White People ... You're Doing It Wrong!

This week has been a pretty heartbreaking week.  Seeing my friends combat each other on social media; taking sides in a war of words has been devastating.

I actually have friends who have removed each other over the discussions around the Ferguson decision and the riots/protesting that followed.

This afternoon I noticed my trending widget on Facebook showed the following:

Photo Credit - Screen Shot - Facebook

I click over to read the headlines and the obvious idiocy that was certainly to follow.

ST. LOUIS MO - A 32 year old Bosian man has died from wounds suffered from an attack by several young males with hammers. (link)

Photo Credit - Screen Shot - Facebook

Comment 1 -  Dear White Person, you're doing it wrong.  While I get how annoying it might have been to see the St. Louis Rams make some sort of political statement while they were playing a football game, I'm pretty sure your comment is highly offensive and completely way off target.  And the rest of you 50 some people who liked that comment - 0.0

Comment 2 - Dear White Person, you're doing it wrong.  How can you equate civil rights violations to a group of people that attacked this motorist?  OH wait... you're just making a racist statement and have no actual knowledge of the law or of the judicial system.



Bosnians protested in Bevo Mill after man dies after brutal attack. (link)

Photo Credit - Screen Shot - Facebook

Comment 1 - Dear White Person, you're doing it wrong.  While I get that you're happy that there were no damage or looting, I highly doubt that we needed you to point out again how much better you believe white people are than black people.  Your comment in itself was racist.

Comment 2 - Dear White Person, you're doing it wrong.  While I understand that you believe that white people don't get talked about on the news enough here's a bit of information for you.  Women are far more likely to be beaten and murdered by their partners.  (link)  A woman is beaten every 9 seconds. (link)  Not all white men beat their wives, but a good portion do, does that mean we should toss your sorry ass in jail?  Why not?  Because everyone should be treated equally in America.  We shouldn't base our judgement on a person's skin (or gender) we should base it on the content of their character.

St. Louis Protesters Decry Motorist Beaten to Death by 2 Teens (link)

Comment 2 - Dear White Person, you're doing it wrong.  Last I checked you can still own a gun.  Further you're reference to Kenya points out that you are a whack-o birther that has no real grasp on reality.  The only real ignorance here is that you believe you cannot own a gun and that your president is from another country.  Both of which are indeed ignorant.  You may want to check your cheese for microphones because "THEY" may indeed be out to get you.

FB Posting 1 - Dear White People, You're doing it wrong.  Just a bit of an observation for this page - Ummm actually I've been around a lot of people of color.  I've even helped in scout groups that were LOADED with teens of all racial backgrounds.  For the most part  "black teens" do not do this to "whites"  Your message is inflammatory, bigoted and racist. I can only hope that your 55 likes are from the same pool as the previous set of idiots.


When I look at this stupid ass comments I sit back and look at my friends list.  I see faces from many cultures and backgrounds.  I have some that right wing conservatives and way far lefties.  I try to temper my comments with my own personal life experiences.  That being said, I don't live in a vacuum.  I understand that people of color are at a significant disadvantage when it relates to fairness in the real world.  I know that if I opened up my wallet and pulled out an EBT card the man behind me will think that I've fallen on hard times, while if I were a person of color, he would assume I'm sucking the tit of the welfare pig like so many generations before me.  You see THAT is what white privilege is.  That assumption.

So when I sit around and think about why people react to someone being beaten in their community, I don't say well people of color respond this way and white people this way.  Because it is stupid.  Everyone should be upset when a person is killed.  Any person.  In the LGBT community 53% of all homicides were against Trans* Women.  (link)  That number blasts up to 73% where the victims were people of color.

Photo Credit glaad.org

People of color are targeted more often than those who are not.  People of color are more likely to get jail time and/or higher fines that those who are not.  These are facts.

No matter how you slice and dice it, no matter how many times you post that Obama is coming for your guns the only thing you are accomplishing is making the divide between our communities wider.

Put down the hate.  Put down the innuendo and the stereotyping.  Real people are dying and you should really care.