Brock Beauchamp

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?

For all of those accusing Nick of virtue signaling, unfairly "attacking" Max (which he didn't do at all), or any other myriad of strawmen, Nick Nelson did not develop the idea of complicity and how it enables racial injustice to exist. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a few things to say about this topic and they don't shine a very pretty light on white America. I don't know the dates of any of the quotes, except the last because it was written while he sat in an Alabama jail 57 (I think) years ago. What has really changed here? In my eyes, based on this thread, very little. Even the slightest pushback about race and how we need to actively, not passively, approach the problem and people lose their minds. As a parent of black children, I fear for their future and I'm mad as hell at a lot of you from preventing change from happening because change can't happen until we acknowledge the problem exists and actively work against it. "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." “Why is equality so assiduously avoided? Why does white America delude itself, and how does it rationalize the evil it retains? The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.” “But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?… It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.” “First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

For sure. I was speaking locally in specific regards to police violence, which is almost entirely under state and local jurisdiction.

More important than Washington is to vote for governors, mayors, and district attorneys who prioritize it. Those are the people who can enact the most change.

One of the most important civil rights moments in the history of this country was when a black man stepped onto a baseball diamond wearing Dodger blue. Racial equality and baseball have a storied history, both good and bad.

You... mentioned... a party...

The Democratic Party has a pretty lousy track record on this issue, too. Say it again, class: This doesn’t have to be partisan unless I make it partisan!

To say I’m disappointed by these comments is a massive understatement. Many of you are showing why Nick needed to write this article.

Our city is literally burning. Some things are more important than readership and this article, while Nick’s idea and execution, was ultimately a group decision.

The fact that so many make equality a partisan issue says some pretty terrible things about us as a society.

The comments in this thread so perfectly illustrate why this article was necessary. The fact that so many of you think it’s acceptable to escape world issues whenever convenient is exactly the point of Nick’s article. We need to be better than this.

Twins Daily “lets” Nick post this article because he’s an owner and all the owners stand united on this issue, which is a humanitarian issue that America has failed at for four centuries. It doesn’t have to be political unless you make it political. I don’t see why facing the problem that we’ve failed black Americans can or should be a left/right issue unless you make it one.

Right? This is ridiculous. But it should be a very clear message that the market has only a loose correlation to the actual economy.

Joe Nathan is the best reliever in Twins history and there's no question about it. He was literally the best reliever in baseball not named Rivera for 6-7 years and at times, he was better.