This, too, is an incomplete thought. You should complete thoughts, and conduct some research, prior to typing. Culture is an everyday process that does not wait for occasions such as Juneteenth and Kwanzaa (most Black Americans do not celebrate these). I was taught about Kwanzaa as a child, and joined various organizations with Kwanzaa names while in college, but I did not celebrate Kwanzaa until I was late-20s/early-30s. I celebrate annually with friends, some of whom are Canadian. Kwanzaa is not only celebrated in the USA. It is celebrated elsewhere and takes on different meanings depending on the location.

More importantly, just as whites didn't give cultures and civilization to nonwhites, whites need to stop offering advice. Racial and ethnic minorities truly do not want nor need whites to tell us about our cultures, traditions, and how we should uphold our heritages.

I'm just alluding to the distinction between racial and cultural, somethings many here are apparently conflating.

To be honest, I'm going to try to stay out of this conversation, mainly because others are able to explain my points much better than I ever could.

For those saying "my family didn't own slaves so I never benefited: Ugh, really? There is this lovely thing called accumulation and disaccumulation of wealth (not just income, but actual wealth) based on race. If your family was in the US before the 1960s, you benefited. You most likely benefited from being white after the 1960s, but I'm just going to focus on the first part. Watch the first 13 minutes of this video by Tim Wise. Yes, he is southern and his family did own slaves, but this applies to the entire nation. My family didn't own slaves either, but that doesn't mean the system has been working in our favor for hundreds of years.

And with this I will let those more eloquent than I to continue

LOL, you're not "feeding" me because you think I'm, as you put it, "fun". I obviously got under your skin or you wouldn't bother answering me. Just like I know you or your partners in persecution won't be able to resist replying or attempting to "put me in my place"

You are so pissed off at your life and your circumstances; so FREAKING glad I'm not you. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad. No, wait, it IS funny!

Phil talks, and this is what the rest of us hear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJyfozezSpI

Culture exists in every group dynamic. It exists in religion, race and ethnicity, language, gender, and other groups. When discussing race and ethnicity, culture is highly correlated and therefore will be discussed in the same vein--even when there is intragroup diversity in cultures. Culture is extended when addressing language patterns and other things that lead to intragroup and intergroup dynamics.

Black American Culture is directly linked to the religious, linguistic, racial, and ethnic components (including varying physical identifiability) of what it means to be Black American/African American and of the more immediate African Diaspora.

Still, people of the African Diaspora do not want or need tips on this topic. Just like people of white diaspora do not care about the opinion of nonwhites when it comes to their group identities and dynamics.

Coming from the legal field, you know that most crimes are intraracial. Interracial crimes are much less common. The motivation on the part of the offender is what distinguishes generally motivated offenders from hate crimes. Black-on-white crime is much less likely to be declared a hate crime because the motivation and opportunity for criminality are considered different. Racial and ethnic minorities who hate whites and are compelled to violence towards whites would have a very difficult life in white dominated societies. Instead, racial and ethnic minorities who are motivated to commit crime on the basis of racial, ethnic, and cultural hatred are more likely to victimize other racial and ethnic minorities (i.e., more attention given to Black-on-Asian violence).

I do not use (what I consider to be) racial slurs like "redneck" (or "white trash", etc.) but of course whites are free to call each other whatever they choose. I don't think knight_shadow or anyone else in this thread was judging whites by what James Byrd or other individual whites have done over the centuries. This is a general discussion about dynamics that span beyond individuals.

/swerve:

it's TOE the party line, not TOW. Is the party line a tugboat? Didn't think so. Please use correct vocabulary. Don't blame it on your phone or auto correct or whatever. There is no acceptable excuse for sloppiness in written language.

#annoyed

end of swerve/

You speak for everyone, huh?

True or not? Assimilation into the majority culture has ended better for those who have done it than for folks who reject it. Economically speaking, how is it going to benefit a person to have the sort of awful victim mentality that folks like Andre Turner seem to display? That's quite a bit of contempt he seems to harbor for a bunch of white folks who individually bear no responsibility for the world they were born into, same as everyone else.

Okay then, what's your solution to all of this? I've heard plenty of gritching, but not a lot of proposals on how to make it all better.

QFP.

It is called a general statement but, since you insist, I will also speak for every person of the more immediate African diaspora. My "speaking for everyone" in this instance is much better than you using white male privilege to teach Black Americans about themselves. LOL.

FALSE. But, I knew that you believed this and would dig yourself in this hole.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of nonwhites around the world who believe that whites saved nonwhites. The nonwhites who believe this are a result of acculturation and assimilation (by force and by choice). After you (in general) finish convincing people that their group should be under your control, you then have to prove to them that their way of life is moot and they are being blessed by God to be given your resources--but only the resources that you want to bestow upon them. For clarity's sake, none of this is biological or inherent. Whites are not evil. Whites are not inherently, biologically, psychologically, or socially (insert bad thing). History and power dynamics just worked as they worked for various reasons and every institution (including religion) is still used to reinforce this. That includes whites who believe as Kevin does.

:) Loving tone/

We do not need "a solution" and I do not need "my solution" as though this GC thread is Cliff Notes. This is not gritching. This is a GC thread. I would love for you to go to other GC threads and tell those posters to "make a decision or shut up." Social change is a daily, ongoing process and it does not happen in a GC thread just because Kevin demands results. I deal with these topics and other social outcomes everyday in my personal and professional environments so I respectfully ask that you kiss my ass and stop doing the white male privilege routine. You are not in charge and your impatience does not determine the outcomes.

/:) Loving tone

(smiley face added because this thread is not about hatred or anger)

We have freedom in name, but not in definition, and we're not a slave in name but in definition. You see the physical act of slavery gone, but what about the biological, economical and sociological slavery that still exist?

Your siggy is on point! For real.

Girl please, sit down somewhere. My wife and I have a successful landscaping business that I built from the ground up when I was unemployed. Do you have your own? If not, then sit down and shut up.

Thank you!

How about you shut the "shit" up. it still says on legal documentation that you all are "Caucasian" and everybody else of color is "hyphenated".

But you and every last one of your family members are enjoying and reaping the benefits.

This!

Have a seat home's.

http://assets.newmediaretailer.com/7..._ps_062110.jpg

I must have missed this (the wedding - I knew about your business). Congrats!

Thanks.

Isn't Mizeree the username that I call IotaGuy? Are you the same IotaGuy who I think you are? You're married to that woman you typed about in the D&R thread? I've been gone a few months but I'm confused as hell.

Knight_shadow is right, though. ;)

You love the "have a seat" response with that ugly seat. If you insist on telling people to "have a seat," combat assimilation into whiteness and use this image:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...geHFCwTTT1W3uI

*doing a Kwanzaa dance and Kwanzaa call...lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalahhhh!!! *