We have been reading about the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and others and, so far, no majority of White people as in a grand jury or in polling seem to want to hold the police officers involved accountable in any way.
There is so much evidence that our justice system does not treat all of us the same. Shockingly enough, even some Republicans/conservatives are critical of the Staten Island grand jury for failing to indict Officer Pantaleon (who applied the forbidden choke hold to Garner) for any charge at all. And the DOJ just released a study of the Cleveland Police Dept, which has been almost two years in the making, which was very critical of their training and practices. Tamir Rice, who was only twelve years old, was shot by one of their officers.
Except for those whose reaction is that they don't want to hear about this anymore because they reflexively support police, or despise Black people, the rest of us are troubled and we want change. Now.
So, why is the slogan: Black Lives Matter being pushed over for: All Lives Matter?
Why are discussions about this very obvious and ongoing problem being sidetracked by personal anecdotes by White people who seem to feel a need to be leading the discussion... once again?
So many of us White Kos folks are on the same page in terms of being upset and looking for solutions. Shouldn't we be looking to, and listening to, people who have been dealing with this reality all of their lives as did their parents, grandparents, etc before them.
Why does this have to be another opportunity for White folks to attempt to take over the conversation, share about stuff that happened with them and the cops back in the day, when they were unruly youngsters, when they were hippies with long hair, when they stole makeup from a store (I think I saw that one in Dawson's Creek) and so on, and tediously so on. None of this is new to anybody (see Dawson's Creek) and none of this has anything to do with what is happening in Ferguson or Cleveland, or anywhere.
Sidetracking the discussion to exactly how white you are (as in you need SPF 3,000, you are fish belly white, your veins are visible through your skin) really isn't necessary. If you appear White by American standards, you are treated that way by the police. We know that. We get that. When you get into stories about how "bad" you were but you still received better treatment by the police, you are getting into humble bragging territory.
This might be the time for White anti-racism allies to just listen and absorb something real for a change. I believe in intersectionality and coalition building but I think the first thing we White folks need to believe in is that we don't know everything and we don't necessarily have to be in the leadership position all the time.