Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll DC is in the deep south. Virginia was the capitol of the Confederacy. Have you never looked up at Lee Mansion on the hill in Arlington?

You don’t understand what “Deep South” means - Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia. Not the DC region. NoVa had both Union and Confederate troops stationed there throughout the Civil War.

Maryland was part of the Union but still a border state with slavery. The Eastern Shore of Maryland was full of planters who were Confederate sympathizers.

You have a very whitewashed view of the history of Maryland, Virginia and DC. I say this as a white person.

And you still won't ask Why? That's the problem. By not caring about the fact that an entire system has created a hopeless and depressed situation for a segment of a population, you're showing that the people don't matter to you. Its just another excuse to further cast off an entire group of people as inherently violent. And, oh by the way -ever think that what you're looking at is the percentage of people arrested for crime and not the percentage that's committing it? If over-policing is one of the problems, look at why Blacks are actually arrested more than Whites. Its a proven fact that White people commit just as much crime as Black people, wherever you live. But taking statistics without the perspective of the entire population of the area is just disingenuous and a way to fit the narrative that you've created.

Cite?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll DC is in the deep south. Virginia was the capitol of the Confederacy. Have you never looked up at Lee Mansion on the hill in Arlington?

You don’t understand what “Deep South” means - Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia. Not the DC region. NoVa had both Union and Confederate troops stationed there throughout the Civil War.

Maryland was part of the Union but still a border state with slavery. The Eastern Shore of Maryland was full of planters who were Confederate sympathizers.

You must not have been raised in Maryland, Virginia or DC. I went to public schools in Bowie--Prince Georges County and clearly remember singing Dixie in elementary school.
In fact our music teacher had us pretty regularly singing Dixie. Maryland was tobacco row. A lot of tobacco was raised in Maryland on the western shore.

DC, Virginia and Maryland are deep south. I lived in south Carolina for several years. The worst racism I've ever experienced has been in Maryland and that was recently.

I also lived in Virginia pretty close to DC. The Civil War was commonly called "The War of Northern Aggression" by local Virginians that we met.

Frome what I read, most of those people in the DMV area are racists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's easy. Look at the schools. I've never lived in an area with de facto segregated schools such as Langley, TJ, Discovery Elementary (No Va.) I don't know as much about MD or DC schools but I would have to assume that they are more diverse overall.

Some schools in DC are primarily black. No diversity.

That said, “diversity” is usually a goal for white people, many of whom were raised to think not being racist is being colorblind. They don’t get it. They also want “diversity” for their child’s perceived benefit and it never occurs to them that some other communities might now want diversity at all. The call for diversity in schools is just another feature of white privilege.

What?

What about this don’t you understand?

White people are the only people who clamor for “diversity” as if it is some panacea for systemic racism. People of color don’t think this way. Diversity doesn’t magically make racial conflict stop. That’s a myth. It’s an extension of the “I don’t see color” mantra whites raised by well-meaning but clueless parents. People of color WANT to be seen. And valued. For who they are. They don’t want to be literally whitewashed.

Pretty sure there were blacks heavily involved in pushing for school desegregation and integration, and that many blacks were seeking both integration and opportunity when they started moving to then-mostly white PG. They didn’t know it would trigger such white flight.

To be sure, some of the loudest voices for diversity in the DC area are whites in middle and upper middle class neighborhoods that are very diverse. They complain constantly about other areas that aren’t as diverse. Either they really, really love diversity or perhaps they don’t like it as much as they claim and actually want to dilute the diversity in their own communities to boost the average HHIs and school test scores.

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll DC is in the deep south. Virginia was the capitol of the Confederacy. Have you never looked up at Lee Mansion on the hill in Arlington?

You don’t understand what “Deep South” means - Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia. Not the DC region. NoVa had both Union and Confederate troops stationed there throughout the Civil War.

Maryland was part of the Union but still a border state with slavery. The Eastern Shore of Maryland was full of planters who were Confederate sympathizers.

Anonymous wrote:I would say one would have had plenty of positive and negative interactions with people of all shades, creeds, races in this region.

Honest question, how can someone still have such views when the area is so diverse?

Where do I even begin???

Anonymous wrote:It's easy. Look at the schools. I've never lived in an area with de facto segregated schools such as Langley, TJ, Discovery Elementary (No Va.) I don't know as much about MD or DC schools but I would have to assume that they are more diverse overall.

Whitman in MoCo is whiter than Langley in Fairfax. TJ is more Asian than Langley and Whitman are white. DC has more parents who send their kids to private schools to avoid economic diversity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say one would have had plenty of positive and negative interactions with people of all shades, creeds, races in this region.

Honest question, how can someone still have such views when the area is so diverse?

Unfortunate realization: virtually 99% of all crime in DC is committed by youngish black males. I returned here after college fully woke and somewhat strident about it, but over the last many years, I've reached the point where I can't reconcile the progressive dogma with the realty of DC's crime statistics. And I really have no patience left for street criminals and shooters.

I don't think noticing this makes me racist, but I'm sure others disagree.

This. It is the elephant in the room. Most people DO notice this and they know it.

Anyone with half a brain has a serious issue with police brutality and systemic racism. BUT most people also are well aware that AAs are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in this country. Where are the people marching about black on black crime? Yes, I get that the police are held to a higher standard or should be than the average person. But people still can't ignore the criminal activity and lack of agency. I can assure you this is what the "silent majority" thinks. Why would most people want to support a movement that in their eyes represents violence and crime?

And you still won't ask Why? That's the problem. By not caring about the fact that an entire system has created a hopeless and depressed situation for a segment of a population, you're showing that the people don't matter to you. Its just another excuse to further cast off an entire group of people as inherently violent. And, oh by the way -ever think that what you're looking at is the percentage of people arrested for crime and not the percentage that's committing it? If over-policing is one of the problems, look at why Blacks are actually arrested more than Whites. Its a proven fact that White people commit just as much crime as Black people, wherever you live. But taking statistics without the perspective of the entire population of the area is just disingenuous and a way to fit the narrative that you've created.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say one would have had plenty of positive and negative interactions with people of all shades, creeds, races in this region.

Honest question, how can someone still have such views when the area is so diverse?

Unfortunate realization: virtually 99% of all crime in DC is committed by youngish black males. I returned here after college fully woke and somewhat strident about it, but over the last many years, I've reached the point where I can't reconcile the progressive dogma with the realty of DC's crime statistics. And I really have no patience left for street criminals and shooters.

I don't think noticing this makes me racist, but I'm sure others disagree.

This. It is the elephant in the room. Most people DO notice this and they know it.

Anyone with half a brain has a serious issue with police brutality and systemic racism. BUT most people also are well aware that AAs are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in this country. Where are the people marching about black on black crime? Yes, I get that the police are held to a higher standard or should be than the average person. But people still can't ignore the criminal activity and lack of agency. I can assure you this is what the "silent majority" thinks. Why would most people want to support a movement that in their eyes represents violence and crime?

Anonymous wrote:Everybody in DC fake as shit anyway.
1/2 the folks smiling at you shooting daggers in your back the minute you turn away.

In your back?? My office is in your face about it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say one would have had plenty of positive and negative interactions with people of all shades, creeds, races in this region.

Honest question, how can someone still have such views when the area is so diverse?

Unfortunate realization: virtually 99% of all crime in DC is committed by youngish black males. I returned here after college fully woke and somewhat strident about it, but over the last many years, I've reached the point where I can't reconcile the progressive dogma with the realty of DC's crime statistics. And I really have no patience left for street criminals and shooters.

I don't think noticing this makes me racist, but I'm sure others disagree.

I always wonder where yall live. I am 50, black, have lived in DC (the city, not the DMV) for almost 20 years and have never been a victim of a crime of any kind -- never mugged, no car break-ins, no home break-ins, nothing. But to hear other people tell it, they are living in an apocalyptic war zone.

White upper class culture has a low tolerance level for perceived discomfort. White people have been socialized to expect a life without road blocks. So if a white person even witnesses a crime, they freak out and plot moving to the suburbs where they believe they will be safer. There was a thread a couple months ago asking why people moved to suburbs. I was surprised how many people said they moved because of "crime". This drives opposition to affordable housing, transportation equity and desegregating schools. Also white people know how to work the system and reap rewards from it.

This is very true and I have experienced this on Next-door. I am shocked at how some people will post or complain about criminal or suspicious activity in our neighborhood and some posters will criticize the post or claim it's racist. I just assume they grew up in a neighborhood where bad things happened. I grew up in a safe, white neighborhood and do not have ANY tolerance for crime. Zero tolerance. I do not want to be around it or even hear about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say one would have had plenty of positive and negative interactions with people of all shades, creeds, races in this region.

Honest question, how can someone still have such views when the area is so diverse?

Unfortunate realization: virtually 99% of all crime in DC is committed by youngish black males. I returned here after college fully woke and somewhat strident about it, but over the last many years, I've reached the point where I can't reconcile the progressive dogma with the realty of DC's crime statistics. And I really have no patience left for street criminals and shooters.

I don't think noticing this makes me racist, but I'm sure others disagree.

Similar experience here. I took many hours of critical race theory and civil rights law in college, but living in DC has led me to some uncomfortable realizations. There honestly are some differences between urban Black culture and the predominant culture that make it hard for the two to coexist. I’m not saying either is right or wrong, just that they’re different and they sometimes clash.

Similar view here as well. I

You truly don't think a culture that glorifies violence and crime is WRONG?

Anonymous wrote:When you think of a group as more criminally driven, you start to see them on a whole as less than. And when you do meet a "good one" that you perhaps work with or go to school with, you start to separate them from their "group." As others have very well stated, Black people have only had about 50 years of desegregation and the ability to become upwardly mobile. Think about that...Only in 1968 were Blacks allowed to buy homes in many areas of this country. And only since 1965 could Blacks vote. And those are just the formal laws. That didn't necessarily change what people did in practice. Its not like Blacks flooded great neighborhoods and started setting themselves up on day 1 after these laws were passed. People still discriminated and came up with other ways to keep them out of the race that White people created and continued to run. And its still happening. Which means that as an entire race, most Blacks are nowhere near having the familial and generational resources and wealth that we tout as the "American Dream."

Imagine having only menial job prospects, poor schools because schools due to low property tax funding, limited housing and abilities to "move on up" and voila - you have hopelessness and a cycle that's very difficult to break. That American Dream isn't for you, because you're told that you will never have it. Look at any depressed culture and you'll see the same thing. But, it's also much easier to see when you have a media that really only points out the criminal behavior of Blacks. When I was growing up, the local news covered this shootings, drug busts, the crime that involved Blacks - blasting their faces all over the TV. That creates over time subliminal messaging that you associate Blacks with crime. And when you live in segregated areas (that price the majority of Blacks or other minorities out of their populations), your only connection to Blacks becomes the criminals you see splattered across the news. And, voila - you've created the fear that engenders the racism that feeds the power structure. This area is not immune to that, despite the diversity.

Last point here. Young, white men have continued to shoot up schools, almost exclusively. White men are the majority of serial killers. Why do we not have rampant fear of White males and discussions about "why they just can't seem to stop killing?" It's because we know that you cannot paint an entire race of people or demographic with the brush of the few who do bad things. We should ask ourselves why we as a country (as a world) do not ascribe the same to Blacks? All races have bad actors, but its a "privilege" to not bear the burden of a few bad actors. That's the system that needs to be dismantled.

Blacks during the 1960s had business districts, many had middle class lifestyles, had strong communities, etc. despite racism. I would posit that well-intentioned, but flawed attempts by whites to make up for discrimination have caused MORE problems for that community... Great Society welfare regulations, urban slum redevelopment building housing projects, an attempt to protect Black communities from the crack epidemic led to the 1990s crime bill, etc. And then, we have to include globalization, which has removed job opportunities for people (Black and White) with less education. That disproportionately hit the AA community during the same period. All of that had more economic impact than "systemic racism."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say one would have had plenty of positive and negative interactions with people of all shades, creeds, races in this region.

Honest question, how can someone still have such views when the area is so diverse?

Unfortunate realization: virtually 99% of all crime in DC is committed by youngish black males. I returned here after college fully woke and somewhat strident about it, but over the last many years, I've reached the point where I can't reconcile the progressive dogma with the realty of DC's crime statistics. And I really have no patience left for street criminals and shooters.

I don't think noticing this makes me racist, but I'm sure others disagree.

I always wonder where yall live. I am 50, black, have lived in DC (the city, not the DMV) for almost 20 years and have never been a victim of a crime of any kind -- never mugged, no car break-ins, no home break-ins, nothing. But to hear other people tell it, they are living in an apocalyptic war zone.

White upper class culture has a low tolerance level for perceived discomfort. White people have been socialized to expect a life without road blocks. So if a white person even witnesses a crime, they freak out and plot moving to the suburbs where they believe they will be safer. There was a thread a couple months ago asking why people moved to suburbs. I was surprised how many people said they moved because of "crime". This drives opposition to affordable housing, transportation equity and desegregating schools. Also white people know how to work the system and reap rewards from it.

It has nothing to do with crime for me. I haven’t had issues in that area nor have any in my social circle. For me it’s things like,
The attitudes toward work I see in coworkers and people I encounter in the service industry (for instance, grocery store workers and takeout counter attendants)
The antisocial and even dangerous behavior of people on public transit and in parks, playgrounds
The illegal blasting of music which glorifies violence, sexual promiscuity, sexism, materialism, and crime
Oversexualization of young people (even pre preteens) who are encouraged to twerk and expected to become parents before finishing high school
Anti-education attitudes and fixation on get rich quick schemes like basketball and rap
Instead of saving and investing, blindly giving more than they can afford to pastors who live lavish kingly lifestyles and are never held accountable by their own supporters
The way stores in their neighborhoods always look like tornado zones because nobody picks up after themselves or shows consideration for others

I don’t understand these things. All of this is within the community’s power to change, but they don’t. It’s a thought crime to even acknowledge it. Before I moved to DC I thought people like Charles Murray and Moynihan and other culture of poverty spox were racist. But it’s hard to argue with them if you look around DC.

This post is spot on. I've spent a lot of time contemplating as to whether I am a racist and decided ultimately no. It's the culture depicted above that I do not like and cannot stand, want absolutely nothing to do with. Just the majority of people who are in that culture happen to be black so I can understand why they might conflate my dislike/disapproval as being because of their skin color. However I know multiple professional black people not associated with that culture and have a lot of respect with no negative feelings or bias or anything towards them at all so therefore it my negative feelings must not be due to skin color itself. I've posted this before and got flamed but it's the culture not the skin color that's offensive to me.

Instead of thinking of this as a "culture" that people are just enmeshed in, have you ever stopped to ask why those things are the case? First and foremost, this is not a "culture." Yes, there are some behaviors that are less than desirable in any group of people. These are individual traits that should not be ascribed to an entire group. I've seen just as many rude and lazy service people that are White. So what? That's a statement about that person's work ethic, not about a whole race of people. Oversexualization of young people is everywhere and is not a Black issue. Young White girls have been victims of this too and is a statement about how our entertainment industry has created a monster where our young women's value is in their sexuality. And the music? White people are the ones keeping that exact music in circulation. There aren't even physically enough young Black people to keep that music going. White executives commission it and young White kids keep it going. That's how its always been. And Black people, as they've entertained White people for years, perform it for White audiences because that's how it becomes popular and lucrative for the record companies.

Everything you mentioned can be found in poor white areas. I've spent quite a bit of time in White trailer parks and seen some of the same things that disrespect the surroundings and don't lift up the population. Conditions like that are usually based on a depressed condition as opposed to the color of your skin. People with higher property taxes usually demand better. Go into some higher property tax, predominantly Black areas and you will see nothing of that sort

And, do you want to know why Black kids focus on rap and basketball? Because that's where they see themselves represented. For years, they've been told that their value is in their entertainment and physical ability. On that same note, what about all the young White kids vying to be Instagram influencers and models? I've seen more White 15 year old girls twerking online because they're looking to "influence" and make a ton of money. Or how about the young White kids looking to be the next Kardashian? Please look at what you're saying and realize that there's a White equivalent. These are not Black "culture" points. They are issues with our overall society.

I'm not saying that Black people don't have things to work on to make our plight better. But, taking things like this and turning them into reasons that you don't like the "urban Black culture" is just a way for you to justify the racism that will continue to keep divisions in place. That's the bigotry that people are fighting against. Taking something that ALL people do and making it worse or less worse because of the color of the offender means that a look inward is appropriate to find out the root of the bigotry.