Folks,

This is long, but I thought it was worth reading.

Godspeed!

Pa Mambuna

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>
> Subject: Interesting commentary
>
> "Blinded by the White: Crime, Race and Denial in America"
> Tim Wise
>Association for White Anti-Racist Education (AWARE) April 26, 1999
>
> Imagine if you will the following: The place is a quiet, suburban
> community. The kind commonly referred to by its residents as a "nice
> place to live and raise children." It's a community known for civic
pride,
> affluent families, and schools where the students score well above the

> national average on aptitude tests. It's also 93% white.
>
> Now imagine that at this community's high school, a handful of
> black students who say they feel like outcasts begin talking openly
about
> how they hate everyone. They start dressing alike, perhaps wearing the

> same colors, or leather jackets, or black berets, and referring to
> themselves as the "dashiki posse."
>
> Furthermore, they show off their gun collection in a video which
> they produce for a class project. In this video, they act out the
murders
> of dozens of their fellow students and teachers.
>
> In addition to all this, the students are known to operate a website
which
> espouses hatred and violence, and on this website they have
> been known to post what amount to hit lists, letting everyone know who

> they hate most, andintend to kill first.
>
> One of the targets of their hatred discovers the list, tells his
father,
> and the two of them inform police of the thinly-veiled threat.
>
> And let's imagine these black students are fond of a particularly
> "violent" form of music, say, gangsta' rap, and are known to paint
> viciously anti-white slogans and symbols on their clothing, and sing
the
> praises of a particular black mass murderer, say, Colin Ferguson.
>
> Now, let us answer the following question: How long would it take,
> based on the above information, for school officials, teachers, and
> parents to make sure these kids were expelled from school and perhaps
even
> prosecuted? How long would it take for their families to be run out of

> town on a rail?
>
> Does anyone believe this scenario would have been met with apathy,
> cautious indifference, or even amusement? Of course not. But that's
> exactly what happened in the real world when at this same school, in
this
> same community, two white students from "good families" began dressing

> alike, saying they hated everyone, calling themselves the "Trenchcoat
> Mafia," listening to "shock-rock" and the sometimes violent lyrics of
> white musical artists, showing off their guns and murder fantasies on
> film, operating a website which praised Hitler
> and advocated violence, painting swastikas on their clothes, and
naming
> the people they wanted to kill over the internet. Still seen as
"basically
> normal kids" by their families, friends and teachers, these two would
be
> ignored. Ignored that is until last week, when they would go on a
killing
> rampage reminiscent of the previous seven that have occurred at
schools
> around the country in the past two years.
>
> "No one really thought they'd do anything," said some of their
classmates.
> "We thought it was all talk," said others. Of course. These were white

> kids, with BMW's, whose families make six figures or more. These are
the
> beautiful people. They never do anything wrong.
> "We moved from the city to get away from things like this." The
statement
> rings in my ears with a burning familiarity. It's the same
> thing heard after Paduchah, Pearl, Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Edinboro,
and
> Springfield.
>
> And now again, in the wake of Littleton. Some people never get it.
Some
> people are so caught up in their race and class stereotypes about what

> "danger" looks like, they still insist "things like this just don't
happen
> here."
>
> Oh yeah? Well where do they happen? I have yet to hear of one black
> or Latino kid in even one inner-city high school plotting, let alone
> carrying out mass murder. Just where does an urban-dweller go to build

> thirty bombs anyway? And where can they sit around sawing off shotguns

> without someone noticing? Christ, if these kids had been black they
would
> have been followed around the hardware store for so long that they
would
> never have been able to buy any pipes, let alone the other ingredients

> needed for the kind of explosives Messrs. Klebold and Harris
concocted.
>
> So in light of what's happened, not only in Littleton, but in "nice,
> quiet" suburbs all around the country lately, one must ask: just what
> were these folks trying to get away from in the cities? Must not have
been
> violence. Must have been black and brown people (except, of course for
the
> handful that can afford to live amongst them in style), and poor folks

> generally. How sad. Once again, the racialization of crime and
deviance
> has allowed us to let down our guard to the greatest threats to our
> safety: not people of color (if we're white), but our own white
children,
> white parents, white neighbors, white husbands, white lovers and white

> friends.
>
> We have been so conditioned to see deviant and destructive behavior
> as a by-product of melanin or "defective" black culture, that
commentators
> can, without any sense of irony continue to remark about how, well,
> remarkable it is when things like this happen.
>
> It reminds me of something James Baldwin once said about the
Holocaust, a
> much bigger paroxysm of white violence no doubt, but which nonetheless

> resonates here, "They did not know that they could act that way. But I

> doubt very much whether black people were astounded." The white
American
> myth of innocence, decency, morality, and the cowboys who never fired
on
> an "injun" unless it was self-defense, have all been laid bare for
those
> willing to see. That people of color always knew the myths to be
bullshit,
> while the dominant majority refused to listen and look at themselves
only
> makes the situation more tragic. But not a damn bit more shocking.
Feel
> free to insert the one about the chickens and the roost here.
>
> And of course, that the mass killers in the schoolyards have all been
> white as of late has gone without mention in the media. Oh sure, we
hear
> about the similarities between the Columbine High tragedy and the
> others, well, at least some of the similarities: all the shooters were

> boys; all the shooters used guns; all the shooters talked openly about

> violence; all the shooters played violent video games; all the
shooters
> ate Cheerios at some point in the last ten years, you get the picture.
In
> other words, the racial similarities between all these gun-lovin',
> trash-talking, dark-clothes wearing, 'Doom'-playin,' Cheerios-eatin,'
> Marilyn Manson-listenin' bundles of testosterone was irrelevant. While
we
> can rest assured these kids would have been "raced" had they come from

> black "ghetto matriarchs" in the 'hood, it seems as though no one can
see
> the most obvious common characteristic among them: namely, their white

> skin.
>
> This, I guess it what folks mean when they say they're color-blind:
they
> can see color all right, it's white they have a problem with.
> Typical, typical, typical. White folks go off, killing wholesale
> like there's a frickin' closeout on semi-automatic ammunition, and we
get
> fifty-eleven "explanations" from the so-called experts who are called
in
> by the media to make sense of it all. People of color do something
> horrific or commit random acts of retail violence and the whole world
> lines up to blame one of three things: their black families
(particularly
> their black single mommas); their black DNA (as in the rantings of the

> Bell Curve); or their "defective" black culture and inverted value
system.
> Whatever the case, their blackness never, and I mean never, gets
> overlooked.
>
> Gang violence in the cities heats up and we've got U.S. News and World

> Report running a cover story entitled: "A Shocking Look at Blacks and
> Crime," and every nighttime news program running stories asking what's

> wrong with the black family (as if there's only one); what's wrong
with
> these people in the "ghetto underclass." But when Charles Manson, John

> Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer go out and do their thing, no
one
> thinks to ask what it is about white folks that makes them cut babies
out
> of their mothers' wombs, torture young men and bury them under the
house,
> kill two dozen or more women for the hell of it, or consume human
flesh.
>
> White deviants are afforded the privilege of individualization, that's

> just crazy Charlie, ignore him, he's a potted plant", while those of
> color get to represent the whole community and become exhibit A in
David
> Duke and Charles Murray's eugenic fantasy. You say 90% of modern
serial
> killers have been white? Well isn't that puzzling...Next question.
You'll
> never even hear the term "white crime" uttered in polite conversation.

> White collar crime, maybe; but to suggest that the collar might not be
the
> only thing lacking color, would be dogma non grata in mainstream
> discussion. "White-on-white violence?" What the hell is that? Never
heard
> of it. Even in the wake of these massacres. Even as white folks are
> killing other white folks in Kosovo (and still other white folks are
> bombing them to get them to stop). The media and politicians have done

> such a fine job making sure everyone knows who to fear (namely the
dark
> and poor) that we forget how whites are disproportionately likely to
> engage in all kinds of destructive behavior, from drunk driving, to
drug
> use as teenagers, to animal mutilation, to fratricide, to cutting
corners
> on occupational safety standards and pollution control, which then
result
> in the deaths of twice as many people as are murdered each year.
>
> We forget that when it comes to violent crime, whites are four
> times more likely to be victimized by another white person than by a
> person of color, and that only six-ten-thousandths of 1% of the white
> community will be killed by a black person in a given year.
>
> And it all leads one to wonder: how many of the white families with
> kids at Columbine would have moved away, or at least taken their kids
out
> of the school if, say, 50 or 100 black families had moved in and
enrolled
> their children there? If other suburban communities and other white
folks
> are any indication, the answer is quite a few. Study after study for
> twenty five years has found that whites begin to leave an area and
> disenroll their kids from the local schools when the community becomes
as
> little as 8% black. As the numbers get higher, the slow trickle
becomes a
> mass exodus. And why? Well, to get away from crime, of course. I'm
pretty
> sure this is the textbook definition of irony.
>
> Even more hilarious is the tendency to act as if young white people
> were ever innocent, upstanding citizens compared to the rest of the
> country. Even as far back as 1966, a national survey of 15-17 year old

> whites found that "virtually all" had committed numerous criminal
> offenses, from breaking and entering, to minor property destruction,
to
> armed robbery. I've decided that's why all those shows like Leave it
To
> Beaver, Father Knows Best, and the Brady Bunch were so popular: not
> because many people actually lived like that, but because they didn't,
and
> could escape into this unreal fantasy life via the television. After
all,
> why watch a program that looks just like your daily routine? That
would be
> boring. So just as with westerns that allowed (mostly white) kids to
> fantasize about a more exciting life, these wholesome family programs
> allowed (and still allow in syndication) mostly white viewers to
ignore
> the dysfunction which is
> really all around them, and always has been, long before the first
black
> kid set foot in their schools, and long before the "Godless" humanists

> bounced prayer from homeroom. Unfortunately, I have no doubt this kind
of
> thing will happen again.
>
> In fact, had it not been for a few folks informing on plots they knew
> about, we would already have added a Milwaukee suburb to the list of
white
> teen angst killing fields, and a week after Columbine would have
gotten a
> look at what kind of explosives Caucasians in Texas are capable of
putting
> together. And still, according to my morning paper, less than half of
all
> teens and their parents (mostly white if modern survey techniques are
any
> guide) think their schools are at risk for this kind of violence.
>
> Yeah well, just keep telling yourself that. And keep watching COPS
> and Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, and America's Most Wanted,
where
> most of the bad guys fit the more comfortable profile to which we've
grown
> accustomed. Ah yes, that's better. I can hear the dialogue now: "Why
look
> at how menacing the large Negro is honey! My oh my, we sure are glad
we
> moved out here to Pleasantville. Me, my lovely wife, and our son.
Speaking
> of whom, honey, where is Waldo anyway? I don't think I've seen him all

> week. Is he on that computer of his again? That scamp. Such a hard
worker.
> Oh, and honey, what was that sawing sound coming from the garage last
> night?"
>