Brock Beauchamp

Max isn’t tromping around, screaming about rioters while conveniently ignoring the reason for the riots and protests. Max fumbled. He didn’t recover particularly well but he apologized and it’s hard to attribute his actions to malice. While that doesn’t entirely excuse his fumble, intent also matters.

Both Nick and I have clarified that we aren’t even angry at Kepler, we’re just pointing out that it’s a form of privilege to be able to simply say “not into politics, peace” and we should all strive to be better than that.

Agreed 100%, which has been the over-arching theme of my dozens of posts in this thread. Donating is good. Acknowledging the problem and actively working against it is better.

It'd be a pittance, really. Once the dust settles and I determine who most needs help, I will personally donate an amount that dwarfs the tiny amount of ad revenue we'll get from this single article. To put it in perspective, I plan to donate roughly the same amount of money I'll make from Twins Daily this entire year.

No culture is a monolith but I’ve spent a lot of time listening to black people and trying to understand black America. I’m far from perfect but I’m 99.9% confident I’ve done a hell of a lot more legwork on this than you have. My kids demand that I do this work and I put them above all else in my life.

Again, the theme I keep driving at in this thread is to listen with open ears and try to be better. Preferred usage changes ALL THE TIME. It’s hard to track. Sitting still is not the answer. As people change how they’d like us to refer to them, it’s just one small way we can show them respect.

To illustrate what Ash explained. People is the noun. I wasn’t trying to belittle anyone, just trying to show how speaking about the black community as actual people is important.

Actually, everyone I know was outraged over it, as it was yet another example of police shooting first and thinking second.

”Blacks” in the plurality is considered condescending. Most black PEOPLE have no issues with referring to them as black PEOPLE. I understand that language constantly evolves, particularly regarding race and I appreciate the question.

This is spot-on and thank you. I can certainly come up with other ways to describe that point but none of them would be more favorable than what I used.

Damn, you sure use "blacks" a lot in conversation. And, again, it's super weird that you think the first black president caused racial division.

"Blacks". You used it three times. Do you even realize how you sound using that word? And then you literally blame the first black man to be elected president for racial discord?

I literally listed five videos that rebutted your asinine point. It's pretty apparent you didn't watch them. But I watched your video. I disagreed, which is why I posted those links.

Well, the person who posted right above you is a pretty good candidate.

The point is that if you listen to 100 black people, they'll tell you a pretty unified story. Picking a single black person who confirms your belief structure isn't exactly honest or useful.

Because you don't understand technology, here we go. https://www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/we-who-love-america/553991/ https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-on-systemic-racism-and-police-violence-usa/a-53642476 For every one black person who will defend your point, I can find 100 black people to refute it. Stop living within your bias, start listening to the community, and hear their message.

Just a few years ago, Justine Damond was shot by a black officer. None of this disproves that police shoot first and ask questions second. And that's the point. Black people are disproportionately targeted but they are not the only victims. I cannot see a single reason why a Minnesotan would be against police reform after Castile, Damond, and Floyd happening within a 3-4 year period.

Heh, you get it's tongue in cheek but no matter how you shake it, Kepler is not "from" a military family, as even being a generation removed from the German military is quite different than what we, as Americans, think of a military family.

Max Kepler's parents were ballet dancers. Pretty much the same thing as military, I understand, but the uniforms are quite different.

I have a pretty radical stance on police brutality and I hesitate to call an opinion stupid, as that removes intelligent thought and ability to choose. Some people definitely have an ignorant opinion of race and society but stupidity isn’t the same thing as ignorance. But also, some people have vitriolic opinion, which is worse than stupidity. But still, I don’t think that’s a particularly useful word to use.

I implore that you read black authors and talk to black friends around you. Don’t inject your opinion, just listen to what they have to say. They may not even say much at first because I’ve found black people have built up walls around white people because this conversation is so hard for white people to hear, myself included. But you’ll start to hear and see the same themes over and over again. Have things changed? Sure. Have they changed enough? Not even close. My opinions come from a place where I closed my mouth and opened my ears for a very long time. It’s not even really my opinion because I don’t live the daily life that exposes me to this kind of injustice. But I try really, really hard to listen to those who actually live this life, day in, day out. I think we should all be trying to do this as often as possible. I still get stuff wrong all the time and as I’ve learned more, it’s easier to deal with my own issues and overcome them. I have more progress to make. We all have more progress to make. So instead of just saying “well, we fixed racism” let’s try to listen to those who have a much greater understanding of it and believe them when we hear what they say.

So, in order: 1. If you want respect you have to earn it. 2. Four cops wantonly killing a black man in broad daylight is terrible. 3. Blue lives matter. Surely you see the gaping hole in this argument.

You're reading a lot into my post, stuff I didn't say. First, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Pretty much everything you listed in the first sentence was illegal 55 years ago and some of it was disappearing 65+ years ago. Nowhere did I mention intent; in fact, I very intentionally avoided that word because I don't believe most people are intentionally racist. I'm not assuming people are working from any bad motive other than "comfort". It's awful to feel like individual inaction has led to larger consequence and that discomfort leads to... well, what we see in this thread. And it should feel awful to realize we're all part of a system that perpetuates this violence. That doesn't mean everyone here is a white supremacist in the making, which is why I specifically used the King quotes I selected. The point of the article, and my King quotes, are that a person doesn't have to run around screaming the N word to help prop up a system that literally puts its knee on the neck of a black man whenever it feels like it and almost never faces repercussions for doing so. So, instead of ignoring the problem, let's find our own individual ways to be better. Consider prioritizing politicians who try to enact real change instead of lip service, donate time and money when you can, speak out both publicly and privately to friends and family about how things need to change, be whatever change you can be. There is no right (or perfect) way to do this but if we all help in our own ways and stay pointed in the same general direction on this issue, change can finally come to America.

First, I don't even think I've mentioned Kepler in this thread. Frankly, I don't have a big problem with what Kepler did, and I'm not sure Nick does, either. It's an example of how being able to just walk away from this problem whenever we don't want to talk about it is a form of privilege. That's what I took away from Nick's post. I certainly can't read Nelson's mind but I think he was trying to show not that Max did anything particularly awful, but that many of us are given the luxury of ignoring a problem, something many Americans cannot do in their daily lives. We should all acknowledge that difference and try to be better about it. Nick calls himself out in the article, for crying out loud. We should all be calling ourselves out on this. I do ALL THE TIME. I'm beyond frustrated that the neighborhood I called home just two months ago has burned out buildings and I can't do a damned thing about it right now. I'm frustrated that I'm scared to take my black kids back there and do the work that badly needs to be done. When the dust settles a bit, I will be contributing monetarily, which helps and is one form of assistance, but I'd much rather be lending both my back and money to the cause, as I was able to do with Castile. And that was my takeaway from this article. Not that we all need to believe the same thing or that we all need to make the exact same choices in our lives, but we need to be better. We need to acknowledge the problems we face. We need to actively speak out against injustice we see. We need to contribute in whatever form we can. We need to help. 15% of the population cannot strongarm democracy and institutions to their will without assistance. It's literally the entire point of democracy. Therefore, we need to be allies, lend both our ears and voices to their cause, and fix this problem that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote about over half a century ago. Half a century ago. It's so embarrassing to sit here right now and quote a man who had a holiday named after him and see just how little we've paid attention to his actual words, thoughts, and actions.

Please tell me exactly what is so offensive about my post. The fact I’m mad that we’ve made so little progress in the past 55 years?