As a black man living in America (A nice, long essay)...

[PatrickforO]

30. Thank you for a really excellent essay.

I'm struck by your last sentence. I've been poor - teetered on the brink of bankruptcy for nearly a decade, and that was a living hell.

I'm a white male, and that isn't hell, and I have been working to get it into my head to stop America from being a living hell.

The answer that comes to mind (I am an economist) is to get rid of the primacy of the shareholder doctrine, because it is what has allowed the degradation of the earth, unions to be busted, the demonization of the poor and of minorities. Capitalism just sucks. I'm not saying business sucks, and I'm not saying hard work sucks. I'm saying the primacy of the shareholder must be expanded to include the welfare of working people, consumers and the environment.

But then, that's only part of it. That will solve a hell of a lot of problems, but not all. Not the seeming open season on black kids where cops are shooting them right and left and then covering it up. My answer to that as a white guy is to stop turning away and speak out against it. I've done that, and it does not go very well most of the time. You're right about that 'getting the head around' concept. Most white people I've spoken to don't want anything to do with even being exposed to the concept of white privilege, and when it comes to black people getting shot by cops and black lives matter, they don't even want to acknowledge that.

What about me, you ask? Or maybe you don't. But I'll tell you that I have very strong inhibitions ingrained in me from a very early age against the whole concept of a social justice that includes brown skinned people. There. I've said it. And it is true. Will I ever be able to look at the suffering of brown-skinned people in this country in an up close and personal way instead of just blabbing on about how bad it all is but keeping the whole thing at arm's length? I don't know. I try.

Now, getting rid of prison industries would be good, and DE-privatizing prisons would also be good, because then you'd remove the incentive to lock up minorities in disproportionate numbers.

Voting rights would be really good - this new legislation Pelosi's House has passed, now that is a good thing. Like Warren's Accountable Capitalism Act, it will die until we vote these corrupt assholes out of office.

That thing about white mediocrity and how Obama was held to a whole different standard than Trump is true and I think a lot of white people are now getting that. But, you know, a lot of us did NOT vote for Trump and really despise him.

This is a really painful time. But you know what? I'll bet our next president is brown-skinned, and that will be good for white America, because the more I speak to, and get to know people of color, the less likely I am to engage in what you call 'racist bullshit.' Because I'm thinking about it, you know?

I'm liking Harris and Booker both.