If you’ve ever been in a forum or thread about racism, you may have seen that one clown that demands of proof of racism. Evidence is presented from articles, excerpts from books or books themselves, videos, charts, data, statistics, graphs, scholarly writings from academia, stone tablets, whatever. You’ve given the doubter everything and anything you can find to make him/her see that you’re not lying.

To the doubter, that’s not enough. Nothing you can give enough. You’re just wrong. Your proof is wrong based on questionable or straight-up false sources, information and data. Either it’s from a right wing outlet or it was just pulled out of thin air just to not only discredit you but also make you look stupid and insane.

Another thing they could do is pull the old you-don’t-know-what-white-people-think dodge. Son of Baldwin at Medium writes how it’s done:

They will ask you if you can read the minds of white people. Yes. That’s their favorite one. That’s their standard of proof. The only way you will be able to prove racism to these white folks is if you’re telepathic. And even then, they’d question the accuracy of your telepathic abilities and will request a white telepath to verify your knowledge — and they will only believe the white telepath if they disagree with you and agree with them. Anything to avoid having to confront and admit that racism exists, that they benefit from it, and often participate in and perpetuate it…

Nothing you say will refute that. That’s a round-peg claim they will push through a square hole while getting folks to believe that they’re communicating in good faith. But as Son of Baldwin continues:

Beyond being a sign of intellectual laziness, psychological ineptitude, and a gross exploitation of unearned authority and privilege, it’s emotionally sophomoric and an insidious and pathological deflection strategy designed to protect white people from encountering any reality that doesn’t make them feel like the most special and innocent snowflakes at the dead center of the alabaster and crystalline universe.

And there are plenty of snowflakes that hate to melt but end up dripping with intense negative emotions. As such, they will revert to a childlike state, resort to immature name calling, bullying and an obsessive drive to break the patience of the people they’re confronting and will deflect and deny any accountability for their actions. It’s the lowest form of racist Jedi mind tricks to run down any conversation about racism and drive you mad and exhausted.

But as Toni Morrison says on the same piece:

“The function, the very serious function, of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language, so you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly, so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Someone says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary. There will always be one more thing.”

And like the author of the piece, I WILL NOT put up with it anymore. They can cry about how their “freedoms” have been taken away. They can pat themselves on the back for winning the mental war on liberal PC culture. They can continue to bad mouth me, call me racist – which is another tactic they love to throw at you – and my blog. But I will NOT put up with any more drippy attitudes from a bunch of assholes running from the truths about racism like a thief running from the cops.

Click here to read the Son of Baldwin’s entire article.

The post Dear Trolls: Show me proof of racism so that I can reject it! appeared first on Madness & Reality.

There’s an excerpt:

The study’s researchers reviewed over 800 local and national news pieces published or aired between January 2015 and December 2016, sampling major networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC as well as major print publications such as The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

The study — conducted by  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign communications professor Travis L. Dixon — found that national news outlets were more likely to show black families as broken and dysfunctional while white families were depicted as possessing social stability. 

These images are not only distorted, but contradict government data.

Dixon found that black families represented 59 percent of poor people portrayed in media, but actually only make up of 27 percent of Americans living in poverty. In contrast, white families only make up 17 percent of the poor representated in media, but make up 66 percent in reality. As far as criminal depictions go, black criminals represented 37 percent of the media’s criminals while only 26 percent of those arrested on criminal charges are black in real life. White criminals represented 28 percent the criminals portrayed in the media, but make up 77 percent of real life’s crime suspects.

The report argues that constant depictions of black people living in poor, welfare-dependent and broken homes due to absentee fathers has created a negative image of black families in general.

“This leaves people with the opinion that black people are plagued with self-imposed dysfunction that creates family instability and therefore, all their problems,” said Dixon.

If you want to read the entire article, click here.

Again, this observation has been an examined and discussed for years. TheGuardian writes about how negative media portrayals of black men have real world consequences.  The Huffington Post highlights racist stereotypes of black men in popular media.

The successes and accomplishments of black women have been eclipsed by many disparaging and disheartening images of black women in the media. It has prompt black women to combat these images as they too have to struggle in a world that listens to a racist and sexist media landscape as opposed to actually meeting and talking to real black women.

The funny thing is that whenever a black person reveals something so blatantly obvious, the racism in Western media being just one example, a study has to be done. Black folks are never listened to or believed when it comes to matters of racism and discrimination unless it goes along with whiteness and its many, many defenses. A study has to be conducted to see if we’re right if it’s not what a white person says.

Black people are always assumed that we’re wrong in the case of racism. I’ve seen white-laced attitudes that reject or destroy any and everything a black person says whether it’s actual data and evidence to personal experiences. Black people try their hardest to prove the unfair case against them, but to no avail. They refuse to listen and understand. Whiteness gives them the arrogance to think they know more about racism than the actual victims of racism, the ignorance to shield them from much-needed differing views and the cruelty to insult and guilt trip them all in an effort to avoid the reality that only black people know.

So, even though this study solidifies what was said all along and when it’s evidenced by constant, uninterrupted TV viewing, the problem will still be thrown out in favor of a half-baked explanation not rooted in facts or reality concocted by a someone who claims white people are victims of racism.

The post New Study Finds News Outlets Promote False, Negative Portrayals Of Black Families appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Yet, I’ve been accused of being racist…against whites by whites. Most entries in my blog are about the malign facets of whiteness: white racism, white supremacy, white fragility, etc. That alone is enough for passersby and devoted trolls to deliver more ruinous whiteness in the form of deflection, name-calling, condemnation, and denial. I’m called a racist. My opinions are delusional, silly and stupid, and the truth is fake.

The most important thing these white-minded individuals want me to know out of all of their banter is that white people are victims of racism. Either that or there’s more racism against them than nonwhites. So, one way or another, I’m wrong and – of course, racist – for blogging about all the shit whiteness has done and is doing. Discussing and criticizing whiteness is equivalent to attacking white people, and I’m fundamentally no different than the KKK.

But how oppressed are white people really are? Are they being pulled over by police in large numbers for “looking suspicious”? Are they followed around stores out of fear that they may shoplift? Are they passed over for jobs and careers based on white-sounding names? Are mostly white neighborhoods, especially poor ones, considered dangerous areas to live, especially at night?

I could ask more questions, present actual facts and data, but no matter what I ask or say, no matter what truths are given, white people will reject it as part of the fake news scheme, an unholy plot against white people, because they’re simply white.

This is why it’s not our responsibility to teach white people about ourselves or racism. Doing so is a full-time job with no pay or benefits, at least not for us.

No explanation or contest against their thinking is worthy of their attention. They’re really not interested in a discussion. They rather argue, put down and win by any means. They prefer apologies or better, that we agree with them and adopt their thinking. Nothing pleases whiteness more than people of color siding with it. As a black person, white people just don’t want to listen let alone hear about what you feel about racism unless if it’s from any of the broken records from the archive of whiteness.

Yet, some think going to spaces that weren’t meant for their comfort is somehow a good idea. They claim to want to add to the conversation and present “another side” to the issue which involves more hits from the broken record of whitenss. But in then end, all they’ll end up doing is intimidate, berate, shown hypocrisy, bully and threatened bloggers of color and white folks who disagree and tried to talk to these people and refuse to back down on what they know is right.

I’ve seen a lot of that while being a blogger. Self-proclaimed race realists, Tea Party members, Neo-Nazis, Trump supporters, cocky liberals and ignorant conservatives resort to being the worst kind of people just to get their points across. They will lie, deceive, gaslight and even threaten if they don’t get their way. Even more hair-pulling is when they claim that being a straight, white Christian male is the new homosexual, black Muslim female.

There would’ve been a slight chance for sympathy for these types as many of them are really struggling, but a lot of them prove, one way or another, that they are just horrible people, and they are living in a time where being horrible is somehow honorable. They don’t care that their hatred and deplorable attitudes harm others. Yet, they expect us to feel sorry that their precious people are somehow being oppressed.

They don’t deserve sympathy, because they truly don’t want it. And we should stop trying to reach out to those who would rather die than wake the hell up and realize who the REAL enemies are.

The post There’s no Use Talking to White folks who Say They’re Victims of Racism appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I talk about white racism…a lot. So, I’m assumed to hate white people, or so it’s believed. There’s nothing intricate about it. It’s an open-and-shut case, a zero-sum game.

Not to throw any puns, but it’s not that black and white.

One thing I’ve noticed when it comes to people with societal privileges, they seem to can’t stand it when the lesser privileged puts them in an unfavorable spotlight. Right away, the immediate response is that they hate them and has unfairly placed them all into a tight box. The comments usually range in between “not all of us” to “you hate us”, which hints that they’re feelings aren’t used to being pointed out. As such, their emotions appear fragile enough to initiate rejection, deflection and condemnation.

Some will go into an extensive diatribe, which can be plagued with guilt tripping and derailing, in an attempt to prove the lesser privileged wrong. They will throw them under the bus in order to protect their feelings, ego and keep their bubble from getting burst. As stated earlier, they’re not mentally or emotionally prepared to have their privileges check as they’re taught all their lives that they don’t have to do any secondary thinking from beyond their mindset. Asking them to do so, puts them in an uncomfortable position, a place there they don’t want to go, and they tend to not want to go on any journeys.

I’m black, but I’m also a male. I don’t have white privilege, but I have male privilege. Racism effects me, but not sexism or misogyny. I’m also straight. So, I don’t have to worry about homophobia. Yet, my straight male privileges have me think that I have authorities to talk about things that only the LGBTQ and women understand. It wasn’t until I “grew up” that I learn to check my privileges more often.

But being a person of color in this country, I’ve dealt with realities of racism and how it’s a part of every institution here. I know that white racism is still in existence and is still dangerous. I’m forced to deal with this truth everyday. All people of color have to.

White people dominate every institution in America. Politics, business, technology, even education. There are mostly white people in high positions. Yet, despite that, there are white folks who genuinely believe that they’re now discriminated against.

You would think that it would hint them at what people of color deal with on the daily and feel more sympathetic. Some do. Some don’t. Those who won’t end up becoming the problem, becoming racists themselves believing that people of color are racist against them and that white people are undergoing a racial genocide due to affirmative action and interracial dating.

With the growing crisis of sexual harassment in Hollywood and politics becomingthe talk of the media, it should come to no surprise that there are men who want to remind women that not all men are sexual deviants. Even though that’s true, women – and even men who are also victims – the point is not to condemn men but to speak out against a crime that powerful people, who happen to be males, have made a mission to keep under wraps to cover their asses and maintain high status.

Yet, we men think that those women, and feminists in general, simply hate men and are actively working to take down powerful ones. Our privilege make us suspect the worse, ignoring what’s fact and what must be done. Men have it better than women in a patriarchal society to where our crimes against women are usually excused or justified. What’s worse is that our privilege will turn us into defenders of the status quo adding to the problem and making it worse.

To make things as clear as crystal, most people of color don’t hate white people. Most women don’t hate men. Most LGBTQ don’t hate straight people. And so on. They – we are just sick of the truckloads of shit done to us for the lamest of reasons. It’s not the color of white skin, the penis or the attraction to the opposite sex. It’s the content of the character…or lack thereof.

The post Talking About the Harmful Things the Privileged Do Isn’t Hatred appeared first on Madness & Reality.

That experiment didn’t end well; in fact, it was aborted prematurely. Peterman ended off the night going for 6 for 14 for 66 yards, no touchdowns, 5 INTs, and a lowly 17.9 QB rating. He was quickly taken out of the game in the second quarter. That means ALL of those interceptions came in the first half. While I try to figure out if that is a record (he is second in INTs for NFL debut starts), it has to be said that putting Tyrod Taylor in the game was a no brainer.

And that is the particular struggle of being a black quarterback. To be a black QB means a shorter leash and a career that may seem to be on borrowed time.

Tyrod Taylor Was The Victim of Quarterbacking While Black

To see where the problem is with the benching of Tyrod Taylor, one would have to look at his numbers for the season. Before the New Orleans game, Taylor never had a game where his QB rating was below 80 (average of 91 for the year thus far). Actually, many of his games were above 90. He has only thrown for 3 interceptions and his throwing percentage has an average of 64%. He has thrown for 11 and ran for 3 touchdowns. He is great? No. Is he suitable? Absolutely.

And yet, McDermott found it in his best power to bench a man that was actually being halfway productive in the middle of a playoff hunt? Senseless.

McDermott broke two rules of coaching in the NFL with this silly move. The first rule is that a coach should never go against their quarterback with such a move. It was hasty at best. Also, Taylor had been performing much better than previously. And then there is the other reason: no coach should give up on their QB in the middle of a playoff race. Who would take time to break up any momentum that could have been established? Sean McDermott would.

Think about this for a second: would this had happened with a white QB in Taylor’s position? In most cases, I would say no. The only time I recall anything like this was Alex Smith for Colin Kaepernick. And look at where Colin Kaepernick is now: black balled for reasons besides football. And this is the issue with black quarterbacks: there are so few of us that our performance has to be, at the very least, pretty damn productive. Otherwise, we will get pulled for any reason.

If anyone needs any further explanation on what I am speaking of, then think about what Nick Wright has to say about it all:

Tyrod Taylor, this year, is one of four different quarterbacks with 10+ touchdowns and 3 or fewer picks. The other guys are Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Alex Smith. Tyrod Taylor, for his career, has the lowest interception rate in NFL history…I’m gonna say what I thought right when this happened and it is gonna make people uncomfortable but I ask for you to listen with an open mind. This flatly does not happen to a white quarterback. The margin of error and “prove it” level for black QBs coming out of college and once they get to the pros is so drastically different than their white counterparts. That is why Russell Wilson falls to the third round behind a guy like Brandon Weeden. That is why Dak Prescott falls to the fourth round behind a guy like Christian Hackenberg. That is why Deshaun Watson is not even considered for the number one overall pick despite dominating in college year after year. That is why Tyrod Taylor falls to the sixth round and gets replaced by Nathan Peterman. In order for a black quarterback, even til this day, to be considered a blue chipper out of college, you know what you gotta do? Go win the Heisman trophy and maybe the national championship. Cam Newton did that. And then there was still debate whether or not Blaine Gabbert should have been picked ahead of him.

After all that Nick said, what is there really left to say? This isn’t guesstimation. This is historical context, facts, statistics, and real issues.

The Tyrod Taylor Saga Continues

At the end of the day, Tyrod Taylor did not get a fair shake. Sean McDermott made an obvious mistake and paid for it by losing a game that could have been won from the beginning. Then again, much of the mistake was corrected once they put Taylor back in. And this is the cycle of life for the black quarterback in the NFL: to be considered, we have to be extremely great and the shelf life is limited to being damn near mistake free. Then again, doesn’t this reflect how many black people are treated in real life?

‘Nuff Said and ‘Nuff Respect!!!

The post Tyrod Taylor and the Struggle of the Black Quarterback  appeared first on Madness & Reality.

From sexual harassment to mass shootings, white male crime has taken a troubling spotlight once again. Yet, the turnabout will be missed deliberately. This post, as well as its writer, will be called racist purposely ignoring the fact that the same message was delivered against black and brown communities while bitching about how this post is somehow harmful to white men and ignoring that dozens of lives have been taken.

In an Alternet article, it was mentioned how there’s still a question about why black folks don’t do more to stop “black-on-black crime” as opposed to say, kneeling during football games. People have been explaining painfully why “black-on-black crime” should be denounced and how black folks don’t have one-track minds and deal with multiple issues, including crime, in their communities.

But the fact that people still demand that we turn our undivided attention to a topic “they” consider is more important for us to tend to shows they don’t care to listen or actively help. Even though “black-on-black crime” is lower than some people think, it’s still a thing to them that, apparently only, us black people need to do something about.

Personally, I’m past the point of giving fucks about the hurt feelings of the woefully sensitive and blatantly ignorant.

Let’s examine what’s been going on recently in the latter half of 2017. Powerful men  – mostly white men – have been accused of sexual harassment by a countless stream of both women and men. And white males have been pulling triggers in different locations shooting and killing multitudes of people. Something has to be done to stop the damn violence, and white people need to start worrying about this before more white people, and other people, become victims. 

I’m not joking. I’m being sincere. White crime and white terrorism are out of control.

Yes, some people consider such coverage as fake news, a liberal conspiracy or even racist and sexist against white men. Personally, I see it as avoidance out of collective guilt, saving their frail feelings by resisting any hint of reality. If they’re not ashamed or guilty, then why go overboard in trying to downplay the bullshit?

Case in point, right-wing commentator Gavin McInnes tried to minimize white terrorism by arguing that they weren’t politically motivated. “Dylann Roof, Batman shooting, Columbine—those are mental midget lunatic drug addict psychos on crazy medication. That’s not terrorism.” Funny, because according to McInnes, if it’s done by Muslims, then it is terrorism. Simple.

And then, there’s Texas Governor Greg Abbot who seemingly tried to give the people dealing with another mass shooting that occurred at a church in Sutherland Spring, Texas that took the lives of over 20 people, crashed and burned when he reminded them that there were worse acts of evil prior, Hitler being one of them. Don’t believe me, check out his Fox News interview here. Apparently, taking the lives of over a dozen or so people at a place where such an act would be unheard of is nothing compared to holocausts and wars.

The media still refuses to consider such acts as terrorism, and people still believe that Muslims are a much more important threat. But of course, terrorism is an act that only Muslims do, and it’s much more problematic than angry white males with guns.

As far as the sexual harassment claims that have populated news coverage since the Weinstein scandal exposure, they’re still coming, and so far, most of the perpetrators are powerful white men. Let’s not get it twisted; misogyny is not limited to white men. Still, with years of men of color being portrayed as sexually deviant, karma seems to be partying right now as white males with wealth are the faces of sexual deviance.

There will be defenders as usual, and ordinarily in the past, I would gloat hard. But this shit is not something I take pleasure in observing. This is serious, deadly serious. America must do something about the culture of sexual abuse, crime and terrorism at the hands of white men.

And by America, I mean White America.

The post What About White-On-White Crime and White Terrorism? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Shannon Sharpe and the Good Smoke

Shannon Sharpe has officially made himself into a national treasure by gesturing his true blackness through his love for good smoke and drank. Yes, my beautiful ebony citizens: Shannon is a fan of Black & Milds and Hennessy. We all know that Blacks are the smoke of college campuses and strip clubs. Plus, many don’t know how to act on that ‘yak. If anyone think that Shannon Sharpe was going to deny his blackness, then they are surely mistaken.

And there was no moment that made this situation more complete than the white confusion around him. Joy Taylor thought the cigar was “off brand”. Skip Bayless thought that he got it from Rite Aid. But we all know that Black & Milds are bought in the hood for the sake of freshness. Also, Black & Milds are hood royalty. With his street value cemented, Shannon Sharpe can probably go to anybody’s block and kick it.

Blackish Went Full Black with Slavery History Lesson

So, Blackish brought its season premiere on a Tuesday night. Instead of hitting on a gentle note, the show came hard. And when I say “hard”, I mean “demonstrate my blackness to the point of loss of comfort” hard. The show was all about celebrating Juneteenth. What I expected was hilarity (which occurred). What I didn’t expect was the amount of truth put into less than 30 minutes.

You see, this show’s demonstration of blackness was so entrenched that most of it stopped being funny. The School-House Rock redux for “I’m A Slave” done by The Roots was both informative and haunting. The entire cast being in a play about slavery was both a mixture of modern understanding and historical burden. All the dance routines and singing could not take away the seriousness of the subject. After a while, it stopped being polite and started getting too real.

Needless to say, I will be showing this episode in February.

Cam Newton and Sports Sexism

So, Cam Newton made a sexist statement the other day. The most hilarious part is that the statement was made to a racist sports reporter.

Oh, the irony is thicker than country corn bread.

Let me get this out of the way: Cam Newton was wrong. He shouldn’t have made reference to her gender. He should have just answered the damn question. Her being a woman is irrelevant to her job. She is just as qualified as any man to ask those type of questions. So, being surprised that a writer employed to cover your team (in particular) asked a certain question is silly as hell. Sarcasm or not.

The post The Week in Blackness: Smoke, Slavery, and Sexism appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I know some of you are angry over a certain football star, and his actions. You know, him kneeling during the National Anthem. You’re probably even more pissed that other football stars are following his lead. And you see how most, if not all, of them are black. And as such, that likely touched a nerve that set off your color-aroused bigotry.

We’ve seen this time and time again. We know the score. So, it’s useless to claim how you’re not a racist, nor will your faux-pology hold any weight. Personally, I’ve been taught that actions speak louder than words. So, you’re usual retorts and denial are powerless against your use of the n-word and other racial epithets.

Well, some of you will go that route while others will bitch and moan about how it’s your right to use hateful language, because apparently, if you can’t say something nice, say it anyway because free speech.

So, you will get mad at these athletes and the people who back them up. You will tell the ones with darker hues to go back to Africa. Telling black people when they’re upset at the injustices in America that affects the black community tremendously or exclusively to go back to Africa is one of the most heartless commands to give when they’re suffering in some way. It’s also nonsensical seeing as how most Black Americans are born in America and helped to create it. For generations, we largely built this country. We helped to fight for this country. We work hard to make it in this country. We respect the laws in this country. And we exercise our rights in this country, including the right to protest. You will say anything hurtful and destructive to avoid listening to why black people protest or should protest. Maybe it’s not so much as you think that black people don’t have anything to fight against. Maybe, just maybe it’s more along the lines that you don’t think black people are ALLOWED to stand up for anything that only affects them probably due to your unwillingness to see them as American citizens.

Black people, in general, love this country. We love it more than you want to know and give us credit for. Hell, we may even love this country more than you so-called patriots. The current issue at hand is that this country doesn’t love us back. The murder of unarmed black folks by fear-based police is but one example.

When Black Americans who posed no threat are killed left and right by people charged with protecting its citizens and then those people are primarily unpunished for taking innocent lives, it should be understandable that black people should get upset. But it’s not understandable to you, is it? Instead, you prefer that we handle a problem you think is important, black-on-black crime. You think we only get active when it’s a cop-based execution. Even worse is that you believe we hate police, and that we’re out to do to them what they’ve done to us.

Black folks have explained it over and over again. We simply want to be treated with the same rights and privileges as white people by police and other institutions in this country. We don’t want to take over. We don’t want hand outs. We don’t want revenge. And we are doing everything we can about the problem of crime in neighborhoods. To make a long story short, black people are doing everything they can to make America fulfill its potential, to truly turn it into a land of opportunity of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the people, of the people and by the people.

But that’s still lost on you, and I can only guess that it’s due to you ignoring what we’re saying and avoiding what we’re doing. Your main beef is with athletes taking a knee during a song and you think that they’re disrespecting the flag, a decorated cloth used as a national symbol while a sporting event is about to commence.

And you think that’s patriotism. That’s the problem.

Patriotism is not about waving flags and singing songs that praise America. It’s about fighting out of one’s love for this nation. It’s about standing up for the injustices happening in this country. And it’s about fighting so that a nation becomes true to its word. Black people are not doing this out of hate. They’re doing this out of love, true love for this country, not some cosmetic affection born out of blind worship. Maybe you should learn more from them.

The post Listen, So-Called Patriots: Black People Love America Too! appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I’m a black man. I’m about 6’2″, average build. Nothing too fancy. I think I look normal, not intimidating in the slightest. I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood. My parents were blue collar workers, but provided for me and my sister. We were taught manners, said our pleasantries. I got detention once in fifth grade because I was late to class because I spilled paint in my Art class and had to clean it up. But that’s it, that’s the worst trouble I’ve ever been in in my life.

I am a surgical resident at a hospital you’ve probably heard of. I was educated in a Top 10 university and went to medical school at a pseudo-Ivy League institution. I have had a great life. I’ve made sure of it. So have my parents.

Of course, I have noticed racism throughout my life. I have been pulled over and the officer has never given me a clear answer. Sometimes, they will straight up lie and tell me that I was speeding when I know I wasn’t. Once, I was stopped and frisked. The officer apologized and told me that I matched the description of a criminal-on-the-run in the area. The only description was “black man, average build.” I never reported this, but I always remember it.

Today, I was leaving after a 26-hour shift at the hospital. I’m in my fourth year of residency and the hours get longer and longer, but I’m almost done. Today was particularly grueling, because I found out that a patient I have worked with since the start of my residency is now deemed ‘terminal’ and will be moved to hospice care. It sucked, it broke my heart. It was like four years’ worth of work had been erased.

As I was walking across the parking lot, a young man—younger than me, maybe twenty-five—leaned out of his car and – (continued)

As I was walking across the parking lot, a young man—younger than me, maybe twenty-five—leaned out of his car and called me the n-word. It was loud enough so people could hear. People stared, most in shock. Others picked up the pace to get away from the earth-shattering embarrassment unfolding.

I stopped and looked at him.The man didn’t get out of his car, but he made sure I saw him. The sneer on his face, it grew into a piercing grin. He started mimicking the sounds of a monkey. He called me the N-word again. People continued to stare. My mouth fell open. The guy mocked my expression; he feigned behavior like one of my patients suffering from severe mental retardation. He was trying to show me how he saw me.

A lot of things were on my mind in the forty-five odd seconds I was standing there. I wanted to walk up to the man and list off all my accomplishments. I wanted to tell him how, in eleventh grade, I won a science fair by creating a more efficient way for our school’s agriculture club to conserve energy. It took me to a national conference.

I wanted to tell him about the first time I fell in love. I wanted to tell him about the guy who made my heart beat so fast that I thought it would explode. This guy, he was tall, his smile was dopey and his eyes were light. Just the thought of him took away the painful feelings that this man was bringing to me. I wanted to tell him that I’m a good person; that I volunteer, I save lives, I work so people like you get a chance to survive and carry on being the hateful people you are.

But instead, I walked to my car. The man called me the N-word about five more times, laughing so hard I thought it was certain he would lose consciousness.

I sat behind the wheel for a very long time, maybe ten minutes, processing. I was angry at the man, but also at the people that didn’t say anything. I was angry at myself for not saying anything.

Sometimes, I just feel alone. Who I am, simply the color of my skin, makes me the target of hate from people that I will never even know. I truly try to love and understand everyone, so when one person returns that with malice and ill-will, it’s a lot to take in.

I don’t think anyone will read this, but I just wanted to tell you all about my day. I want to put this out into the world. I want to let the Internet know that black people are good. Black people are strong, capable, smart. Black people are resilient. I’m proud of my Blackness. I’m proud of my coarse hair and thick lips.

I’m proud of my body that is subject to ridicule. I am proud of who I am, what I have been through. I am proud of my ancestors who were slaves and now I am their wildest dream. Black people can be bad, too. Black people can be murderers and thieves and rapists. Black people can be everything—except human, apparently. I just want to be acknowledged as a human. I want to be seen as a human. I want to be known.

I love my black body. I’m tired of having to explain that pride in my black body is not hatred for any other race. I’m tired of worrying that I may be shot driving to work.

I don’t hate police. I don’t hate White people. I don’t hate anyone.

But, God, I love me. And I want that to be enough

The post What Is It Like Being Black in America? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Minnesota man was arrested on Wednesday after he accidentally shot himself in the arm—then told police he was attacked by an armed “black male.”

Brent Patrick Ahlers, a 25-year old security guard at St. Catherine University, shot himself in the shoulder Tuesday night, prompting a campus-wide lock-down and building-to-building school sweep, City Pages reports. Authorities conducted an “exhaustive” search for the suspect after Ahlers told police a “black male” was responsible for his injury.

Police was reported to have been working hard to find this guy but stopped when Ahlers confessed that he was responsible for his shooting.

St. Paul Police eventually called off the search after they failed to locate the suspect. It wasn’t until the following day that Ahlers admitted he pulled the trigger “while handling a gun he wasn’t supposed to have on campus,” according to City Pages. The security guard was reportedly afraid of losing his job.

Ahlers has been charged with falsely reporting a crime.

Lisa Clark, who lives in St. Paul, told City Pages about the atmosphere caused by this wild racial goose chase:

“I was angry that he subjected the entire neighborhood to this huge police presence, that people were afraid being out and about,” she said, noting Ahler’s false reporting tapped “into people’s racism.”

If this sounds familiar, you may have heard of a similar story a few weeks back involving Joshua Witt. Witt from  Sheridan, Colorado, wrote on his Facebook page that he was stabbed by a random black guy because he had a Neo-Nazi haircut. The mainstream news media was starting to take attention to this story. Infowars blowhard Alex Jones used this story to promote the myth of excessive black-on-white crimes.

Welp, the story was a fake. Witt actually stabbed himself by accident. 

It seems like when it comes to accidents resulting in getting themselves, or others hurt, white people can’t seem to handle being seen as clumsy. Is this due to some ego-driven push to deny that they’re capable of making thoughtless mistakes. And, as usual in a white racist society, they see blaming it on nonexistent black people as an acceptable way to cover up that they’re human like anyone else?

Usually, I come down hard on these people. And I will.

Look, we all fuck up. To err is human. But there seems to be this sick need to try to blame their mistakes on others and cause trouble for the entire community. This is what racial hoaxes help do, turn entire communities and group of people into potential suspects for a crime no member of said group committed.

The stories of Brent Patrick Ahlers and Joshua Witt should be lessons to us all that if we make mistakes, we should own up to them. And since these two morons are white guys, the lesson should be to don’t cover up your stupid asses by blaming black men and take responsibility for your lack of knowledge for handling weapons correctly.

The post White Guy Accidentally Shoots Himself, Blames A Black Guy appeared first on Madness & Reality.