UnitedHealth CEO shot
Let me make this point clear before responding to anything else since I can see my reasoning is being misconstrued (probably purposefully).
We started here:
Looks like the problem was that he killed a rich white guy. Daniel Penny was a guest of honor at the Army/Navy game yesterday.
Now, I'm not going to speak for
@Eeyore but the point I gleaned from that post was a commentary on persons reactions to and justifications persons make for these two men being killed. And that race heavily influences the polar opposite reactions.
My first post was a response to Det Brees saying:
But hay in today's climate everything is about race. That way problems can't be solved. And the wheels go round and round.
Spoiler alert: yeah, as a black man, I think it's highly audacious for anyone, let alone someone white, to assert that everything is about race is a product of "today's climate" and the impetus for making everything about race is so problems can't be solved and that, not the racism, is what make the wheels "go round and round." Audacious was polite. Standing on business would be me saying it's problematic. I don't have the luxury or enjoy the privilege of debating the merits of privilege or the race card because, for me, everything is most certainly about race. Every day. It's inescapable for me. I don't get to pretend that it is some abstract thing being lobbed back and forth in the culture wars. The perspective has merit and anyone who speaks of race, as the above, lacks perspective and is living in their privilege (a post Marsha cosigned by the way). You disagree? Fine, debate the point. My post history shows I'm more than comfortable talking about race and privilege.
The next post I responded to was Marsha saying:
Also not to mention that the people who were in the train that day testified they felt physically threatened by Neely.
To reiterate, I don't find that talking point to be a compelling reason to justifying the killing of that man, ergo, differentiating the reaction to the separate cases. I provided a simple anecdote about why I feel that way. I'm perceived as a threat every day. With everything. Regardless of the situation. I'm harassed weekly using that standard. Everywhere. That isn't me invalidating anyone else's experience, it's me validating my own and why I'm uncomfortable with that being used as justification. Now, to
@SWJJ credit, they disagreed and expressed why. They felt my experience being perceived as a threat wasn't the same as to what Jordan did. To paraphrase, he actually was threatening people by yelling and throwing things. To which I counterpointed with another anecdote, my brother doing those very things during a mental crisis. Again, expressing why I find that standard to be lacking. Notice how the privilege stuff didn't come up with SWJJ though.
Let's be clear on the next part though. This was my response to
@Madmarsha
People feel physically threatened when I get on an elevator. While I'm dressed to the nines. God forbid I ever have a mental crisis.
To which she said:
So, you didn't listen to any reports about the actual testimony either. Got it.
So, from those three sentences she can state definitively that I didn't listen to actual testimony. Quite a leap without reading my mind or knowing me. She disagreed. Fine. Say why. But to boil it down to, hur dur you didn't read. Microaggression, keep it 100. But when I say:
No I did, I just don't walk through life with the same privilege and perspective you hold.
now I'm arrogant, disingenuous, invalidating. Respectfully, to Marsha
@Dago and anyone else, yall are being some hypocrites. It's giving rock throwing and hiding your hand. Marsha, I don't need to block you. I don't need to run from debate, disagreements or differing perspectives. I enjoy being challenged on what I think. That's how I grow as a man. But challenge me. You don't get to accuse me of being unread on a topic and then cry white woman tears about being called privileged. If you are gonna dish it then take it beloved. I felt like yall were acting privileged, said so, the same way you felt like I didn't read sheet and said so. Don't switch up when the rabbit gets the gun. Keep that same energy.
Ironically, in a thread centered around healthcare, it's interesting how the unhoused man, who certainly was dealing with mental health issues, who was yelling he was hungry, thirsty and needed a job and who was throwing trash at people is held to a higher standard than some man who lived lavishly off of his company profiting from denials of claims, some denied claims that undoubtedly resulted in loss of life. Oh, but he was just "greedy." And yall are really struggling to see why race and privilege could be a factor in your perceptions of those situations? I really need yall to step outside your echo chambers and touch grass bro.