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I feel embarrassed to be white.

Jobi Schwartz,
Morristown, NJ

I’m embarrassed to be white in a country that refuses to acknowledge it’s horrible past of slavery, colonialism, forced segregation, refusal to allow black Americans to have the same opportunities as whites, and now literally trying to bury the past by banning books, and education of its history. Makes me ill frankly. The fact that Trump has just been re-elected says a lot about the people in this country. I think about these things constantly.

MSNBC: Split ticket voters offer some bracing lessons for the Democratic Party

By Michele Norris, senior contributing editor for MSNBC I know I’m not the only person who has had my fill of rapid-fire forensics in the wake of last week’s election. The response from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., did catch my eye, though, because rather than just spout a hot take on Donald Trump’s victory, she used her Instagram platform to talk to voters themselves. What she heard offers some bracing lessons for the Democratic Party.

Blacks Must Show ID To Exist

Patti Downing,
Kansas City, MO

Attended the Race Place & Diversity Symposium and luncheon yesterday. It was a fun and wonderful experience. If all of us REAL HUMANS black, brown, yellow, white (all) could unite into the Purple People Eaters the hate groups would disappear or have to move off “OUR PLANET”. WE ALL BETTER UNITE before another Trump blows into town!!!!!!

I am cautious about who I date

Anna,
MN.

I am not attracted to black guys. Even if I was it’s hard. Any person can be my friend but I don’t want family friends to get pissed off at me. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. Especially in the Trump era. For me personally,I have to be very strategic in what I do. Gosh I sound like Cersei Lannister but I’m not willing to risk everything. It’s sad but true. All other races are fine. So go ahead be my friend. It doesn’t matter to me who anyone else dates I’m fine with that. I know it’s getting bad out there. I’m not willing to take that risk.

My voice is always hidden away.

brandy-robertsBrandy Roberts,
Cottonport, LA.

I am a loving mom of 2 beautiful kids. I am proud to be white, and I can not voice that to a single person, lest I be judged a racist. I have love pure and strong in my heart. I can not for the life of me understand why all whites are forced to apologize for being white. Why do all the other race’s get to throw shade and we are just suppose to take it and never speak up. I voted for Trump because I want change. We need unity. I am tired of having my voice taken from me. Truthfully I feel threatened by the black race. Not all but definitely a majority. I wish them the best in all they do. I have no hate for them. To me, they are unknown, and some are frightening. They are so strong in their beliefs and voice them constantly. If I voiced any of my proudness to be white, I would like some racist be yacht. And get jumped by a few. Just wish we could take pride in ourselves. There are so many organizations for black pride. We only had 1, the KKK, and seriously no white person wants to sign up for that.

I am white but not Trumpy

Ronnie Savoie,
Gonzales, LA

I’m Cajun (Acadian diaspora settling in Louisiana) and have a tiny percentage of Micmac First Nations people from the 1600s. My maternal grandfather was pretty racist, but is my favorite person of all time, and who imparted to me my love of history, although he only had a fourth grade education. Towards the end of his life, my dad actually expressed remorse for ever supporting segregation when I was little. He said, “That’s the way I was taught it should be, and I really never gave it much thought. I never realized that it made black people’s lives really harder. When I think back on my life, I wish I’d never even spoken in favor of that stuff (segregation).” He was not a politician or anything. Just a pretty smart diesel mechanic who never had the opportunity for higher eductation, despite having the smarts for it.

I’m ashamed to be white.

Jason Zeller,
San Diego, CA

Even though my ancestors came to the United States after slavery was abolished and I am not aware of their involvement in any racist activities, as a white person in America I am ashamed of the vile history of racist violence and genocidal activities that white people in the U.S. have engaged in over the years. I’m not sanguine about our ability as a society to overcome this toxic legacy. It seems to me that too much emphasis has been placed on race in the U.S. I don’t know how we can alter that pattern. I don’t see many examples anywhere in the world of properly functioning multi-racial societies. This may be attributable to the reality that humans evolved in tribes, and there is a certain comfort in having a sense of tribal affiliation. My own background involves five-or-six European nationalities, none of which I identify with. Moreover, I find most aspects of traditional “white” culture in the U.S. to be difficult to stomach. The U.S. was founded via a colonial mentality that condoned chattel slavery, Indian removal and massacres and conquest. Internationally we have repeatedly intervened in various Western Hemisphere countries not to mention in Asia, and more recently Africa. It’s a sorry history, not something to celebrate. I had no illusions that Obama’s election would lead to a post-racial America. Instead it brought on the Trump Administration, a racist cabal that led us backwards in racial terms. The notion that teaching Americans about our history of racist acts will somehow lead to a better society is dangerously naive. In many ways I believe that the American South is unyielding anchor impeding our ability to make any meaningful change in racial relations, although racism pervades all of the U.S. I’ve also been discouraged by racist attitudes between various U.S. minorities, e.g., Latinos disparaging blacks and vise-versa, blacks disparaging Asians, the widespread prejudice against Middle-Easterners and rising Anti-Semitism. How does one make progress in light of these negative trends? Perhaps millennials will do a better job than Baby-Boomers have in reducing racism but I’m from Missouri on that score. Best wishes on your project.

Stop acting like blacks are saints

Jimmy,
New York, NY

Obviously 400 years of segregation is the cause of today’s black society. And obviously, there is a tremendous amount of white trash, idiots who think Trump is a good businessman, great man, knows what he’s doing, and a class act. There are so many white pedophiles, liars, cheaters, thieves, senseless bigots, and a-holes, the number is in the tens of millions. And I fully believe that they’d occupy the same roles black people do if white ppl had been enslaved and exiled like blacks were.

So maybe in that sense, I am not racist at all, in that I know circumstance is responsible for the differences in races now.

But I also can’t stand my fellow white liberals who act as if black people are angels when the only ones they know are successful highly-educated black individuals they might at their prestigious colleges.

I live near the projects, and the lack of manners, lack of decency, promotion of killing, drugs, recklessness, disrespect as a way of life, is appalling. This is a major part of black culture, whether you like it or not. And my close black friends willingly admit to this.

Black people don’t want to have dialogues in this country, they want monologues, where white ppl sit there, listen, then do everything that was told for them to do to “make things right.” Reparations in the hundreds of thousands if not millions. They hate the police, yet tell us how awful it is to be black because of all the violence. All the violence is within the community, not coming from the outside, and the only way to solve it is from education and policing. Yet so few black ppl I know take education seriously.

I guess what I’m saying is that yeah white ppl would be in that place, and have those issues if they’d been oppressed, but liberal America needs to shut up and stop acting like black people are the angels that they aren’t. Poor black people are just the same as poor white people… and as the poor white people in rural, downtrodden, crummy areas, they are under-educated, prone to violence, drugs, love disrespect and pi**ing off society and hate the cops. And the black people who were raised in privilege tend to be much higher caliber, just like white people of the same circumstance.

In other words, they’re humans… mostly pretty shi**y, some pretty good, a small percent really great, just like
whites and Chinese and Hispanics.

But given they are where they are, they need to step it up and break the culture of promoting violence, dropping out of school, having babies as teenagers, fighting, drug dealing, and disrespecting women and gay people.

Racism is Alive, Prejudice does Exist

David Murray,
Highland Heights, KY.

I feel, especially now, that this sums up what is going on in not only our country, but the world. With what is happening with Trump now and what happened leading up to the election and inauguration, it is clear to see that prejudice and discrimination are alive throughout the world and it is disturbing.

Trump may be our best friend

Tom Tito,
St. Petersburg, FL.

Maybe. We will know how good or bad the Trump administration is in a few months.
By “We” I mean low wage families trapped in crime infested inner cities with failing schools. Trump has talked about us, will he do anything?

I was shocked by the racism in the Republican campaign and never dreamed that neo-nazi and klan supporters would join the leadership of the GOP and have a seat in the White House. Blatant greed and corruption in the transition makes me doubt Trump can survive 4 years. His cabinet picks were horrible. Yet I find hope in a few actions he’s taken or might soon take.

TPP was a bad deal for the working class but great for the elite and corporate America. It’s dead. Trump may be bringing a few jobs home even as he lies and exaggerates the numbers. When Republicans in congress were about to cut back on ethics rules Trump killed this dastardly act with one tweet. Trump clearly promised not to cut social security, medicare or medicaid and said many time we need to cover everybody. 20 million people may be about to lose health insurance but his statements make it less likely Republicans can get away with this.
His ignorant belief that all black Americans live in squalor is understandable. This prejudice is widespread and just means Trump has never cared enough to get the facts. Few people outside of our neighborhoods do care. Black professionals who move to St. Pete tell me they were warned to stay away from my neighborhood.
I suspect Trump only wanted to point out the failure and hypocrisy of Democratic leaders and the left. We’ll see,
So I’m hopeful Trump will follow through on his promise to make our neighborhoods safe and improve our schools.

White flight and racism trump integration.

Robert Robillard
Roanoke, VA

I teach at a white flight private school that now aims to be diverse. Another element that must be as true in Tuscaloosa as it is in Roanoke or Richmond, is that black families who have the means (not just money but social capital), frequently get their best and brightest into successful county schools or private schools. This brain drain from the city school districts adds another challenge to improving test scores. Educating all of our students well is the most important problem we face as a society.

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