Black people do not love me

[fellow_traveler]

I realized on my way home today that in order to be able to make eye contact with black people and not feel weird, I need to talk to some of them (though preferably not gangsta rappers (non-gangsta rappers, on the other hand, would probably work fine)) about what it's like to be black, to establish a visceral empathy and thereby force my lizard-

Comments

[cpxbrex]

Go and be bored and offend, then. I doubt you'll be bored (and isn't it worth a little boredom to learn this stuff, anyway?) but it is possible that you will offend. IME, many white people (myself included here) have scarce clue about what is actually offensive to minorities, and no idea why it is offensive, because they do not listen (or, really, care). IME, finding out what offends minorities is incredibly worthwhile -- it has been worth me being occasionally offensive to find out what it is that they find offensive and learn why

[xamses]

Michael Moore did an awesome skit during his old TV Nation show where he had Yaphet Koto (a respected black actor) and a white ex-con who had been in jail for various violent crimes and had them both try to hail a cab in New York City. I'm sure I don't need to tell you who had trouble hailing a cab and who didn't.

Moore met them at the destination and then showed the cabbies the white dude's rap sheet. The look of horror on their faces was priceless.

[zarfmouse]

I think those forums are absolutely the place to find such dialog. No one would be there who didn't want to have such dialog so you won't have to feel guilty about imposing

[xamses]

Conversations on race are pretty awesome, really, once people get passed the terror of offending each other. We had one while I was back in college that used American History X as a jumping off point

[ecstaticstatic]

Sociologists predict that by 2050, whites will only make up some 50% of the American population. So your concerns of minorities playing shrink will have, ahem, shrunk by then. :)

But no, really, just try to find some work or a hobby that'll put you in touch with other people - as long as it's not volunteering for the Republican election campaign. ^.^ You'll likely meet some blacks. Or Latinos. Or Asians. Or Middle Easterners. Whatever. The world's getting smaller and you're at the center of the melting pot.