Racism Is Dumb

After posting the picture below I on a DiNK Gesprekgroep (Think Conversation Group) Facebook forum, received a considerable backlash where the argument generally was that there is not a problem with systemic police victimisation of black people in the US. Moreover, that the #BlackLivesMatters movement is unfounded. Interestingly the person I argued with in the post "Critiquing the “Sweden Model” as a Cure for COVERT-20", was the most vehement protester. 

One such comment referred to a video of Katie Hopkins, a controversial British commentator to which he requested my response. Refer to Katie Hopkins blasted for offensive Black Lives Matter comments by Crystal Palace star for context.

While I don’t want to give credence to her views by posting a link to the video, she essentially asked the following 3 questions:

Q1: Why do black people only protest when there are white people involved?

Q2: What do they want? They give a doesn’t different answers to this question.

Q3: And all of a sudden not caring about social distancing, either you cared before or you didn’t? Maybe there was not problem in the first place?

This was my response:

To provide a video by Katie Hopkins, who’s a known racist, and even is vocally anti-fat people, as a defence does not help any case. That one gives credence to her views is very revealing. That Trump loves her says all you need to know about her.

Nonetheless, to answer one of her questions: Why do black people only protest when there are white people involved?

The fact that there is black on black violence in America is not remarkable. In the US as a whole there are as many white on white gun violence incidences because gun violence is a real problem in the country as a whole. That's simply because: when you happen to have a gun you more likely are going to shoot those who are the closest to you when you happen to have a homicidal moment.  

However, that being said, how would you answer this question: How many instances of white people being killed in a gratuitous or arbitrary manner by police do you know of? Or generally, the number of reported incidences of indefensible killing of white people by the police.

There’s only one answer: hardly any, and if they were, it would be shown on social media by the likes of Hopkins to bolster her case. I challenge you to find a significant number of incidences. I saw an old white man being shoved around by police recently, and that caused quite a ruckus. To deny that there’s a systemic problem in the US with regards to black men being targeted by police (by white and black policemen) is to bury your head in the sand when confronted by reality.

The second, another really stupid question: What do they want? 

In a nutshell, criminal justice reform that treats all people equally under the law. In fact, 75% of the US agrees: 74% of Americans view Floyd's death as an underlying racial injustice problem. Seems pretty emphatic to me. This also answers the first question in the eyes of ¾ of the American public. It was an issue under Obama, and it was an issue before then. This time a white cop felt so entitled that he must’ve been convinced he could snuff the life out of someone for the whole world to see, and believe that he could get away with it, as cops usually do when they kill black people. This time though there was the COVID 19 Pandemic with students at home, masses of people unemployed, and people feeling they had the reason and inclination to do so. Paraphrasing Ecclesiastes 3: there is a time, a season, and a reason… and that time, season, and reason just so happen to be now…

And what about all of a sudden not caring about social distancing?

It seems that after months of lockdown people are fed-up, but moreover, this cause seems to matter to them more than the possibility of getting a virus. I’m sure there’s going to be a spike. It’s all relative. 
If anything,  while George Floyd's death was the Spark, COVID-19 the fuel, igniting this movement towards meaningful systemic change.

Again, a really dumb question actually, and underscores her very apparent racial bias. 

More Thoughts to Ponder

The following Stats are useful to consider for denialists that their indeed is a race problem in the US:

• Black men have a 2.5 times higher chance of being killed in the US than white men.

• Black Women have a 4 times higher chance of dying in Childbirth in the US, reducing the overall national average to a per capita level greater than Iran.

• Black people are dying from COVID-19 at 3 times the rate of whites in the US.

Does it sound to you that black lives do matter in the US? Or are these just statistical anomalies? 
Or is it just a racist virus? Or are black kids just murderous from the very first day of their lives, so much so that they take their mothers with them? 

Or are black folks in the US just a dramatically more inferior species?
If you say no to all the above, then can you see why black lives should indeed matter too? 

Just as much as all lives should matter.  

And if your answer is yes? 

It is abundantly clear that your racism does make you incredibly stupid. 

Or perhaps, you are stupid just stupid. Period. 

That your mental faculties are so clouded that you  you cannot see reality for what it is, even if it punches you straight in the face.