Brock Beauchamp

You’re the second or third person to say this in this very thread. When I say I’m mad as hell, understand that I’m not mad as hell at people who want to have a conversation. I’m mad as hell at that guy are there are millions of that guy in America.

You can read statistics, but you don’t understand them. And how dare you tell me how to explain systemic racism to my children, especially if you’re going to get it that wrong.

First off, I want to thank you for your brilliant post. It was wonderful. But I want to point out that donations, even as substantial as they might be, cannot replace actual change. I, personally, have radically changed two peoples' lives in the most fundamental way possible. There's a good chance i'll be doing that for a third person soon. All the while, I've been donating considerable sums of money to various causes. But realize that the two lives I've changed are literally worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to society at large. Money and donations are nice. Actual change in personal perspective, voting, and individual interaction is worth hundreds of times more than money can offer. Think different, be better, that's literally the best gift we can give. When a black person dies, hear their cry. When a mother cries that they can't feed their baby, hear them. When a man cries they can't find a job and don't know what to do, hear them. It shouldn't be that hard to ask people to hear other people, yet here I am.

Again, I have absolutely no ill will toward Kepler, this article was written to show how we can all be better, not as some condmenation of Max. Christ, how many times does that have to be repeated? MAX KEPLER IS NOT A BAD PERSON

I teared up while reading this. Thank you for all that you have done. I can't even imagine what it took to do all the work you have done.

Honestly, did you read Nick's article? Did you see how much he stressed that Max Kepler is not a bad person? ****ing hell, I'm so tired and angry about fighting this battle over and over for years. I'm so goddamned livid that white people can't see the fact that the moment a person is even SUGGESTED to do something wrong, even if it's clarified that it was without malice, that all of this dogpile happens on the author instead of the point the author is trying to make. Yet so many of you continue to prove the reason systemic racism exists. And I will continue to be mad as hell at you for making my kids' future less than it should be. I'm done with the semantics, I'm done with the whataboutisms, I'm done with talking about anything except the problem at hand. Go to hell, and good night.

Except in the case of murder, that never happens. Which is why so many people are so angry right now.

I hope your understanding is that I'm not angry at everyone, but at the fact that people not only ignore the issue - which I welcome discussion over - but that there is open resistance to my own children living a life free of fear and agression, which is what we want for all our children. Asking for money is nice but it doesn't fix the actual problem, which Nick addressed. The problem is that we, as white people, simply don't care enough. Caring and fighting against this issue is worth more than either I or you could afford. Fighting against this is what causes change for literally millions of Americans. I can and will give thousands of dollars in the coming months. That is a drop in the bucket in the ocean of pain experienced by black Americans. What needs to change is our attitude; that black people deserve to be able to do the same things white people do every day and that attitude change will take work. Not financial donations, but introspection about who we are as white Americans and how we've failed as a culture. It's a hard, ugly look. It hurts a lot. We can all agree that black people earn less, suffer more, and commit more crime than white Americans. This is a reality. At the end of the day, if you go up the logic chain far enough, it comes down to this: 1. Black people are inferior to white people 2. There are institutions preventing black people from reaching and achieving the same goals as white people There literally is no third option. Think about that long and hard. There is no third option. You either believe one or the other. There is no third option.

How can one verify something that is constantly happening? Have moderators in the past made such comments? Yes. Have they (and me) been chastised and corrected their behavior? I’d like to think yes but I don’t read every interaction on this forum. But one thing I can guarantee is that the TD moderators work their asses off and hold themselves to an incredibly high standard. Nobody gets it right all the time but we at least try and hopefully own up to those times we’re wrong.

I’ll reinforce what Sconnie said more forcefully: If you blame a man who was killed for being suspected of illegally passing TWENTY DOLLARS, either refrain from posting or expect to be escorted off the board because your perspective is so completely askew that Twins Daily does not welcome your opinion.

The owners are white. I have black children, which has led to years of listening, reading, and a change of my overall worldview, as I no longer think of things in my own best interest, but instead the interests of my childeren so I choose to listen to the people who have lived the live experiences most closely related to that what my children can expect as they grow up. For those of you who are parents, that probably helps you understand more than a little bit of my anger over this issue.

There are a few, at least one of which has posted in this thread. I will not name names for obvious reasons.

Damn, people are acting like I’m calling for Max’s head. Did you even read my post? I said he fumbled. I said it wasn’t malicious. Stop blowing my words WAY out of proportion, especially if you’re going to come at me like that.

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?