Race Credit Karma: Brett's Blog

It is the year 2016 and we still can’t talk race in a productive way.

Hi!  I’m Brett, and this is my new blog.  I used to have a more random blog, and trust me, this blog will be plenty random at times, but I have decided to discuss a little more about serious issues in this blog.  I hope it to be civil, thought provoking, and maybe, just maybe, an avenue to make a few lives better.

I welcome all opinions, as long as they are written with intelligence and forethought.  No offensive language please.  I am sure I will get some bad posts, but I will do my best to ignore the ignorable.

And here we go …

If you are reading this blog, you might fall into two camps:  1.  I’m not racist and I’m sick of all this talk about race.  Let’s just move on.  2.  I’m not racist and I’m sick of all the racist people in the world.  We can’t move on till we deal with all the racists.  Or maybe there is a third category.  3.  Am I racist?  I want to move on, but I feel like I shouldn’t.  Those people seem really mad.  Maybe it is me, but how can that be?  I don’t FEEL racist.

I believe one of the biggest issues with race relations is our inability to discuss race relations.  I believe ‘white privilege’ exists, but some of you hear that term and get defensive and you want to yell, “I’m not racist!”  I mention the organization, “Black Lives Matter” and some of you get defensive, “NOW those guys are racists!”  It is starting to feel like sports.  “My team is better than your team!”  Go blacks!  Go Whites” Go “I don’t see color, I just want everyone to win!” – Don’t be that guy.  But seriously, how do we discuss a serious topic such as “race relations” without admitting that there is a nugget of truth to everyone’s side.  There is no winning team, as long as we insist on dividing by teams.

We need to get to a point where the loss of life, the unnecessary loss of life bothers us all.  But we can’t do that until we realize that there are biases in ALL of us.  Here is the part of this blog that none of you may like:  When we become defensive, we are doing so because we are defending that part of ourselves.

You become defensive when you think about Black Lives Matter?  Maybe it’s because a piece of you doesn’t value black lives as much as others?

But blacks are killed by blacks more than they are killed by whites.  True, but are you outraged by this, or just trying to defend your position?  If so, see above.

But famous black person said that the people of Black Lives Matter are racist and don’t care about the lives of the police officers and the media is race mongering and blowing this up all out of proportion.  I would argue both, true and false, but again, what is your point?

A non-race example:  It’s not the guys fault that she was so drunk.  I could blog all day about this statement alone.  It is a tough thing to face the thoughts that enter our heads with different situations of life.  Only if we could talk about our thoughts in a safe and enlightening environment.  Oh, but we cant, because …

this is how the conversation ends.  I’m right and you’re wrong.  Do you even care about why I feel the way I do?  Or is it more important to allow you the comfort of “knowing” that you aren’t racist and there is an explanation for all this that completely disregards my and others’ feelings about the situation?  I am asking you to consider both sides.  And if you don’t have information on the other side, than please ask someone, preferably a friend and not a stranger (that would be weird).  If you don’t have a friend of a different race (If you live in Wisconsin, I’ll give you a pass, not many here), maybe consider, just maybe, your ability to understand the plight of others is compromised.  And, you might have some biases.  Scratch that, you DO have biases.  You don’t understand, because you don’t understand.

Many bad things have happened over the last couple of weeks.  Many bad things.  Are we going to continue to say, “Go Team!” or does every side have value?  Murder is wrong, I believe that.  But what drives a person to feel as if killing another human being is their best and only option?  Ohhh, I want to talk about that, because until we answer that question, this will be a problem that our kids, and their kids, and their kids will be dealing with, possibly until the end of time.

Talk, share, and communicate.  You just might find that the other team should win a little too.

Insert Bad Transition Here …

I Pokémon hunt.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.  But every time I go to our local Pokestop I see people that don’t quite look each other in the eyes.  It’s like we’re all looking at porn.  We know what each other is doing, but we don’t want to acknowledge that we know what each other is doing.  “Nothing to see here folks.”