An Interesting Conversation About Politics And Race

Earlier today I was involved in a conversation on Facebook with a black man who posted a comment on a thread I was following. The thread was about Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney predicting that Vladimir Putin would one day flex his muscles and the liberals, including Barack Obama, laughed at them. It finished up by saying President Obama looks like a fool about now. Did I mention it was a Tea Party page?

The man made the following comment. (All comments from others have been posted as they were made with some select asterisks to tame down certain words.)

"I can't wait for the next president  .cause I wanna see if people attack that 1 with the same zeal that people attack this 1. racist ass people. The man can't make a move without somebody talkin sh*t. The last couple of presidents been runnin this country into the ground, but yall don't have sh*t to say about them..."

Aside from being unable to communicate without profanity and his insulting generalization of conservative/Republican voters - when challenged about his generality he responded "I just don't like white people who don't like black people," and to one woman said "Lady u don't know me."

So in a period of about 60 seconds he decided he knew the hearts and minds of everyone on the page who criticized Barack Obama's actions (or lack of) but then told us we didn't know him. It got better...

When someone pointed out the obvious: 

"I know many republicans who spoke out against bush and the other republicans at the time because they became tax and spend like liberal, they were eroding liberties through the patriot act and the NDAA, amd, etc. If obama is warrented of these attacks then his supporters need to defend him iwth some form of argument. Just because someone doesn't agree with the president doesn't make them a racist. I think hes doing a horrible job. Weak foreign policy, millions unemployed, healthcare is a disaster, trillions of dollars more in debt with nothing to show for, and most division in the country than ive ever seen. And all i see from people who support him or excuses and blame placed on someone else.... usually the republicans. Bush wasnt great but neither is obama" 

...the man responded with:

"Yea.he's a f*** up..but they not helping him either. .never have..."

So here we have a black Obama supporter criticizing the President because he's not doing a good job but saying whites who feel the same way are racists. When I mentioned that fact and called him on his generalization of all whites who disagree with Obama he said "And if u not racist, the comment wasn't for u..flat out.."

I couldn't help but respond back "LOL So now you're letting people decide for themselves if your generalized comment was meant for them? I guess that's fair - in an odd sort of way..."

He toned it down for a while and the conversation went on. The conversation switched to possible black Republican candidates like Herman Cain, Allen West and Ben Carson. This same man enlightened us once again. 

" Yall wouldn't like either 1, cause they are really black, with a black agenda..I'm just sayin."

I'm not sure where he's getting this information. Maybe he knows something we don't. But he dismissed several people in the conversation who said they would vote for any of these gentlemen.

Then it seemed like a light came on with this post: 

"In some people hatred runs deep.. and it don't take bifocals to see..In black and white..I think we are still a few generations away from true equality..black people thought this was going to help, but in fact things are the same.."

He followed it with: 

"I already know..The government allows racism, tea parties, republican democrats.. it's to keep people separated, and not paying attention to what the government is doing..it's us against them..no matter who's the president."

But no such luck. After one person said 

"Give us a chance. Most of us want the same things" he responded with "Blah, blah, blah... How many of you here voted for the man?"

Now considering he was on a Tea Party related page and had been having a conversation for 20 minutes with people who obviously didn't vote for Obama, he still wasn't too thrilled with the negative responses. So he responded in his original manner... "Right..so you all don't like the man for various reasons. .being black was the last 1 right?"

All our hard work down the drain. He followed it with this a few minutes later: "Next time I go to a room and see a bunch of white people disrespecting a black man, I will make sure that I don't think racism right off the top.. ok.."

The man proceeded to dismiss me: " Glen for the last time, if u not racist, then I was not talkin to u..u keep harassing me..I stop talkin to u 15 mins ago.."

It seems pointing out hypocrisy and stereotypical comments is harassment. Who knew?

Anyway - he ended the conversation with the following comment: " I'm from Detroit clown..down here where racism is alive and well..I know what I'm talking about.." - which could indicate why he seems so bitter at times. There's not much for anyone to be happy about in Detroit. He doesn't seem to know much about geography but I wonder if he knows the leadership in Detroit has been Democrat for the last 51+ years?