loftar wrote:Since the previous cartoon appears to have too difficult for you to understand, let me try and post another one on the same theme and see how you'll manage to twist that one around:
I think it should be slightly easier to get, at least.
See... this is where Europeans generally don't understand how Race works in America. While this may seem appropriate to use in Europe it doesn't work well in America.
For anybody that doesn't understand, the cartoon is making fun of the liberal white guy here if you didn't notice. It would be characterized as a conservative satire of white liberals talking about race. it doesn't really make a lot of sense and if an American conservative politician would post it on his website he'd face considerable backlash.
The problem these days isn't getting white people to get out of the way of black voices but instead finding ways to get white people to care about black social problems. Most white liberals think that since we have a black president that we generally don't have any racism or white supremacy. This cartoon would probably have worked in the 80's but not now.
Most black people have parents or grandparents or relatives who are still alive who weren't allowed to vote in certain states, or they faced significant job and housing discrimination, or they witnessed extreme racial violence in their lifetimes. You have to remember that the last American slave actually died only 43 years ago. It's easy to say that Blacks have internalized White Supremacy or Racism but in reality they and their families have dealt with it in some form all their lives. The cartoon says white's speak for them but in reality we're here to speak to you instead. Think of it like this. I'm just a white guy telling another white Swedish nerd that yes, racism does exist in America. Take it for what you will but I'm not an authority on it. I'm just another guy talking about it so that people are aware it still exists.
Saying all that, Racism and White Supremacy are of course much less than they were. American Appartheid is pretty much done as a formal institution. Mississippi finally got around to ratifying the 13th amendment to the American Constitution which ended slavery last year in 2013. The last vestiges of it remains with several states still placing the Confederate flag within their state flags but overall there are no legal or formal social policies enforced anymore.
My job isn't to speak "FOR" the black race or minorities, it's to speak "ABOUT" American racism "TO" you... a white guy from Sweden. Now after reading this little post you've learned a little bit about race relations in the U.S. and maybe you'll be more sensitive to it in the future. My job is done.
