[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by mneumann02

I believe your statement gets at the root cause of why these tragedies occur and why they will never be solved, i.e., Denying The Root Causes of These Tragic Events. Try to take your emotions out of the equation and we can get at the root causes, then solve the problem.

OK fair enough.

And let me state for the record, that I DO NOT condone violence from anyone, toward anyone, nor the destruction of property in protesting.

I believe that the "root cause" is because of the feeling of those quietly sitting on the sidelines that think "as long as I haven't been treated/discriminated against all of my life and it doesn't happen to me, I'm OK with that."

I'm saying that the silence by decent whites and their non-action and unwillingness to be attacked by other whites, like I am in this thread and every time I point out the disparities/discrimination...IS the root cause.

What are YOU trying to say is the root cause?

Originally Posted by mneumann02

Let's start with your claim " I guarantee, if it were old white people suffering what is constantly happening to young black men" we'd be doing the same things. Well, when old white people do something wrong and are confronted by police, we tend to say "Yes, Sir" and comply with their commands. Would there be less of these tragic events if there was more compliance and less resistance?

The reason "we" do this is because we haven't lived a life where we are viewed as suspect, in almost every situation, simply because of the color of our skin.

Since we will never know what that might feel like, it's impossible to say...what % would eventually reach their limit and act like 'some' of the protestors are doing.

Keeping in mind that the vast majority of protestors, are NOT the ones looting and fomenting violence.

MLK was a strong proponent of peaceful demonstrations and yet even that was too much for all too many white people...who felt blacks didn't deserve equality.

So one killed him for it.

The great irony is that this nation was birthed from a feeling of being discriminated against, the Colonialists felt like their backs were against the wall, were never getting a break from the British and basically felt that they were cornered rats...with nothing to lose.

Then once we gained our freedom, THROUGH VIOLENCE, we built this country's foundation on the backs of free labor...re: black slaves.

And yet we celebrate that.

Originally Posted by mneumann02

Forgive me, but I will diverge. I'm basically a liberal but my problem with extreme liberal folks is that they tend to just want to throw more money at failed social programs and blame others for poverty and crime. I want to solve the problems of poverty and crime. We actually can do it, but not by denying the root causes.

LOL, I'm actually far from "extreme liberal."

The fact that someone willing to try and point out racism and racists, is automatically called an "extreme liberal"...says a lot.

Does that make everyone who totes around their assault rifles, waving the confederate flag and trying to intimidate others...is an "extreme conservative?"

You've mentioned "root cause" a few times, but have failed to say what YOU think that is.

What do you think the root cause is...and how would you approach fixing it?

I believe the majority of posts in this thread, of which there has been no recognition/understanding of how a person might feel if they had simply been born with dark skin...IS a root cause.