It's interesting how the msm only reports on situations like these when the victims are non-White. Here is an example of what Whites go through to outwit racists in rural South Africa : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMOmQJCtTek
How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
81–90 of 109 posts
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your comments in this thread are fascinating and I'd love to hear your take on something. In the upper middle class, largely liberal society that I'm part of, I sometimes get an uncomfortable feeling from how people talk about racism. They believe in racial equality and tolerance, which is great. But something uglier seems mixed in too. To me it feels like a class prejudice that wants to see the poor as beneath them,…
I came from a middle class neighborhood, but I have been around poorer minorities and become more aware of the issues that poorer Whites have. I have a group of five friends that I keep in touch with from a former job. We have a private Slack channel and meet for lunch occasionally - all tech people in our mid 40s. Three White, two Black. I don't think any of them are racists, but two of them say things that show the…
What do you mean "welfare and other benefits of the poor was such a small amount of their tax dollars"? According to a quick Google search [1] social security and unemployment makes up about 33% of the budget and Medicare makes up about 27%. Meanwhile military is "only" 15%
[1] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came from a middle class neighborhood, but I have been around poorer minorities and become more aware of the issues that poorer Whites have. I have a group of five friends that I keep in touch with from a former job. We have a private Slack channel and meet for lunch occasionally - all tech people in our mid 40s. Three White, two Black. I don't think any of them are racists, but two of them say things that show the…
What do you mean "welfare and other benefits of the poor was such a small amount of their tax dollars"? According to a quick Google search [1] social security and unemployment makes up about 33% of the budget and Medicare makes up about 27%. Meanwhile military is "only" 15% [1] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
Correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK, Social Security and medicare are benefits available to everyone, rich or poor, after reaching retirement age. The amount you get out has some relation with how much you put in when you worked (it may not be perfectly linear, perhaps favors poorer people, I don't know). Unemployment benefits are for people who have lost jobs meaning they previously paid into unemployment insurance plans. So I would not consider any of these programs to constitute "welfare and benefits of the poor".
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean "welfare and other benefits of the poor was such a small amount of their tax dollars"? According to a quick Google search [1] social security and unemployment makes up about 33% of the budget and Medicare makes up about 27%. Meanwhile military is "only" 15% [1] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
Correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK, Social Security and medicare are benefits available to everyone, rich or poor, after reaching retirement age. The amount you get out has some relation with how much you put in when you worked (it may not be perfectly linear, perhaps favors poorer people, I don't know). Unemployment benefits are for people who have lost jobs meaning they previously paid into unemployment insurance pl…
> Correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK, Social Security and medicare are benefits available to everyone, rich or poor, after reaching retirement age.
Social security is only available to people who have worked in jobs participating in Social Security. Make your living trading without ever being a regular employee, no social security (also true of some state government jobs.)
But you are correct that neither it nor Medicare are means-tested, poverty-focussed programs.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK, Social Security and medicare are benefits available to everyone, rich or poor, after reaching retirement age. The amount you get out has some relation with how much you put in when you worked (it may not be perfectly linear, perhaps favors poorer people, I don't know). Unemployment benefits are for people who have lost jobs meaning they previously paid into unemployment insurance pl…
> Correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK, Social Security and medicare are benefits available to everyone, rich or poor, after reaching retirement age. Social security is only available to people who have worked in jobs participating in Social Security. Make your living trading without ever being a regular employee, no social security (also true of some state government jobs.) But you are correct that neither it nor Medic…
> who have worked in jobs participating in Social Security.
Ah yes. I (sort of) touched upon that when I said "the amount you get out has some relation to how much you put in". But yes, if you never contribute to Social Security, you don't get anything at all even after reaching retirement age. The point is all of those programs involve people getting money out of a system that they have contributed to themselves through their taxes. None of them are "pure" charity, where beneficiaries get something for free.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#86I don't disagree with the article but let me give a more positive anecdote. I'm Black and live in Forsyth County GA. Yeah this Forsyth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WErjPmFulQ0 We were looking for a house and were welcomed with opened arms by the builder, I can still go to pick up my son from a teen group where no one knows me and ask any random person have they seen my son and they know exactly who I'm talking ab…
My guess is that your household income is at least $150k? Wealth can be a partial vaccine against discrimination.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
The disconnect isn't just between Black and White it's between the poor and not poor. You'd be surprised if you heard the conversations between some upper middle class Blacks and if you didn't know what color they were, you would think they were some of the most racist White people in the world. (I'm Black).
Your comments in this thread are fascinating and I'd love to hear your take on something. In the upper middle class, largely liberal society that I'm part of, I sometimes get an uncomfortable feeling from how people talk about racism. They believe in racial equality and tolerance, which is great. But something uglier seems mixed in too. To me it feels like a class prejudice that wants to see the poor as beneath them,…
Racism has always been a means to an end for the rich (upper upper class aka .01% aka ruling class or whatever you want to call it) in America and elsewhere. It has always been a way to control the masses, especially the poor by dividing them and turning them on each other. It has always been perpetrated from the top down by people who know better. The people at the top count on everyone else being either disinterested (because it doesn't affect them) or too stupid to realize this or learn from history. They count on people being too stupid to see that in a racially divided society, they can never advance or have power that threatens the upper upper class. Part of this control is pretending that racism stems from the poor and uneducated, that it rises out of ignorance rather than willful planning. I suspect the upper middle class is simply trying to imitate the upper upper class in these cases.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#88One terribly insidious aspect to racism in America is how invisible it is to white people. We are so segregated that most white people will not learn about black people's experiences with racism organically. It's only through articles like this and cell phone footage of violent police interactions that we become aware of this cruel alternative reality so many people live in. The disconnect exists within city-limits,…
You are absolutely right about that. I was brought up that racism was for poor white trash and anyone who is racist shouldn't be associated with. Of course I live my life that way, so all the people who I interact with aren't racist. Honestly, even people on the street I talk with don't say things like that. The last time someone said something like that was some old bumpkin in a truck at a gas station said something…
I think such rose-colored beliefs are dangerous and cause major harm so I do not want to nor do I believe them.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US Constitution is basically obsolete and terrible and you can't run a decent society without stretching it quite a bit. It does not deserve the veneration it receives.
I would argue that this means we should fix the constitution through the amendment process, not toss the baby out with the bathwater.
I can't imagine a more horrific scenario than a constitutional convention. The day that happens is the day America dies. Ok, probably a few days later when they decide to throw out the current ratification rules out and just rewrite everything. A bunch of un-elected idiots rewriting the constitution. I hope they use a new name. Calling that new country USA will be confusing. Regardless, I will not stick around here for that. Third time around is bound to be an even bigger disaster than the first two.
Re: How black people still need to outwit racists in rural America
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean "welfare and other benefits of the poor was such a small amount of their tax dollars"? According to a quick Google search [1] social security and unemployment makes up about 33% of the budget and Medicare makes up about 27%. Meanwhile military is "only" 15% [1] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
Correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK, Social Security and medicare are benefits available to everyone, rich or poor, after reaching retirement age. The amount you get out has some relation with how much you put in when you worked (it may not be perfectly linear, perhaps favors poorer people, I don't know). Unemployment benefits are for people who have lost jobs meaning they previously paid into unemployment insurance pl…
> Unemployment benefits are for people who have lost jobs meaning they previously paid into unemployment insurance plans
If you don't include that as "welfare and benefits of the poor" I don't know what you would include. I guess you're right in the sense that only a small portions of ones taxes go to pay people who never worked and never plan on working.
I double checked and you are right that most of SS and medicare go to retired people. They probably aren't considered "poor". Do you know of any unbiased (or low biased) place that counts what percentage of the budget goes to poor people (food stamps, housing projects, extended unemployment benefits, etc.) ?