Deep Thought

Matthew 5

21 ‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.”
22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire.
23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

Your anger is your responsibility. The way you treat people is your responsibility.
If you hate, if you have disdain, if you look down upon, if you blame,
these are signs that you need to look within

If your actions and thoughts are not led by forgiveness and compassion,
It is you that you are hurting the most.

Deep Thought

I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.

Lyndon B Johnson

What he didn't say is that all you have to do to get away with this is to tell the white man that it is the black man in his pocket instead of you

LBJ defines white privilege beautifully

Where is the leader?

Progress does not need a leader.

It needs compassion
It needs coalition
It needs a council
It needs support

It needs freedom

There is no one person to guide all
All must guide ourselves
With the help of others.

Affirmative Action: Too Little Too Late

I'm a proponent of equal opportunity
Current Affirmative action fails because it enables the idea that minorities/women are not good enough to have a job based on merit
Standards are lowered to meet a quota.
What companies actually took time out to recruit the best and brightest minorities/women?

And they hire people with supposedly lower standards and say "I didn't want to, the government made me do it." Bullshit.
"The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The contractor will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex or national origin." -Executive Orders 10925 & 11246
The only thing the government ordered them do is stop discriminating.
I propose they didn't hire minorities because they were told, they hired them because they could pay them less. Which is still happening.

Real equal opportunity starts with making sure every child has access to adequate shelter, education, nutrition, health care.

Making sure every child has all they need to strive and excel. Encouraging every child to pursue their interests. Instilling in them the belief that they can achieve anything if they work hard, are tenacious, are not afraid of failure, have some serenity, and have a support system

Example
Military standards. women, lower scores.
Look at high school and college age track athletes. Women's times surpass the male standards in military guidelines
Look at strength. boys and girls are at same level until puberty. Is it that women are unable to push/pull a certain percentage of their own body weight or are they discouraged?

Be aware that I understand talent and predisposition. I also understand hard work and hard work can overcome both. You may not make it to the top as fast or as easy; but you can still achieve your goal.

Abolish legislation that prohibits women from determining when they are ready to have a child

Ensure everyone has access to jobs with a wage that can provide secure shelter, healthy food, reliable transportation, continuous education, and adequate health care.

9/16/08
updated

18 oct 12
updates

Deep Thought

The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress." 

- Joseph Joubert

Doctrine

Religious doctrine tells stories of humanity

And though those stories are not verifiable, they are true

Stories of love, forgiveness, compassion 

Stories of struggle; personal struggle, struggle within the family, struggle within a community, struggle amongst nations. 

Stories of humanity from the perspective of those living the struggle, seeing it 

Stories of humanity from the perspective of those reading it, taking it in, and finding meaning for their lives. finding purpose

Purpose  

Origins, purpose, and endings

Asking and answering questions only subjective 

None that can be objectively observed, repeated, or tested under control

But always familiar and close enough to give value to the reader

What is white privilege?

When someone says you have white privilege,

essentially they mean you're being used

Post-Racial America?

Apparently the greater society decided to stop being racist.
Not quite sure when this happened. I assume people think it happened after the Civil Rights Movement.
Let's take a moment to look back. Slavery was made illegal by government. Not by a vote of the people. 

And slavery still exists.
Civil Rights were given by force of federal government. Not by a vote of the people.
The people have never just decided to stop being prejudiced or bigoted. There is no point in history where you can point and say that racism (or any -ism) was eradicated.
The people opposed these advances. The current silence is not a sign of acceptance.

Let's look at it in the present situation. Gay marriage has been made legal in several states. Some by court order, some by legislation. Few by popular vote. And when it did pass by popular vote, it never reached 60%.
Still plenty of people who oppose it. And when the government makes it legal everywhere, there will still be a good portion of people who oppose it. People won't just accept gay marriage or other gay rights because they were made legal.
Same is true for race and sex. Just because government forces compliance, doesn't mean the base opposition is destroyed.

History of white privilege

When Europeans came to America, they brought poor Europeans with them and used them as forced labor. By means of debt bondage. Some people justify this by saying it is perfectly fine for a person to work off a debt through labor as long as they consent to it. That's fine in theory. In practice, the debt seems to get deeper and the worker is rarely justly compensated for their labor. And workers are abused in every way during their servitude.
In the meantime, Europeans took Africans to America to use as labor. Whether they were indentured servants or plain slaves...
The owners were killing (by disease or neglect) Indigenous people and poor Europeans they were using as laborers. Africans seemed to be the most profitable source of labor.
And all these worked side by side for the owners. All these conspired. Found that they shared a common oppression. Found the spirit to revolt. And so they did.
And the outcome of their failed revolt is what we now know as white privilege and racism.
Life long, hereditary servitude was legal. Owners made a shrewd decision. African labor was the way.
Create a rift between African and European workers. Free European workers and create justification for keeping African workers. By stating that they were savage, not worthy of rights, no more than animals, inferior.
Promote the notion that white workers were better, more superior, deserving of rights and privileges that Africans could not enjoy.

And when slavery ended, labor was still needed. Who better than Africans still. And to justify, they were imprisoned. By false charges or by unusual sentences. Then they were given to owners to use as labor.
Still perpetuating the idea that Africans, now free, were dangerous, uneducated savages, that proved to be unfit for society. Justifying their imprisonment.
Europeans still had greater rights and privileges.
And now, after the Civil Rights Movement, owners still use the lies and privileges to divide workers. Blaming Minorities for the plight of working class European Americans.
Hopefully one day we will unite.

Nothing remains the same

Are you sinking or rising?