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Arkansas Blue's avatar

One more reason for ALL black and brown people who are eligible to vote and vote for Democrats. Ignorance and apathy are no longer options if you want to live in peace and freedom.

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Teresa Baustian's avatar

I’m currently reading “The Barn,” about the murder of Emmett Till. The author conveys such a sense of being constantly on guard, mindful of where one is looking, standing, cognizant of every required act of debasement, all in order to remain alive because Mississippi operated outside of the rule of law for Black people in 1955. All of which is relevant to the US in 2025, as all of us gradually get a taste of this.

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Barb Luebke's avatar

Another excellent commentary. Thank you. (Leavitt figures in my Substack post today, btw.)

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Marina Oshana's avatar

I have spoken with family and friends in various parts of the country about the fact that the crowds we’ve seen at protests have been largely white. We aren’t surprised. Black and brown people have been fighting for their rights and freedoms for as long as they’ve been here. They’re tired. Black and brown people know they would be viewed with far greater suspicion and far less concern for such niceties as due process were crackdowns on protests to occur. Why invite that risk? And Black and Brown people, who (largely) did not vote for Trump, are fed up. We don’t own this mess and we’re not going to step in now to clean it up. Moreover, many of us don’t have the luxury of time to do so. Now, I am a biracial African American who does have that luxury and have been utilizing it to oppose the destruction being done as best I can. I have enough fight in me to want to clean up the mess. But I certainly feel the frustration and anxiety and, yes, fear, that other black folks are intimately familiar with.

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Wayne Shaw's avatar

I have lived in predominantly Black neighborhoods for over 30 years. Been part of mostly-Black churches (some entirely so, other than me), though more mixed currently. Literally married into the community - and stayed after my first wife passed. And married again.

My current wife sometimes tells me I could have taken the easy way out, and gone back to "my people", so to speak. She has a point. That's just not me. It runs in the family - my side.

If I'm tired of explaining these things to well-meaning people of goodwill, but who just don't get it, I can only imagine (or maybe I can't) how much more people who live it every day. We have these discussions at home. We've got to.

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Marina Oshana's avatar

Your people are the community you have chosen and created, full stop.

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Wayne Shaw's avatar

Yes. I do my best not to judge at all, but if I do, it's the content of their character that I'm after.

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Wayne Shaw's avatar

Always a lot less discussion about this than other subjects - even in places like this. It's difficult to deal with, but can't be nearly as difficult as living with this reality. I feel nothing - and I mean not one thing - in common with these illegitimate 'authorities' except skin color.

Keep up the good reporting, Shalise. And keep speaking up, people! There needs to be a lot more.

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Marie's avatar

Painful but well written article - and I know it was not nearly as graphic as it could have been. Believe me, I know. A black teenager expressed his sentiment for a white girl merely by sitting next to her in a public setting at a football game in South Georgia in the early 70’s. White men were enraged and literally beat the male child to death and nothing ever came of it, nothing, nada, never. In public view. We think we are losing our democracy - we never f*ing had one.

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Pat Jones Garcia's avatar

Marie, that is so sad. In late 60's and early 70's Dallas I was able to go around with a group of teens composed of several blacks, more Hispanics and some whites. Fortunately we never had such problems. The older I became, the more ugliness I learned but was mostly able to stay away from. There are many of us who know that we have much more work to keep up in this country.

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Wayne Shaw's avatar

Listening to you both. Marie and Pat.

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