Thank you for publishing this. I didn't "know" you in 2020 so this is the first time I'm reading it. It's especially powerful to hear what your "partners" reveal about their experiences.
It's interesting that race "trumps" psychiatric illness as the focus of ire every time... The schizophrenic white guy killed by the police? Cue seguey into how much worse it is for schizophrenic black guys... As if this makes killing the white guys okay. My recent visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps - tour guides totally ignored the Nazi euthanasia of those with psychiatric illnesses, prior to the Holocaust, the focus always on the Jewish and Roma/Sinti (and then miscellaneous civilian victims).
Yes white on black violence is bad... My parents are from NZ, where the police don't wear guns, and that seems a good idea to me ... although I would like to read a nuanced engagement with the best arguments defending the police, I'm uncomfortable about simply living in a left echo chamber (my black sister defends the prison system here against accusations of black deaths in custody) ... But why bring up white on white violence if only to implicitly drop it immediately with the implication that white on black violence is worse? We all bleed red.
Maybe the US is a different planet, but I know my own racism is based on different experiences of differently coloured people, and the different ways they behave, not the colour of their skin. I still have the greatest respect for the black elders of my childhood, but back then, in my community, no black person did drugs, only the men drank, and mental illness and suicide were unheard of. So was TV, electricity, running water and telephones - my first home didn't have any of these either. Progress has brought with it the internet, electricity, housing, drugs, violence, crime, and suicide. It's the drugs facilitating violence and violence I'm prejudiced against, (read scared about), and I think racism is hard to avoid when drug use and violence is racialised.
A long winded plea for understanding and dialogue... Hard to find in the red mist of rage.
I promise you, America is its own kind of special when it comes to the structure and pervasive nature of white privilege. We built a system to perpetuate slavery, and never dismantled that system.
That was really good. Thanks for posting. With all the noise and chatter of late, the world needs a reminder of this particular issue.
Thank you for publishing this. I didn't "know" you in 2020 so this is the first time I'm reading it. It's especially powerful to hear what your "partners" reveal about their experiences.
PS: A decent written recitation on The American Political Party of Violence https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/the-american-political-party-of-violence
It's interesting that race "trumps" psychiatric illness as the focus of ire every time... The schizophrenic white guy killed by the police? Cue seguey into how much worse it is for schizophrenic black guys... As if this makes killing the white guys okay. My recent visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps - tour guides totally ignored the Nazi euthanasia of those with psychiatric illnesses, prior to the Holocaust, the focus always on the Jewish and Roma/Sinti (and then miscellaneous civilian victims).
Yes white on black violence is bad... My parents are from NZ, where the police don't wear guns, and that seems a good idea to me ... although I would like to read a nuanced engagement with the best arguments defending the police, I'm uncomfortable about simply living in a left echo chamber (my black sister defends the prison system here against accusations of black deaths in custody) ... But why bring up white on white violence if only to implicitly drop it immediately with the implication that white on black violence is worse? We all bleed red.
Maybe the US is a different planet, but I know my own racism is based on different experiences of differently coloured people, and the different ways they behave, not the colour of their skin. I still have the greatest respect for the black elders of my childhood, but back then, in my community, no black person did drugs, only the men drank, and mental illness and suicide were unheard of. So was TV, electricity, running water and telephones - my first home didn't have any of these either. Progress has brought with it the internet, electricity, housing, drugs, violence, crime, and suicide. It's the drugs facilitating violence and violence I'm prejudiced against, (read scared about), and I think racism is hard to avoid when drug use and violence is racialised.
A long winded plea for understanding and dialogue... Hard to find in the red mist of rage.
I promise you, America is its own kind of special when it comes to the structure and pervasive nature of white privilege. We built a system to perpetuate slavery, and never dismantled that system.