posted April 30, 2015 01:37 PM            

Not all cops are bad
Not all blacks are criminals
Not all whites are racists
STOP LABELLING

I also say
Not all criminals are black
Not all racists are white
Not all brutality is from cops
Not all feminists are women (or women feminists)

Until we all are free no one is

posted April 30, 2015 05:31 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Catalina:
There is a good meme i saw today

Not all cops are bad
Not all blacks are criminals
Not all whites are racists
STOP LABELLING

I also say
Not all criminals are black
Not all racists are white
Not all brutality is from cops
Not all feminists are women (or women feminists)

Until we all are free no one is

If anyone here is familiar with Crab Bucket Syndrome, it is very evident out there today and very exploited by the press and PTB. We are all too easily divided...

---

posted May 01, 2015 05:50 AM            

Racism, and any type of discrimination, is an unnatural state for human beings. It's rooted in fear and stereotypes, and both fear and stereotypes get broken down easily when you see and genuinely interact with the person behind the skin colour/religion/sexual orientation/ etc. This division between 'us' and 'them' is superficial, unnatural, so when groups of people are discriminated against repeatedly, they are bound to fight back. It can't be any other way for too long, because we are all truly equal, despite the social structures we've built for thousands of years - when this balance is broken, for however long, something needs to happen for it to be restored. This is why I despise any judgmental attitudes towards people who (even violently) protest against discrimination. Especially when it's a life-or-death matter, like a police officer being able to get away with shooting you just because your skin reflects the Sun light a little differently. Or any other superficial criteria of this kind.

posted May 01, 2015 06:33 AM            

If people are backed into a corner at every turn, the survival instinct kicks in.

I believe in an innate, psychological urge to grow in all human beings.
Frustrate this urge, and some will fall, but others will fight for their right to thrive.

And I support them, (although not always their methods) totally.

Bella,

thank you for bringing up this topic, and promoting it despite the naysaying.

I guess there will always be people who want to be interesting, and try to construct lofty, esoteric theories about the world in order to avoid having to take responsibility, but in this case, it is simply abuse of other human beings, an attempt at snuffing out the differences.
Anyone who stands back and does nothing supports the perpetrators IMO.

posted May 01, 2015 08:00 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Voix_de_la_Mer:

Anyone who stands back and does nothing supports the perpetrators IMO.

Same old power games that have existed for centuries.

---

Nothing but the truth. So help me God.

posted May 01, 2015 07:36 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by SaturnFan:
Good thread. These issues need to be discussed!

Racism, and any type of discrimination, is an unnatural state for human beings. It's rooted in fear and stereotypes, and both fear and stereotypes get broken down easily when you see and genuinely interact with the person behind the skin colour/religion/sexual orientation/ etc. This division between 'us' and 'them' is superficial, unnatural, so when groups of people are discriminated against repeatedly, they are bound to fight back. It can't be any other way for too long, because we are all truly equal, despite the social structures we've built for thousands of years - when this balance is broken, for however long, something needs to happen for it to be restored. This is why I despise any judgmental attitudes towards people who (even violently) protest against discrimination. Especially when it's a life-or-death matter, like a police officer being able to get away with shooting you just because your skin reflects the Sun light a little differently. Or any other superficial criteria of this kind.

I also hate violence and believe there are better, smarter ways to tackle issues, however I would never judge people's actions when they've been put in a position of feeling tangible danger to their right to be alive and safe.

---

posted May 01, 2015 07:51 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Voix_de_la_Mer:
Agreed Saturnfan.

If people are backed into a corner at every turn, the survival instinct kicks in.

I believe in an innate, psychological urge to grow in all human beings.
Frustrate this urge, and some will fall, but others will fight for their right to thrive.

And I support them, (although not always their methods) totally.

Bella,

thank you for bringing up this topic, and promoting it despite the naysaying.

I guess there will always be people who want to be interesting, and try to construct lofty, esoteric theories about the world in order to avoid having to take responsibility, but in this case, it is simply abuse of other human beings, an attempt at snuffing out the differences.
Anyone who stands back and does nothing supports the perpetrators IMO.

Same old power games that have existed for centuries.

---

You are very welcome. I have always been and will be outspoken on social justice issues. Even though my reputation on LL has taken a hit for speaking out against bigoted and hurtful comments here, I refuse to back down and will raise my voice when I feel someone is being marginalized unjustly.

Here is the kicker: I am actually white.

I have nothing to gain by doing this and everything to lose. I've never had to face racial discrimination, called names due to my race, be limited by the infrastructure of systemic racism, face greater health and socioeconomic limitations of my race. I have every privilege at the tips of my fingers and will never understand what it is like to live under a systemic racial infrastructure.

Instead, I am part of a system that rewards people like me, all because of my skin color. I could sit back like most people and turn my back to the problem, but I do not. Why?

I was woken up very quickly as a youth. Seeing the racial slurs and jokes thrown at my best friend, who is black, made me realize how cruel and inhumane the world is. Furthermore, watching several of my black friends get stopped by police cars for no reason, and get denied privileges my own race has really shattered me. The final knife in the dagger was finding out a high school peer of mine was murdered due to his race, and was called the 'n' word repeatedly as he was stabbed to death. I will never forget this, as long as I live, and will do whatever I can to prevent another horrible crime like this from happening.

When I speak out and/or participate in socially conscious activities, I do not do it for personal glory nor do I expect anything in return. I do it because I feel a deep and profound love for humanity, in my eyes all lives are equal and have value. I do it for all of the young women and men out there who are called racial slurs, are denied rights due to their skin color, are frightened by unnecessary threats by the police, and to those like Travyon Martin, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and countless others who will never get a final say on the value of their lives.

All lives matter, and no matter how utopian my ideas are, I will not stop until the systemic racial infrastructure is dismantled. Even if it does not happen in my lifetime, I will continue until the day I die to try and make a difference in the world.

posted May 01, 2015 11:37 PM            

One thing that makes me shake my head...the Haitian Revolution was essentially a brutal slave revolt as much as a revolution. And America to the north looked at that and realized something like that could happen in the US. But instead of trying to integrate the slaves already here or even just phasing out slavery they chose to continue what they knew to be an obnoxious practice, but they took steps to prevent what happened in Haiti from happening in America such as stamping out all native languages and religions to make them English speaking Christians (which ironically created a unified black culture) as well as denying them any quality education, the right to bear arms, "race mixing," and all other forms of enfranchisement all based on color rather than if you were slave or free. (IOW, they learned the wrong lessons from Haiti. I forget where I read of it but one goal of the Confederacy after winning the civil war was to invade lands like Haiti.)

Of course the US failed to escape the karmic consequences. Only by making things right can the Wheel of Pain become less in the lives of all of us...because while certain people may get the most turds thrown at them, a lot of that is going to splatter back on us. And unfortunately it's the innocent who tend to suffer the backlash the most. Karmic isn't anymore just than gravity, it just is, and those who are kind and accepting don't expect to be the victims of hatred while those who knowingly and willfully put others beneath the boots of the state know to hide (when possible) in their gated communities...and pray the history of the Haiti Revolution doesn't happen here (which it will, one day, if the karma isn't worked out more peacefully before then). So I see even enlightened self-interest in wanting to correct these injustices, especially if we give a damn about what happens to our nation, children, etc, after we die.

posted May 01, 2015 11:43 PM            

quote:

---

Then, returning from school one afternoon, Luna was beaten and robbed by a gang of black kids. She was weeping and badly frightened when she arrived home, and her Father was shaken by the unfairness of it happening to her, such a gentle, ethereal child. In the midst of consoling her, the Father wandered emotionally and began denouncing the idea of Karma. Luna was beaten, he said, not for her sins, but for the sins of several centuries of slavers and racists, most of whom had never themselves suffered for those sins. "Karma is a blind machine," he said. "The effects of evil go on and on but they don't necessarily come back on those who start the evil." Then Father got back on the track and said some more relevant and consoling things.

The next day Luna was her usual sunny and cheerful self, just like the Light in her paintings. "I'm glad you're feeling better," the Father said finally.

"I stopped the wheel of Karma," she said. "All the bad energy is with the kids who beat me up. I'm not holding any of it."

And she wasn't. The bad energy had entirely passed by, and there was no anger or fear in her. I never saw her show any hostility to blacks after the beating, any more than before.

The Father fell in love with her all over again. And he understood what the metaphor of the wheel of Karma really symbolizes and what it means to stop the wheel.

Karma, in the original Buddhist scriptures, is a blind machine; in fact, it is functionally identical with the scientific concept of natural law. Sentimental ethical ideas about justice being built into the machine, so that those who do evil in one life are punished for it in another life, were added later by theologians reasoning from their own moralistic prejudices. Buddha simply indicated that all the cruelties and injustices of the past are still active: their effects are always being felt. Similarly, he explained, all the good of the past, all the kindness and patience and love of decent people is also still being felt.
Since most humans are still controlled by fairly robotic reflexes, the bad energy of the past far outweighs the good, and the tendency of the wheel is to keep moving in the same terrible direction, violence breeding more violence, hatred breeding more hatred, war breeding more war. The only way to "stop the wheel" is to stop it inside yourself, by giving up bad energy and concentrating on the positive. This is by no means easy, but once you understand what Gurdjieff called "the horror of our situation," you have no choice but to try, and to keep on trying.

And Luna, at 13, understood this far better than I did, at 43, with all my erudition and philosophy.... I still regarded her absolute vegetarianism and pacifism as sentimentality.

---

posted May 02, 2015 01:13 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Catalina:
I would have to disagree that white folk have nothing to gain from pushing for equality across the board. I have been pinned as black here for saying similar..some people can't believe white people can empathize.

It is all our problem. If we dont stand up we are failing our race..the Human race. At the very least from a selfish point of view it will be whitey next. But in reality it is our humanity at stake

---

I see what you mean. What I meant in regards to 'nothing to gain' was that as being in the majority I personally will not benefit from what I do, but other people will.

posted May 02, 2015 04:41 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by BellaFenice:

Here is the kicker: I am actually white.

I have nothing to gain by doing this and everything to lose. I've never had to face racial discrimination, called names due to my race, be limited by the infrastructure of systemic racism, face greater health and socioeconomic limitations of my race. I have every privilege at the tips of my fingers and will never understand what it is like to live under a systemic racial infrastructure.

Instead, I am part of a system that rewards people like me, all because of my skin color. I could sit back like most people and turn my back to the problem, but I do not.

---

Thank you for doing what's right.

posted May 02, 2015 04:49 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by PixieJane:
Btw, does anyone know the context for this JFK quote?

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

---

I do not. But that is a fantastic and truthful quote.

posted May 02, 2015 05:08 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by PixieJane:
More on Karma with a specific example relevant to this thread:
http://www.deepleafproductions.com/wilsonlibrary/texts/raw-karma.html

[QUOTE]Then, returning from school one afternoon, Luna was beaten and robbed by a gang of black kids. She was weeping and badly frightened when she arrived home, and her Father was shaken by the unfairness of it happening to her, such a gentle, ethereal child. In the midst of consoling her, the Father wandered emotionally and began denouncing the idea of Karma. Luna was beaten, he said, not for her sins, but for the sins of several centuries of slavers and racists, most of whom had never themselves suffered for those sins. "Karma is a blind machine," he said. "The effects of evil go on and on but they don't necessarily come back on those who start the evil." Then Father got back on the track and said some more relevant and consoling things.

The next day Luna was her usual sunny and cheerful self, just like the Light in her paintings. "I'm glad you're feeling better," the Father said finally.

"I stopped the wheel of Karma," she said. "All the bad energy is with the kids who beat me up. I'm not holding any of it."

And she wasn't. The bad energy had entirely passed by, and there was no anger or fear in her. I never saw her show any hostility to blacks after the beating, any more than before.

The Father fell in love with her all over again. And he understood what the metaphor of the wheel of Karma really symbolizes and what it means to stop the wheel.

Karma, in the original Buddhist scriptures, is a blind machine; in fact, it is functionally identical with the scientific concept of natural law. Sentimental ethical ideas about justice being built into the machine, so that those who do evil in one life are punished for it in another life, were added later by theologians reasoning from their own moralistic prejudices. Buddha simply indicated that all the cruelties and injustices of the past are still active: their effects are always being felt. Similarly, he explained, all the good of the past, all the kindness and patience and love of decent people is also still being felt.
Since most humans are still controlled by fairly robotic reflexes, the bad energy of the past far outweighs the good, and the tendency of the wheel is to keep moving in the same terrible direction, violence breeding more violence, hatred breeding more hatred, war breeding more war. The only way to "stop the wheel" is to stop it inside yourself, by giving up bad energy and concentrating on the positive. This is by no means easy, but once you understand what Gurdjieff called "the horror of our situation," you have no choice but to try, and to keep on trying.

And Luna, at 13, understood this far better than I did, at 43, with all my erudition and philosophy.... I still regarded her absolute vegetarianism and pacifism as sentimentality.

---

Pixie,

thank you so much for posting this story.

I just had a complete epiphany.

I have struggled for so long to understand the concept and mechanism of karma. And folks on LL kept using the term "blind machine", and I didn't get it.
However, I have been bumping my gums for years about the fact that the cycle of abuse in my family ended with me, as I healed and used my insights to help others.

Your story has just shown me that I made like Luna. I never realised til now that this was ending the karmic cycle.

Thank you so much for showing me this connection, I finally understand now.

posted May 02, 2015 05:18 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by BellaFenice:
You are very welcome. I have always been and will be outspoken on social justice issues. Even though my reputation on LL has taken a hit for speaking out against bigoted and hurtful comments here, I refuse to back down and will raise my voice when I feel someone is being marginalized unjustly.

Here is the kicker: I am actually white.

I have nothing to gain by doing this and everything to lose. I've never had to face racial discrimination, called names due to my race, be limited by the infrastructure of systemic racism, face greater health and socioeconomic limitations of my race. I have every privilege at the tips of my fingers and will never understand what it is like to live under a systemic racial infrastructure.

Instead, I am part of a system that rewards people like me, all because of my skin color. I could sit back like most people and turn my back to the problem, but I do not. Why?

I was woken up very quickly as a youth. Seeing the racial slurs and jokes thrown at my best friend, who is black, made me realize how cruel and inhumane the world is. Furthermore, watching several of my black friends get stopped by police cars for no reason, and get denied privileges my own race has really shattered me. The final knife in the dagger was finding out a high school peer of mine was murdered due to his race, and was called the 'n' word repeatedly as he was stabbed to death. I will never forget this, as long as I live, and will do whatever I can to prevent another horrible crime like this from happening.

When I speak out and/or participate in socially conscious activities, I do not do it for personal glory nor do I expect anything in return. I do it because I feel a deep and profound love for humanity, in my eyes all lives are equal and have value. I do it for all of the young women and men out there who are called racial slurs, are denied rights due to their skin color, are frightened by unnecessary threats by the police, and to those like Travyon Martin, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and countless others who will never get a final say on the value of their lives.

All lives matter, and no matter how utopian my ideas are, I will not stop until the systemic racial infrastructure is dismantled. Even if it does not happen in my lifetime, I will continue until the day I die to try and make a difference in the world.

You know what the sad thing is? I keep getting told I have "learned nothing." No, I've learned a lot actually. I've learned sadly how lives can be treated as such- nothing.

---

Bella,

I am white too.
I think in terms of "human beings". Inequality is inequality.
There are many false divisions in this world, engineered to grant power to the other. However these perceptions are simply that.

One way to tackle this is just what you are doing: challenging people to think and question the fallacies they have accepted.

posted May 02, 2015 07:08 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by PixieJane:
Btw, does anyone know the context for this JFK quote?

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

---

Address on the first Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress?

posted May 02, 2015 07:10 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Voix_de_la_Mer:
Pixie,

thank you so much for posting this story.

I just had a complete epiphany.

I have struggled for so long to understand the concept and mechanism of karma. And folks on LL kept using the term "blind machine", and I didn't get it.
However, I have been bumping my gums for years about the fact that the cycle of abuse in my family ended with me, as I healed and used my insights to help others.

Your story has just shown me that I made like Luna. I never realised til now that this was ending the karmic cycle.

Thank you so much for showing me this connection, I finally understand now.

*** Sorry to the OP for digressing, I just really wanted to express how important this post was to me.

---

posted May 02, 2015 08:54 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by BellaFenice:
Address on the first Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress?

I think?

---

Yes!

posted September 10, 2015 09:35 PM            

I appreciate your insight on Baltimore!

I understand what you are saying as it is the same in rural communities.
Living in one , in the north, race issues are rare but the class issues are the same and cause many similar problems ..