New York times op ed on maintaining black spaces

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anybody read the op ed by Erin Kaplan. In it, there is a quote

What I resented was not this specific couple. It was their whiteness, and my feelings of helplessness at not knowing how to maintain the integrity of a Black space that I had created. I was seeing up close how fragile that space can be, how its meaning can be changed in my mind, even by people who have no conscious intention to change it. That library was on my lawn, but for that moment it became theirs. I built it and drove it into the ground because I love books and always have. But I suddenly felt that I could not own even this, something that was clearly and intimately mine.

I have to admit this makes me, as a white person, feel hopeless. How can we ever get along if "white people" just looking at a little library set up for the public by the author triggers her? And what does she expect the readership to gain from this paper? Is it supposed to encourage me to avoid black neighborhoods? To understand if my black neighbors seem hostile for no apparent reason? Who was her intended audience and why?

And why did the NY time publish this? Who were they expecting it to impact, and how?

Exactly- its racism . simple as that

Imagine a white person writing an Op-ED in the times complaining that their " white space" was violated by an AA wanting to use it.

[Anonymous]

Imagine a white person writing an Op-ED in the times complaining that their " white space" was violated by an AA wanting to use it.

Agreed, and for good reason.

Not sure why we can't hold both whites and blacks to the same standards. And by that I mean that an action or statement that is racist when done by a white person to a black person shoiuld be considered to be equally racist if the skin colors were reversed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad I am not white and my white relatives are recent Caucasian immigrants as we have no part of this and can't be blamed.

You won't be blamed but your recent Caucasian immigrant relatives will be blamed. I posted about how my white son who lived in and was adopted from horrific circumstances that left him with emotional and physical limitations was told by his public school teacher that he was a privileged white male who was forced to apologize to his black classmates for what his ancestors did to them. His ancestors were at best serfs or cannon fodder in the Tsar's wars.

What state/city are you in? Can you name the school?

[Anonymous]

All I can say to the author is that it could be worse. She could be dealing with latino gangs firebombing her out of her home.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-gang-firebombing-20180405-story.html

Anonymous wrote:And why did the NY time publish this? Who were they expecting it to impact, and how?

These racial "food for thought" pieces drive clicks/engagement. I doubt much thought went into the decision to publish this beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Little Free Lubraries have to be on some stuff while people like. Maybe right after “ice cream shops” or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand OP why it bothers you to hear opinions that you disagree with or makes you sad. The author is entitled to express her opinion and feelings just like Tom Cotton or the many other voices we hear in media.

The only person who should take this personally are the white people the author discuss. How often are Black people confronted with bad feelings from whites?

Honestly? Who cares? If someone feels upset by my whiteness, I really don’t care. If someone wants to maintain black spaces…then…ok I guess? I don’t feel it’s a popular opinion, so moving on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad I am not white and my white relatives are recent Caucasian immigrants as we have no part of this and can't be blamed.

You won't be blamed but your recent Caucasian immigrant relatives will be blamed. I posted about how my white son who lived in and was adopted from horrific circumstances that left him with emotional and physical limitations was told by his public school teacher that he was a privileged white male who was forced to apologize to his black classmates for what his ancestors did to them. His ancestors were at best serfs or cannon fodder in the Tsar's wars.

If you are Caucasian in the USA - no matter whether you or your ancestors were born elsewhere recently - then you benefit from White privilege. White males jogging in their neighborhood - even if they arrived a week earlier from Russia - do not get chased down and shot like Ahmaud Arbery. What happens in your country or origin is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand many Black people might feel like the author and I completely respect her/their feelings. But what am I, as White person, supposed to take away from the NYT publishing this? Or even from her submitting this piece for publication? Clearly these are her feelings but what is she trying to accomplish by having them published in a national newspaper? Just curious what others think. Please, serious comments only.

I'm a PP from above who enjoyed the article. I think that the essay might have been a little better served in a venue that allows for a little bit longer form like the Atlantic or the New Yorker. The problem is, the readership of those outlets is also much more likely to be full of people who intuitively "get" the point of the article and probably don't need their hand to be held through a longer argument in the first place. The NY Times gives you a wider audience, but it's a catch-22, because wider audiences have short attention spans and they don't do nuance. See, for example, all the piss poor hot takes in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Imagine a white person writing an Op-ED in the times complaining that their " white space" was violated by an AA wanting to use it.

Agreed, and for good reason.

Not sure why we can't hold both whites and blacks to the same standards. And by that I mean that an action or statement that is racist when done by a white person to a black person shoiuld be considered to be equally racist if the skin colors were reversed.

We will - after 500 years of whites being enslaved by blacks. Then we'll be even.

[Anonymous]

We will - after 500 years of whites being enslaved by blacks. Then we'll be even.

There are exactly zero former slaves or slave-owners alive in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Imagine a white person writing an Op-ED in the times complaining that their " white space" was violated by an AA wanting to use it.

Agreed, and for good reason.

Not sure why we can't hold both whites and blacks to the same standards. And by that I mean that an action or statement that is racist when done by a white person to a black person shoiuld be considered to be equally racist if the skin colors were reversed.

We will - after 500 years of whites being enslaved by blacks. Then we'll be even.

Jews should kill millions of Germans, and the Chinese should be allowed to kill 20 million Japanese, both as payback for WWII, right? How about Arabs and Native Americans, who were both involved in the slave trade too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-native-american-slaveholders-complicate-trail-tears-narrative-180968339/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand many Black people might feel like the author and I completely respect her/their feelings. But what am I, as White person, supposed to take away from the NYT publishing this? Or even from her submitting this piece for publication? Clearly these are her feelings but what is she trying to accomplish by having them published in a national newspaper? Just curious what others think. Please, serious comments only.

Maybe the intended audience is other Black people...just a thought. Are you wondering why NYT might publish something that doesn't appeal to a white person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Imagine a white person writing an Op-ED in the times complaining that their " white space" was violated by an AA wanting to use it.

Agreed, and for good reason.

Not sure why we can't hold both whites and blacks to the same standards. And by that I mean that an action or statement that is racist when done by a white person to a black person shoiuld be considered to be equally racist if the skin colors were reversed.

We will - after 500 years of whites being enslaved by blacks. Then we'll be even.

Jews should kill millions of Germans, and the Chinese should be allowed to kill 20 million Japanese, both as payback for WWII, right? How about Arabs and Native Americans, who were both involved in the slave trade too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-native-american-slaveholders-complicate-trail-tears-narrative-180968339/

Everyone knows the descendants of the Aztecs are very mad when stupid Spanish conquistador tourists show up looking to read the books in their little libraries.

But seriously, I feel like there are legitimate racial gripes and then there are just click bait articles like the one in The NY Times and a lot of people who have hopped on the woke bandwagon and are wide eyed believers and scold anyone who doesn’t immediately self flagellate at the same temple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand many Black people might feel like the author and I completely respect her/their feelings. But what am I, as White person, supposed to take away from the NYT publishing this? Or even from her submitting this piece for publication? Clearly these are her feelings but what is she trying to accomplish by having them published in a national newspaper? Just curious what others think. Please, serious comments only.

Maybe the intended audience is other Black people...just a thought. Are you wondering why NYT might publish something that doesn't appeal to a white person?

So you’re saying it’s the case for them to specially write racially hostile, but seemingly socially acceptable, things to each other like this article? That it would be nice to keep neighborhoods specially for certain people and little mail boxes segregated. Got it. 2021 in a nutshell.

[Anonymous]

I, unlike most of you, spent the time to read the op ed. There was NOTHING racist about what she said. Inglewood is one of the remaining majority black neighborhoods in LA. It was black because white people didn't want to live there. Now that LA is expensive, white people want to come back. This article is about gentrification. I get it.

The reality is that a neighborhood changes when white people move in. Some of it is good and some of it is bad. More services come, but that sense of community goes away. That is not a racist statement. My white friends who live in older black neighborhoods talk about young white people moving in all the time. They hate it. The culture of the neighborhood changes. Here's one example, black people speak to you when you walk down the street. When you don't speak it feels disrespectful. Many white people don't speak. They just don't. There have been articles about this. They walk into their homes and don't interact with the neighbors. That is a cultural thing. Older black people sit on their porches.

It's not good or bad, it's just different. When young white people move into black neighborhoods, they don't always take the time to understand the culture of the neighborhood. This is not all white people, but it's many. That is not a racist statement, it just points out differences.

It's sad that by just pointing out differences, you are immediately labeled a racist. How about you get to know our culture. If you are black in America, you understand white culture, but the reverse is not always true.

I don't assume that I understand Latino culture (of course depending on where you are from that differs) or Indian culture or Asian culture. I like that there are differences and love learning. How is that racist?