Who speaks for the black community?

[Valerie]

I wish my black friends were paid by lobbyists - then they’d be a lot better off financially. As far as I know, nobody pays them to hold conservative views.

This is true, there are a myriad of blacks that don't see things the same way as the loud present movement. Our friend I brought up before, Sharon. No one pays her to not want to focus on black issues. The black man that called in on Christian radio couple weeks ago while they were taking calls about all this- he said he does NOT like the saying "Black Lives Matter", and I appreciated what he had to say, free of charge. There are black police speaking out & black pastors on both sides of this. People, black & white, unpaid, simply are not all in agreement about what's happening.

[appleman2006]

But getting back to the OP my whole point continues to be that we need to listen to various spoke persons from the black community. And to dismiss someone's experience and opinions simply because they may be in the minority is not fair.

The experiences and opinions of a small minority do not negate the experiences and opinions of the vast majority.

And that is often what this is about. Often, this is about some "spokesman" who is paid by a political lobbying group or a campaign, someone who has no claim to fame other than the fact that they are black and are telling us we do not need to listen to the opinions most black people are expressing. Which makes us feel comfortable ignoring what most black people are telling us about their own experiences.

Sometimes this "spokesman" makes a good deal of money this way and is famous for having these contrary opinions and not much else. Sometimes the same person was saying the opposite a few years back, on someone else's pay. Would you have any idea who Candace Owens or the Hodge Twins or Diamond and Silk are if they weren't doing this? Where do they get their fame and money from? What qualifications do they have except for being black? If they changed their opinions, would they still have any claim to this fame or money? Who appointed them spokespeople for black people? Was there some group of black people who decided this? Who?

If I want to know what black people experience, I think there are better ways.

wow just wow. Just remember that for every black conservative that might possibly be considered a shill there are probably four or five liberal ones that could be accused of doing the same thing. I am not talking about those nearly as much as the thousands of men and women who are extremely unhappy with the left. Some speak out fully knowing it puts them at a huge disadvantage in their community. Many do not dare or do not have the luxury of speaking out because of what it would cost them. I am simply saying that if as you say you care about black lives which I think you do, open your mind and listen to some of these people as well.

[temporal1]

wow just wow. Just remember that for every black conservative that might possibly be considered a shill there are probably four or five liberal ones that could be accused of doing the same thing.

I am not talking about those nearly as much as the thousands of men and women who are extremely unhappy with the left.
Some speak out fully knowing it puts them at a huge disadvantage in their community.
Many do not dare or do not have the luxury of speaking out because of what it would cost them.

I am simply saying that if as you say you care about black lives which I think you do, open your mind and listen to some of these people as well.

If the UNorganized majority would be granted just 10% of airtime in mainstream media, AND in public education, Pre-K through college, then there might be a starting place, something to honestly discuss.

At some point, activists figured out the power of organization to push minority interests into domination, through noise and bullying. The perception of dominance. Propaganda.

The formula works for any self-designated group, not always about race.

Homosexuals picked up the formula, it’s beyond question what has unfolded.
And, they knew what they were doing, i read a piece about it decades ago, written by homosexuals, stating the plan to just use the 1960’s law for their end goals. In their words, why bother to approach the matter as a new issue, when they could morph new law to suit their goals?

No shame that those laws were an honest attempt to address those who were descendants of authentic slavery in the U.S. (i’m really surprised the overall black community allowed this) - some are hostile, they do NOT receive even 10% recognition. They receive 99% rejection.

Organized blocs can turn into the most intolerant bullies of societies i’ve experienced.
They have gone ‘way beyond being annoying.

The awful question arises of just how much of our U.S. Public Treasury is robbed for partisan politics and organized political blocs. i believe the numbers would be staggering, if ever honestly made public.
Just the numbers in the DOE would be chilling.

Yet, not 10% time allowed for conservative opinions. Those conservatives must be terrifying!
When intolerance becomes imperative, it’s past time to question, “Why?” “What are you afraid of?”

[Bootstrap]

But getting back to the OP my whole point continues to be that we need to listen to various spoke persons from the black community. And to dismiss someone's experience and opinions simply because they may be in the minority is not fair.

The experiences and opinions of a small minority do not negate the experiences and opinions of the vast majority.

And that is often what this is about. Often, this is about some "spokesman" who is paid by a political lobbying group or a campaign, someone who has no claim to fame other than the fact that they are black and are telling us we do not need to listen to the opinions most black people are expressing. Which makes us feel comfortable ignoring what most black people are telling us about their own experiences.

Sometimes this "spokesman" makes a good deal of money this way and is famous for having these contrary opinions and not much else. Sometimes the same person was saying the opposite a few years back, on someone else's pay. Would you have any idea who Candace Owens or the Hodge Twins or Diamond and Silk are if they weren't doing this? Where do they get their fame and money from? What qualifications do they have except for being black? If they changed their opinions, would they still have any claim to this fame or money? Who appointed them spokespeople for black people? Was there some group of black people who decided this? Who?

If I want to know what black people experience, I think there are better ways.

wow just wow. Just remember that for every black conservative that might possibly be considered a shill there are probably four or five liberal ones that could be accused of doing the same thing.

But we don't see people posting them here on MN. And really, are the people I named "black conservatives"? They are culture war figures and lobbyists. There are other people I would consider black conservatives, people who think and write more deeply and avoid in-your-face partisan political posturing.

I am not talking about those nearly as much as the thousands of men and women who are extremely unhappy with the left. Some speak out fully knowing it puts them at a huge disadvantage in their community. Many do not dare or do not have the luxury of speaking out because of what it would cost them. I am simply saying that if as you say you care about black lives which I think you do, open your mind and listen to some of these people as well.

I think police brutality is real, and I think it affects black and poor neighborhoods much more than it affects you and me. You may not encounter that much in white rural parts of the country. But I don't think that police brutality is a conservative value and I don't think opposing it is some crazy liberal thing.

Caring about black lives means caring about what happened to George Floyd and caring about what happens to neighborhoods who do not have good policing or good schools. I have a really hard time believing that there are lots and lots of black people who do not care about these things. Polls are very clear about this.

So why all this talk about "the left" all the time? This isn't about political parties, it is about the lives of black people and how we improve policing. Which is what these polls are about. And at this point, the President, the Republican Senate, and the Democratic House have all said this is important enough to do something about.

[Bootstrap]

New Kaiser Family Foundation poll. This first part is about things that people have experienced themselves.







Here are some of the measures Americans support to address some of these concerns (not just black Americans):



A lot of this support is bipartisan, and it's not just black people.

Support for the protests, though, does seem to be Democrats and Independents, not Republicans.

[Josh]

A poll tells us the majority’s opinion. It doesn’t make that opinion actually right.

Now, can we move on to discussing how to deal with certain groups of people who feel disadvantaged? In my experience, it doesn’t matter what the facts are if someone feels disadvantaged. The first thing I usually work on is encouraging someone to quit giving in to those feelings.

[Ken]

A poll tells us the majority’s opinion. It doesn’t make that opinion actually right.

If that were the case then Baptists would be more right than Mennonites and Catholics would be more right than Baptists.

[Wade]

One thing is for sure - If I don't speak out and agree with "black lives matter," I am condemn for supporting violence by a bunch of people. But if I don't segregate and say things like I did today, "All lives matter," at a family get together, then the person who I have seen be the most racist in my life says to me, "You are an ignorant white privileged male, go put on your (kkk) cap."
I'm convinced there are a bunch of people that really don't have any desire to work together for anything better. Any message that could be good really is being drowned out by all this rubbish.

I think it is time for me to shut up and continue to share the love of Christ with people no matter their skin colour. East Indians get talked about very poorly in our area, even by professing Christians. But yet an East Indian man I see often at the grocery store calls me brother and asks how my family is doing just 2 days ago. I think I'll just continue on treating each person as a person, as it is working just fine and forget about what others keep trying to shove down my throat.

I'll let each person speak for themselves and not bother worrying about questions that provoke ill will one way or the other like:

Who speaks for the black community?

[temporal1]

One thing is for sure - If I don't speak out and agree with "black lives matter," I am condemn for supporting violence by a bunch of people.
But if I don't segregate and say things like I did today, "All lives matter," at a family get together, then the person who I have seen be the most racist in my life says to me, "You are an ignorant white privileged male, go put on your (kkk) cap."

I'm convinced there are a bunch of people that really don't have any desire to work together for anything better. Any message that could be good really is being drowned out by all this rubbish.

I think it is time for me to shut up and continue to share the love of Christ with people no matter their skin colour.

East Indians get talked about very poorly in our area, even by professing Christians.
But yet an East Indian man I see often at the grocery store calls me brother and asks how my family is doing just 2 days ago. I think I'll just continue on treating each person as a person, as it is working just fine and forget about what others keep trying to shove down my throat.

I'll let each person speak for themselves and not bother worrying about questions that provoke ill will one way or the other like:

Who speaks for the black community?

i never dreamed posting this (page 19) on this forum would be questioned. but.
how quickly things change.



i’ll add this. i believe this meme is from a prolife group:



From reports, maybe my view is now “illegal,” that black lives matter, all lives matter, but i will not support organized political blocs, “no matter” - (especially because of their tendency toward intolerant bullying). i have to have faith that reality and Truth will prevail. even if it takes awhile.

i do not want children to return to school to be forced to recite these politicized mantras.
at this moment, it appears that’s on the horizon. i hope not.
i do not believe anyone who seriously thinks this through would agree with it.
i don’t want to believe it.

[Valerie]

The experiences and opinions of a small minority do not negate the experiences and opinions of the vast majority.

And that is often what this is about. Often, this is about some "spokesman" who is paid by a political lobbying group or a campaign, someone who has no claim to fame other than the fact that they are black and are telling us we do not need to listen to the opinions most black people are expressing. Which makes us feel comfortable ignoring what most black people are telling us about their own experiences.

Sometimes this "spokesman" makes a good deal of money this way and is famous for having these contrary opinions and not much else. Sometimes the same person was saying the opposite a few years back, on someone else's pay. Would you have any idea who Candace Owens or the Hodge Twins or Diamond and Silk are if they weren't doing this? Where do they get their fame and money from? What qualifications do they have except for being black? If they changed their opinions, would they still have any claim to this fame or money? Who appointed them spokespeople for black people? Was there some group of black people who decided this? Who?

If I want to know what black people experience, I think there are better ways.

wow just wow. Just remember that for every black conservative that might possibly be considered a shill there are probably four or five liberal ones that could be accused of doing the same thing.

But we don't see people posting them here on MN. And really, are the people I named "black conservatives"? They are culture war figures and lobbyists. There are other people I would consider black conservatives, people who think and write more deeply and avoid in-your-face partisan political posturing.

I am not talking about those nearly as much as the thousands of men and women who are extremely unhappy with the left. Some speak out fully knowing it puts them at a huge disadvantage in their community. Many do not dare or do not have the luxury of speaking out because of what it would cost them. I am simply saying that if as you say you care about black lives which I think you do, open your mind and listen to some of these people as well.

I think police brutality is real, and I think it affects black and poor neighborhoods much more than it affects you and me. You may not encounter that much in white rural parts of the country. But I don't think that police brutality is a conservative value and I don't think opposing it is some crazy liberal thing.

Caring about black lives means caring about what happened to George Floyd and caring about what happens to neighborhoods who do not have good policing or good schools. I have a really hard time believing that there are lots and lots of black people who do not care about these things. Polls are very clear about this.

So why all this talk about "the left" all the time? This isn't about political parties, it is about the lives of black people and how we improve policing. Which is what these polls are about. And at this point, the President, the Republican Senate, and the Democratic House have all said this is important enough to do something about.

We DO listen to people who grew up in black neighborhoods- I posted in Jim Fox's thread- our friend Sharon. She makes no excuses for her people's behavior- she said she never could understand why when she was growing up they destroyed property, looted, stole- etc- she said even before she was a Christian (she was born in 1948) she couldn't understand why they behaved the way they did. She drives around Cleveland area as a widow woman- with a man's hat on and pulls her coat up so that she looks like a man driving, lest she get attacked. This is her reality in black neighborhoods. We've been listening for the 4 years we've known her now and she makes no excuses for her people- even explaining what she sees to the officer at our church last night- she wanted him to know this.

A black man called into Christian radio who said he does NOT like the phrase 'black lives matter' during the morning show- but it seemed the radio team wanted to downplay what he was trying to convey because they seemed to be pushing for support of black lives matter that morning. He's black- his opinion counts.

One of the things that has been suggested is that more black people join law enforcement. However- the Black Lives Matter organization stated that if they do- they are no longer black but blue- Isn't that a little 'racist' from the black community? Why not support their involvement?

I will tell you why the left comes up. The founder of the Black Lives Matter foundation was on CNN & stated that their goal is to 'remove Trump' and that they hope he resigns. You see- the left does mix the Black Lives Matter agenda with politics themselves. Don't be fooled.
I would that anyone wanting to peacefully protest will not do so with the BLM foundation- that they would make a clear distinction away from their political agenda- Wake up people