Dear Clinton Avenue Residents..

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Boygabriel wrote:
even a crowd of white people agree!

i just looked at it as a bunch of people applauding. wtf? :roll:

Putnam-denizen wrote: Oh my. Especially in this context, not being aware of the monoracial nature of the applauding crowd is just a wee bit embarrassing. Just as many of us have learned not to equate Men with Humans, so so too we try to avoid People of European Decent as the default definition of Humanity. Or maybe your point was that until it was pointed out you forgot that point, and now you feel a bit, er, red-faced?

no but you should as you just exhibited your race obsession/racism yet once again. i challenge you to find a gif of a black audience applauding. people like you are why shit will never change. run along to your klan meeting now.

Anonymous wrote: [quote=Putnam-denizen]Oh my. Especially in this context, not being aware of the monoracial nature of the applauding crowd is just a wee bit embarrassing. Just as many of us have learned not to equate Men with Humans, so so too we try to avoid People of European Decent as the default definition of Humanity. Or maybe your point was that until it was pointed out you forgot that point, and now you feel a bit, er, red-faced?

no but you should as you just exhibited your race obsession/racism yet once again. i challenge you to find a gif of a black audience applauding. people like you are why shit will never change. run along to your klan meeting now.

Huh? Now you are just being silly. I don't use "gifs," but if you choose one to illustrate a point, and in this one your point assumedly being approval of a message challenging in the first instance class and racial tension in Clinton Hill, and in the second instance generalized White racism and presumptions about Black men, then the choice to use an all White image is a loaded one. If you want it to be all White (for example to show that White people are down with the message too) or if it is met ironically, great. But to rebut the description by another that it is White people applauding with a retort that you just see "people" is to completely marginalize people of color. In the specific context of this thread and in the general context of our society that isn't people applauding - it is White people applauding.

If you are interested in exploring what it means to be aware of White racial identity in the context of anti-racism activism, you might try googling "race traitor". All too many people of European descent continue to see others as being the special categories as compared to their norm. Obviously the point of this self-exploration and awareness is not to heighten racial categories and divisions, but to acknowledge historic White privilege in this country, and to destroy it where ever possible. My willingness and need to engage other White people (presumably you? ?) as a White man (that would be me) in this is part of my ongoing fight to make this a less racist place.

[quote=Anonymous][center]

i'm just mesmerized by the wiggy head snap dance the lady on the far right, second row is doing.

okay, here:

i thought it was a good blog post. i think this is a real issue -- a guy i don't particularly like but see every day and have never felt threatened by just got arrested in front of my building. i wrote about it on the crown heights board already.

i also think this thread had ceased to be about that topic. tried to add a little levity.

further, i thought the video posted, while funny, is a bit unfair -- it is true that black men get treated unfairly. it's also true that women get told every time something bad happens that it was their fault -- oh, and that if they dare to walk around in the world without a male escort, they are certain to be attacked. i can't tell you how many times i've been told that if i don't clutch my purse, it's bound to be stolen, or how much easier it was to walk around the world in more mannish clothing, when my hair was short and i could pass more easily. obviously the woman in the video is a straw man, but i get yelled at for not smiling, for not flirting, for not being happy, for crossing the street when i happen to need to go somewhere on the other side -- i find it hard to believe this isn't because i'm a woman and have certain responsibilities to entertain men everywhere i go. sorry if this is rambling, but it's annoying.

oh, and i pass as plausibly not white or not only white, so i don't get the snowflake thing i hear my friends complain about. from what i see around the neighborhood, i definitely have it easier among black men than black women do. then again, i have it easier around black men than around white men, all things considered.

so there. that's what i have to say.

Putnam-denizen wrote:
Ah, now I get it. You are the same troll who has been haunting other threads as of late (see Haitian educational controversy!). I think it is clear from my comments that I am saying much about racial profiling and assumptions, and the possibility that people on a "militant black board" you are on (LOL) might use this gif could be understandable given how much internalized racism and White-centrism there is even in people of color communities. But actually I think you are making it all up. Nice try.

I challenge you to find a black applause gif as well. You are a troll not me.

Anonymous wrote: run along to your klan meeting now.

Please keep the personal attacks to yourself, thanks.

-Mods

[quote="Anonymous
Do you have anything to say about the thread topic which is black people being harassed and scandalized for no good reason?

Silly me.

Here I was thinking that the thread topic was providing a link to a discussion about people not understanding what makes a street vibrant, friendly and safe.

I read your blog post. Thats a real damn shame. Tonight on this beautiful summer night my ENTIRE block hanging out on the block and its LOVELY!
No type of illicit anything is going on. Just good people hanging out just like your block. BROOKLYN LIFE!!!!