that excuse that he never fought on this issue, not in my mind anyway. I think we're in agreement that the issue needs attention, we just disagree about who is willing to do something about it.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. You mean the former (near) life-long Republican

Elizabeth Warren? Why would you trust someone like that? Didn't you know that on DU, no one can be trusted to "evolve"?

The problem is at the grassroots level and taking back control of our states so that we can control the Congressional district-drawing and get a more representative governement when the next census comes around in a few years.

[dreamnightwind]

15. I think the problem is corporate money bankrolling campaigns

I've been hearing that the problem is at the grass-roots level all of my life, and a lot of good people have been working on that level. That's great, that level is important too, but it is often presented as an excuse for supporting national candidates who are part of the problem rather than pushing for people who will represent people rather than corporations.

We have to do all of it, national, grass-roots, and algorithmic districts would be a good reform, enough of the gerrymandering already, I agree that is a big problem.

Gotta go, have a good one, hope I didn't offend.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Agree on principal

but despite all the money, sheer turnout - even with potential massive amounts of election fraud and voter suppression that corporations fund - can make a difference and it will need to happen so that the Supreme Court is not lost for the next couple decades.

[raouldukelives]

35. But the same shareholders in Wall St. Those who work to depress turnout.

Those who fund and give the OK to carry out horrible atrocities in their name in exchange for cash. Those folks, sometimes themselves, disingenuously claim to care about others lives.

They do all they can to assure defeat for honest democracy and then claim to want it for all people. We live in the most democracy shareholders haven't figured out how to block, yet.

We can only move forward when they stop holding us back.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. But the problem is

that not all who carry out "horrible atrocities" or "disingenuously claim to care about others lives" do it for money or are provided money to do it or are RW loons. These folks have been thoroughly brainwashed to believe that "blacks are inferior" and so we are "undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized" (to quote Joe Madison).

The NASCAR-loving beer-swilling hoods running around with Confederate flags disrupting a black child's birthday party in a Georgia park, are NOT "Wall Street Banksters™". And many of us in the AA community can't seem to get so-called "liberal" or "progressive" whites to understand this because the knee-jerk reaction is always "But TPP!!!11!!!1" and "It's the BANKSTERS!!11!!!" and "It's the 1%!!11!!1!!".

[raouldukelives]

50. No, but they are "educated" by right wing hate radio & websites.

Funded and fueled by the largest corporations and individual shareholders on Wall St who routinely back the most backwards representation they can afford.

The most racism in America trickles down from the top. We live in the most honesty Wall St will allow. It takes a nation of shareholders to hold us back.

[BumRushDaShow]

51. "The most racism in America trickles down from the top."

Really? IMHO, that is complete and utter bullshit. Racism is passed down from generation after generation within families - both rich and poor, and was going on for hundreds of years in this country before there was any "RW radio", let alone any radio at all, and certainly didn't even need any "media" to help it continue to fester. This continued idiocy of blaming "shareholders" and "Wall Street" and "the 1%" as easy targets, establishes EXACTLY why the problem continues to exist. You are not addressing the problem - which in most cases has to do with human nature and disdain for "otherness".

Maybe one day so-called "liberals" and "progressives" on DU would stop pointing fingers at nebulous entities and start looking at PEOPLE, and then maybe we can start addressing the problem.

[raouldukelives]

53. That is, of course, my uneducated and empirical opinion.

But in my experience, in the small brushes I have had with old money, they have had long held and preconceived notions that are passed down and hard to break. Notions that they would like to pass on to society as a whole, and with the assistance of people only concerned about acquiring wealth, but not about the consequences of that support and the "PEOPLE" they support, they succeed.

Donald Sterling isn't an aberration. The Council of Conservative Citizens website isn't an aberration. The support it has received from corporate owned politicians bankrolled by Walmart and other giants isn't an aberration.

They are part and parcel of the mindset of the elite, and with all that money, all that support and all that hate, they trickle it down to anyone who will listen or anyone that is forced to listen and with the assistance of shareholders they can, will and do.

We live in the most reality Wall St cannot block from mainstream media. I contend we can only start addressing reality when we live in it.

[BumRushDaShow]

54. The average black person has no more contact with

nor do they give a shit about about the Donald Sterlings and Jamie Dimons. Their day to day contact is with the hoods (minus the white hoods that their kind used to wear) who sport a badge, a taser, a billy club, and a gun (along with steel-toe shoes meant to kick the shit out of a helpless black person writhing on the ground). They also deal daily with scum who follow them around in a store thinking they will steal something.

This nebulous "but the 1%!!!!!!!" is nothing but smoke and mirrors jargon because there have always been the wealthy and the royalty who have even had grand monuments built in their honor that still stand thousands of years later...and no one is going to rid the world of them.

You don't need their "mainstream" to make change. It often starts right here, right now, from within.

[raouldukelives]

55. But they should. Becuase what they believe trickles down.

In fact, I think its the only thing that does trickle down. The hate and avarice they display in public is just the tip of the iceberg.

Behind the scenes they work to extend that hatred downward in the form of corporate prisons, drug "wars" and the militarization of our police forces, all in the name of wealth for a few and hate for the least.

It's not the 1%. Not anymore than it was with slavery. Sure, the 1% were a problem, but the real change, the real grace, came from the lowest rungs first. Those who refused to profit from the assured suffering of others.

Only the resolve, will and the courage of those few turned the tide against what we now know to be cruel and unusual human suffering but at the time was just business as usual for most.

[BumRushDaShow]

56. What you just posted makes no sense

and contradicts itself.

The insistence on making everything that is "racist" into an economic issue is where the total disconnect happens between many of us POC and DUers who keep trying to make this argument. And the reason why is that when you go to homogeneous countries with a majority of POC, "economic oppression" often runs rampant within those of the same race (see some of the wealthy African countries like Nigeria as an example or even Haiti).

"Economic inequality" is its own thing that CAN BE exasperated when race is introduced depending on the circumstances. However "racial inequality" happens REGARDLESS of economics here in the U.S. - see billionaire Oprah Winfrey (or any other multimillionaire black person) as an example. It doesn't matter if she is a member of the 1% or not. Her black face immediately negates her economic status and invokes a myriad of stereotypes and specific types of treatment that is expected to be applied to her - and this attitude is expressed from both rich and poor whites.

Some on DU can't seem to get this concept when they are blinded by a theory that has facts contrary to it.

And I fucking guarantee you that this wouldn't happen to a white girl -

The rent-a-cop doesn't give a shit about any "economic" anything. He saw a n*gger girl and he was going to take her down.

But white privilege allows this (and the "training" that the trooper had that makes him hold back) -

[raouldukelives]

57. I understand your point. I still maintain that hatred and racism is taught.

And it isn't being taught in public or in public schools. But it is being taught, it is being disseminated and it is being learned and those lessons are on display day after day and in viral video after video.

Dylan Roof was taught. He "learned". He was radicalized. All with the assistance of those who donate to corporations that donate to R's that donate their time and money to fringe people, groups and bankroll efforts at spreading hate.

If one wants to stand against something, not standing with it is a good start.

[BumRushDaShow]

58. "And it isn't being taught in public or in public schools"

Bullshit. For a century, "happy darky slaves" we're portrayed dancing around the slave cabins and AAs were marginalized and outright ignored when it came to the history books. "Family" bullshit films like "Song of the South" and the entire "Tarzan" industry, influenced generations, reinforced by purported "classic" literature like Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" and Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", as well as "Little Black Sambo" that wasn't banned until the 1970s (yes taught in the fucking public schools).

This is why the big blowout happened during the '90s regarding "multicultural curriculums"".

Racism has been taught in the schools and in the home by generations of people who learned it in schools, was further shown it in their entertainment, and reinforced it.

The naivety on DU is simply breathtaking.

[raouldukelives]

59. It used to be, corrrect. Currently, I am not aware of public schools doing this.

However, I am quite aware of evangelical churches currently echoing very racist sentiments. Probably much the same in their private schools. Just as much as the conservative politicians who pander to them, the corporations who donate to them and the shareholders who prefer money to innocence.

[BumRushDaShow]

60. "It used to be, corrrect. Currently, I am not aware of public schools doing this."

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-do-new-texas-textbooks-whitewash-slavery-segregation-20150707-story.html

Texas has the 2nd largest population of the 50 states (behind California that is 1st). Seems some more googling needs to happen to increase your awareness.

[raouldukelives]

61. Thanks? I am aware of corporations trying to whitewash our history.

It seems others, well, aren't.

Heck, even Bush said "Let history be the judge." because he knew full well who would be writing it. Hint: not us. Well, at least those of us who don't aid and abet the corporations buying our democracy, education, environment, futures and even our past out from under us. For some, creating a better future for all is worth more than money.

Until people stop funding the liars, we will never hear the truth.

[BumRushDaShow]

62. Everything in life is not about "economics".

and yes "others" have, are, and will continue to "whitewash" history for their own benefit, including much of the discourse that seems to go on here at DU. "Your" history is not "my" history and I'm afraid your argument that keeps clinging on to dear life to that one-trick pony, is a major over-simplified fail that doesn't apply to POC.

[raouldukelives]

63. Well then we differ. Simple enough.

But there is no clinging to any argument. Just what I consider a fact. Unless of course you deny that corporations unfairly influence our political, economic and social lives. Or maybe even fairly. To some its not a bug, but a feature.

[BumRushDaShow]

64. Yes we differ

meaning your "facts" are your "opinions". The difference being that one side insists that corporate hegemony, which is in fact in place, is also the be-all end-all for everything that is oppressive to POC and the other side says that the issue of the system of racism-white supremacy is more complex than such simpleton assertions.

[raouldukelives]

65. The various symptoms are all results of the same illness.

And again, IMHO. Just as your opinions are obviously your own.

Those who enrich racists are not part of the solution IMHO.

[BumRushDaShow]

66. The "illness" is "human nature"

as part of Homo Sapien sapiens' survival instinct... and it manifests in various ways to accordingly establish a "hierarchy" of various "social group constructs" of similar relationship or interest (e.g., "family", "clan", "tribe", "kingdom", "nation", etc). And establishing a place in such a hierarchy is motivated by and enhanced with "resources" (people, land, sustenance, defensive/offensive strength, and of course some financial equivalent like "money&quot .

[Lisa D]

47. +1

Obama has done more good for this country than most past presidents who NEVER faced the same obstruction and ugly racism. I truly believe he will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents!

[politicaljunkie41910]

19. Sorry but I disagree with you. As the first black president, Obama was the president of all the

United States and he did not have the luxury coming into office with a failing economic system to make "black lives matter's" the centerpiece of his administration. And this coming from a black woman, with a black husband, and three black children who is not niave to think that we don't have a race problem in this nation. Had he done so, he would have been run out of town or turned over to the Tea Party for a public lynching by the fair weather Democratic Party in Washington and even on this board. Even when he tried to broach the subject when the law professor got arrested by the white cop for trying to get into his own house, the rightwingnuts turned it into an "Obama hates white people" moment. There has never a 'right time' during the Obama administration to have an honest conversation about the state of race relations in America let the folks on "fox and friends' have it, and you played right into their hands by blaming Obama.

Never before has a president been so maligned on the basis of made up BS like this president. He's been lied about, and he and his wife been the butt of vicious racist jokes, pictures, untrue stories.

[dreamnightwind]

20. I agree with your last paragraph, not the first though. /nt

[treestar]

14. He's using the bully pulpit

what was he supposed to do that he did not?

He came out and spoke on every incident, from Trayvon on, and some before that.

[Gothmog]

2. Great comments from President Obama

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Big honkin' K&R

Haven't seen one of these posted from you in awhile. Definitely sums it up! Bravo!

[moondust]

5. Exactly. K/R

[napkinz]

6. K&R!

[Fred Sanders]

7. President Obama.....we are not worthy.

[LuckyLib]

11. K and R!!!!

[treestar]

13. Go Mr. President!

that sums it up quite neatly. Idiotic right wingers probably know that too, they just like to play victim.

[yuiyoshida]

16. agree Mr. S!

[zalinda]

17. WTF? Not happening in other communities?

Try the Red community, or more politely, the Native American community. The violence against them has lasted hundreds of years and is still going on. The Native American male is just as exposed to violence as the African American, it's just that we wiped out so many of them in the past, that the populations aren't even close to equal in numbers. The percentages may be more telling, but no one keeps track of murders by the government in this country.

And even now, the government is taking away their few sources of income, hemp. Not marijuana, but industrial hemp. Bastards.

So, who stands up for our NA brothers?

Z

[BumRushDaShow]

25. The difference is

that when African slaves were dragged over here, upon being "freed", they never got the promised "40 acres and a mule" and were left to fend for themselves amongst their enslavers - and by then, were too far removed from (as well completely oblivious to) their origins and home countries. And despite the tragedy of the Native (First) Americans, the fact that treaties between this government and those invaded nations existed (and still exist) - even as much as those treaties have been violated and the people marginalized - the fact remains that the land is still theirs and their cultures were permitted to remain intact (at least within the confines of those lands).

And this is what makes the African-American unique - we are NOT in our own land and everything was taken from us - our names, our families, our languages, our religions, our cultures, our livelihoods, our heritages. And today, the rape of our very essence continues.

If you took a Lakota and hauled him off to England as a slave and generations later, since that was where the family made a home and continued to remain, then there could be a comparison made. Otherwise, what has happened to we AAs, was and continues to be, outright cultural and physical genocide.

[zalinda]

34. Really? That's your reasoning.

First of all Africans were not enslaved here first. That honor goes to Africa. How do you think a few dozen white men were able to round up hundreds of African slaves for each ship? You don't think that those tribes got paid for delivering the slaves? Probably very little in grand scheme of things, but still it was a way to make money. Yeah, they were taken from their homeland, would you go back there?

What's worst, taken from your homeland, or have just about 99% of your land taken from you. You get moved to worthless pieces of property, until they find something valuable on it, then they move you again. You are basically cut off from the rest of the world. While you fight the good fight, 95% of your NA brothers are killed, whether fighting the invaders, fighting off diseases that you never encountered before or the deliberate spreading of smallpox by infected blankets. Not only were they not allowed to leave the reservations, but any thing that they produced could not be sold on the open market, it had to be sold to the Indian agent, in charge of their reservation, for whatever price he wanted to pay them. The bison, which most plains NA based their diet was almost destroyed into extinction. Their children were taken away from them to boarding schools where they were not allowed to speak their language, practice their religion or even dress as their ancestors. They were taught English and Christianity and had to wear white man's clothes. Some were even adopted out to white families who used them for farm hands, or whatever, as they were Christian families, so they could do with them what they wanted. Their heritage has been almost destroyed, but for a few old people who still know the old ways. Thankfully, things are changing on that front, and linguists are frantically trying to record languages and write dictionaries before the language disappears.

And we know that they are still being controlled by the government when they can't even grow legal hemp on their land, when that's about the only thing that will grow on their land. You're still harping on 40 acres and a mule? The AA have had about 200 years of enslavement, while the NA have had well over 400 years and more if you are counting what's going on today.

Think about it, what if you and all your AA brothers were set down in some forsaken area of the country. You were kept so poor that it was almost impossible for you to leave. Unemployment was over 75% (it's 85% in Pine Ridge Reservation), how are you going to escape? Do you leave all your family behind, your traditions, your food, your friends, to try to make it on your own? You have substandard education, had substandard medical, substandard dental and know nothing about how the outside world works, except for what you see on TV.

As an AA, you were allowed to roam all over the US, yeah it could be bad, but there were also opportunities, too You weren't label a drunken, crazy, good for nothing Indian. You could get a job and prove yourself. And some in the AA community succeeded beyond anyone's (no matter what color you are) dreams.

Every one assumes that there weren't many NA in the Americas, but a low estimate, at the time of discovery, was over 100 million NA. They were thriving and highly intelligent. They had winter and summer homes. They had beautiful forests and clean lakes stocked with an abundance of fish. They took care of the land, and killed animals only for food. We took that all away from them.

Who lost more in this country?

Z

[BumRushDaShow]

36. Ahh.... here we go

the slave enslaves himself and brings himself over to the U.S. himself. Yessuh missy. Seems day after day, DU transforms into "Conservative Cave" and Rush Limbaugh's show. Sounds like the next remark in this nonsensical sub-thread would be for us to "go back to Africa".

Sorry but no African created this -



When you write -

Think about it, what if you and all your AA brothers were set down in some forsaken area of the country.

How about the fact that AAs were set down in a FOREIGN country not their own, some 5000 miles across an ocean (plus more across areas of a continent 3 times the size as the one they were brought to)?

You were kept so poor that it was almost impossible for you to leave. Unemployment was over 75% (it's 85% in Pine Ridge Reservation), how are you going to escape? Do you leave all your family behind, your traditions, your food, your friends, to try to make it on your own? You have substandard education, had substandard medical, substandard dental and know nothing about how the outside world works, except for what you see on TV.

What? When was the last time you visited an impoverished urban area or small towns in the rural south? When slavery ended, the predominant "occupation" of the freed and their descendents was "share-cropper" - all the way into the 21st century... in essence, indentured servitude. In the early part of the 20th century, there was a literal "migration" of millions upon millions of AAs out of the south - those who tried to leave their slave/share-cropper lives "behind" and try to escape a horror of Jim Crow (only to discover the same that continues today, but more polished - James Crow, Jr. Esq.). This is why you see states like Mississippi routinely rank as one of, if not the most impoverished state in the union - with it also having a population that is near 40% black. When you say "leave your family behind, your traditions, your food, your friends" - guess what? THAT is what was taken from AAs when our ancestors were dragged away. And we were bred like farm animals, where those from the same clans, tribes or kingdoms who spoke the same language, were intentionally separated so they could not plot to escape. And they were separated again after women were bred with other men (including the slave master) - the children subsequently sold and the couple who produced those children, also sold to different plantations. WE were the core and backbone of U.S. world-wide commerce - being an integral part of it by not only producing the future workers by force, but planting and harvesting the cash crops like cotton also by force.

As an AA, you were allowed to roam all over the US, yeah it could be bad, but there were also opportunities, too

Yup. Opportunity to be beaten, castrated, maimed, decapitated, hung. Men, women, children lynched and burned up - all in this great United States of America and often as part of picnics or other joyous celebrations hosted by the perpetrators, and held in their honor for their clever killing.







Wonderful "opportunity"!!!

The point of this thread is to point out that this is still happening today - and is being documented moreso than in the past thanks to the cell phone camera.

You weren't label a drunken, crazy, good for nothing Indian

We were labeled everything derogatory under the sun in addition to a "nigger" (and please don't spout RW talking points about that term). Products were sold with advertising to reinforce stereotypes (which continues today) and emphasize this point - moreso than any depicting NAs, who also suffered (and still suffer) from derogatory stereotype advertising - the NFL's Washington D.C. football team being an obvious one at the moment. The bullshit "Cowboys and Indians" films run alongside the bullshit film & television industry's complete drowning of the AA in vicious denigration - notably the first "talkie" film being this -



and one of the most "touted" and "celebrated" silent films being this -

You could get a job and prove yourself. And some in the AA community succeeded beyond anyone's (no matter what color you are) dreams.

Sorry but the statistics prove otherwise. In every community, you have that miniscule fraction who "succeeded beyond anyone's dreams".

And when you say the "heritage has almost been destroyed", guess what? The knowledge of my heritage HAS BEEN COMPLETELY destroyed. It's gone, wiped out, unknown. We have nothing and no one to "go back to". Even those who followed Garvey or went to Liberia, were aliens in an alien land that was taken over by the same folks who invaded NA lands - but this time, planting transplanted Africans from America into those lands (and Liberia has still not recovered from this disgraceful idiocy). The more recent African and Caribbean immigrants were encouraged by these same oppressors to further denigrate the pre-19th & 20th century African diaspora - (i.e., the American-born African-descendants here in the U.S.) as some type of permanently inferior anomaly of humanity. Few if any of us who have ancestors who were in this country since before Emancipation have an idea where we came from and only now, with DNA-testing, are trying to comb back through the centuries to find some inklings of origins.

The problem is that this country needs to deal with its own genocides in the curriculum - just like Germans did with their own history post-WWII. Here in the U.S. in our schools, we spend alot of time talking about WWII and Hitler and the European holocaust, yet little or nothing substantially is discussed about the American holocausts and their aftermath, and this is apparent in your post where your response lacks any measure of even being close to reality.

[zalinda]

43. Yeah, I've been to 'those' communities

I live in one. Recently, I offered a push lawn mower for free. When it was not out at the appointed time, the wife called the husband and asked whether or not she should knock on the door. He told her no, because I was probably going to rob her. And to get out of that trashy neighborhood as soon as possible. This is according to his email.

Look up 'Westcott Nation', this is where I live. It is a very diverse part of town.

You conveniently missed the part about the NA suffering. While AA were considered 3/5 of a person, NA weren't considered a person at all. If it weren't for 'cowboy and indian' movies, they weren't thought of at all. And, while AA could go back to Africa, if they wanted to, NA could not get back their country at all. EVER.

Yes, a lot of AA had it bad in this country, and still have it worst than their white counterparts. But, what I don't get, is that when a white person tries to help, we are told that we are interfering. What's weird though, is that it is usually said by AA who have made it. I go to a food pantry (yes, I'm that poor) and there are a rainbow of people there. I have never heard any person there, in the 2 years that I've been going there, say 'poor me', I'm in this position because my ancestors were slaves. Those who have nothing, just keep 'pulling up their bootstraps' and get on with the survival of daily living. We, the poor, help each other, in any way we can. We are thankful that help is available, no matter where it comes from.

You don't get it. You aren't the only people that have suffered or are still suffering. Others have suffered too. But, some blame the past for their suffering, whether distant or recent. Yes, this country has caused suffering, and is still causing suffering, which is why Bernie is so important to me. He's the only one that I think can relieve some of the suffering, making it more equal for all. Yes, my past has hurt me, and my body has betrayed me, but no one said that life is fair. Life is for learning and for giving, that's all. When you stop learning or willing to give, I believe you die, at least inside. I do what I can to help alleviate suffering, I donate items that I repurpose from old sweaters. Giving some warmth to those who may go without, is one way that I can give back to the community that is helping me.

Z

[BumRushDaShow]

45. In response

I live in one. Recently, I offered a push lawn mower for free. When it was not out at the appointed time, the wife called the husband and asked whether or not she should knock on the door. He told her no, because I was probably going to rob her. And to get out of that trashy neighborhood as soon as possible. This is according to his email.

Look up 'Westcott Nation', this is where I live. It is a very diverse part of town.

Welcome to America! Land of the free and home of the cowards.

You conveniently missed the part about the NA suffering. While AA were considered 3/5 of a person, NA weren't considered a person at all.

NAs were very much considered "full people" because they were explicitly mentioned in that self-same "3/5th" compromise enacted in the Constitution (having had treaties signed and maintained as far back as a century before this document was drafted) -

The Three-Fifths Compromise, is found in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution, which reads:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, [font color="red"]three fifths of all other Persons[/font]....

<snip>

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/a1_2_3.html

If it weren't for 'cowboy and indian' movies, they weren't thought of at all.

This is hyperbole to the nth degree. Notably every year for nearly 400 years (it will be 400 years in a little over 5 years), we are treated to this "Thanksgiving" depiction -



And every year, children dress up as either "Pilgrims" or "Indians" (however ridiculous the costumes may have been). Generations of children were made aware of the Europeans' "awesome" graciousness to the people they encountered who were also "awesome".

And, while AA could go back to Africa, if they wanted to,

Absolute bullshit. Tell me - where do AA's go? "Back to Africa the country" that you imply?

NA could not get back their country at all. EVER.

I beg to differ as many are STILL on the lands of their ancestors.

Yes, a lot of AA had it bad in this country, and still have it worst than their white counterparts. But, what I don't get, is that when a white person tries to help, we are told that we are interfering. What's weird though, is that it is usually said by AA who have made it. I go to a food pantry (yes, I'm that poor) and there are a rainbow of people there. I have never heard any person there, in the 2 years that I've been going there, say 'poor me', I'm in this position because my ancestors were slaves. Those who have nothing, just keep 'pulling up their bootstraps' and get on with the survival of daily living. We, the poor, help each other, in any way we can. We are thankful that help is available, no matter where it comes from.

So this is what this is all about?

Your and many others' problem is the paternalistic offers of "help" in a manner that is being perceived as your continuing to carry out the "white man's burden" of imposing civilization on these African-descended savages. You will find that there are millions of the majority (white) population who daily interact with and work with and assist POC AS EQUALS - not as someone who comes in to flaunt a "I know I am better than you but see? I am going to help you anyway" attitude.

You don't get it. You aren't the only people that have suffered or are still suffering. Others have suffered too. But, some blame the past for their suffering, whether distant or recent.

I don't have to "get" anything. I LIVE it. You don't. And those who "live it" know about and empathize very much with the others who are also suffering while those who can do something about it are busy blaming the victims.

Yes, this country has caused suffering, and is still causing suffering, which is why Bernie is so important to me. He's the only one that I think can relieve some of the suffering, making it more equal for all.

You will be in for a rude awakening about Bernie because the full bore anti-semitism of this nation will be brought to bear at some point in the future. There will be no magic "savior" who can swoop in and cure the centuries of virulent racism. If he were elected, he will do no better than his predecessors. The problem is too intractable to solve through one person. It takes a nation and believe it or not, the election of Barack Obama has at least (for the short term) brought about a different dynamic in this country that even the Reconstruction era's elections (and subsequent removals) of black congressmen could not do.

Yes, my past has hurt me, and my body has betrayed me, but no one said that life is fair. Life is for learning and for giving, that's all. When you stop learning or willing to give, I believe you die, at least inside. I do what I can to help alleviate suffering, I donate items that I repurpose from old sweaters. Giving some warmth to those who may go without, is one way that I can give back to the community that is helping me.

I agree with your sentiment about "life" as that was an exhortation that my mother always always made to me - that "Life is not fair"... and I implore you not to take all of this personally, which you are apparently doing by lashing out when one group deploys tactics that try to upend their oppressors in a manner that is not agreeable to you.... or take personally one incident of "rejection" of your benevolence, which in turn causes you pain. You are not the only one who "donates" to help others and you should continue to do so. This country runs on conspicuous consumption and the engine is to encourage people to keep "buying things". George Carlin had a routine 30 years ago about "Stuff" and it pretty much hits the nail on the head. If that "stuff" can be spread around to others, that is a win-win -

We as a people are better than this and the fact that this nation has been able to stave off a bloody coup, is a testament to that "better" in people (at least so far). The fact that this "American Experiment" has lasted this long is truly mind-boggling - particularly when one can argue "human principles" that although are often drowned out by hatred, are finally listened to by someone who can make a change for the better.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

26. That would be NativeLivesMatter. They're affiliated with BlackLivesMatter.

Their twitter handle is @NLMcoalition

[Solly Mack]

21. K&R

Precisely.

[whatchamacallit]

22. What's the president's score on the Arbitrary Rhetoric Priority Test?

Has he made sure to favor social over economic justice?

[Skittles]

23. CORRECT

[babylonsister]

24. Go, Mr. President, you are right! nt

[annabanana]

27. How unutterably sad that this has to be said

when it is so self evident.

[Uncle Joe]

28. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, MrScorpio.

[sheshe2]

29. KnR

Well said Mr President.

Thanks MrScorpio., sad that this needs to be said at all.

[Tarheel_Dem]

30. Exactly right Mr. President.

[longship]

31. There is no denying it.

R&

[Bernblu]

32. If Obama is serious and not just talking the first thing he needs to do is fire

or at least reprimand the FBI director who linked the scrutiny of police with rise in violent crime. He needs to expend some political capital and walk the walk. Once the public gets the idea that increased scrutiny of the police is causing violent crime there will be a political backlash against Black Lives Matter and nothing will get done.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/us/politics/fbi-chief-links-scrutiny-of-police-with-rise-in-violent-crime.html?_r=0

[merrily]

33. Professor Gates and Jim CROWley (as he was then known in Massachusetts).

[BumRushDaShow]

38. Reprimanding a FBI Director

will make no difference when you have so-called "liberal/progressive" DUers parroting RW talking points that are already supercilious and insulting to BLM. I.e., what he says and does was dismissed the day he took office and continues to be to this day with his most recent comments, including in some of the responses seen in this thread. And so rather than focus on what the poster can do about shifting the dynamic that allows a majority population to continue to target and oppress a minority population of POC, these vainglorious utterances in essence insist that a President, who is a POC, and who has been publicly called a liar in a Joint meeting in Congress (which will be permanently recorded in the Congressional record as part of the annals of this nation's history), is to blame for the concept of the white-man's burden, and is the only one who can solve the nightmarish aftermath that resulted from it. The epitome of victim-blaming.

[Bernblu]

48. Sorry, this post is about Presdident Obama. Is it not?

He is the President of the United States. He has power and he should use it. If his FBI director says something that will be harmful to the cause of BLM he should do something to remove or reprimand that FBI Director. Otherwise, the FBI director will continue to say these things that will undermine BLM with the public. It is you who seem to be giving into all of the Right Wing propaganda by seeming to believe that President is unable to use his immense power to do good and help BLM. I voted for Peresident Obama twice and sent money to campaign. I believe that President Obama can and should use his presidential powers to help BLM.

[BumRushDaShow]

49. This is the usual "bait and switch" circular argument

that has run rampant on DU and is truly tiresome.

The "But he should use his 'Bully Pulpit™'" exhortation is first insisted upon. And then when he does, the goal posts move and the assertions change to "But those are only 'words™' and a 'fine speech™'", which essentially jettisons the original "Bully Pulpit™" demand.

So then when he works with Democrats to develop legislation for the fixes to the problems via legislation that are demanded to be fixed, but that ultimately doesn't make it out of Congressional Committees because by golly, the GOP runs every damn Committee, then the we are back to the "But he should use his 'Bully Pulpit™'" nonsense again.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Fortunately many of us are on to this absurd tactic that masks the true agenda of those who use it.

It doesn't matter what Comey says - but it DOES matter what YOU do to help make black lives matter.

[PufPuf23]

39. Thank you POTUS Obama

for clarifying the reason why BLM matters.

[rhett o rick]

40. Very good words. As President I was hoping he would do more. nm

[lonestarnot]

41. K & R!

[NewJeffCT]

42. I've always explained it as "Black Lives Matter, too"

Because, with Travyon Martin, Michael Brown, etc, it seems like a lot of the time, they don't.

[zalinda]

44. That, I can agree with. eom

[ismnotwasm]

46. K&R

[Blue_Tires]

52. epic kick