== Kids Who Die == | |
June 11, 2020 | |
Before I begin, let me say that I'm entering the ring a couple rounds | |
late, but I found this phlog post so vile, so off-base, and just | |
so...nauseating, that I had to respond to it. | |
But first, let me go back to the starting bell. The Zaibatsu's | |
tfurrows wrote a short post in late May about space travel, and if | |
there are individuals who might limit humans' ability to do so. The | |
post is available at the link below. | |
Link 1 | |
In response, ascraeus posted a song by Gil Scott-Heron called "Whitey | |
on the Moon," an interesting glimpse into race relations in the late | |
1960s. It's available below, for any interested. | |
Link 2 | |
And then came the most ignorant, disgusting response I've ever read, | |
from a user named "jynx." Fair warning: it does contain profanity. | |
Link 3 | |
Ascraeus has responded, at the following: | |
Link 4 | |
Ascraeus's piece was well-written, no doubt. However, in my opinion, | |
ascraeus was a bit...generous in his response. My goal with this piece | |
is to lay a bit more into a few points that Ascraeus made, but could | |
use some more emphasis. The copied portions below are snippets from | |
jynx's article. | |
> As 8% of the world, we are the global minority. Our [white] | |
> homelands (the lands in which we are the *indigenous* peoples) | |
> are being invaded, our numbers drop continually. | |
Ascraeus already touches on the fact the percentage of the world that | |
is white is much higher than 8%, and more likely 16-20%, and that, | |
let's be honest, the peoples jynx is likely leaving out are Central | |
and South American populations. Ascraeus also touches on the fact that | |
ALMOST ALL colonial invasion "since the Reconquista" has occurred at | |
the hands of White Europeans. | |
What I want to touch on is the fear-mongering and scare tactics that | |
jynx is obviously employing here against legal, legitimate migration. | |
Even spending one minute finding ACTUAL immigration statistics will | |
show you that, outside of certain historically xenophilic countries | |
(e.g., Canada, Australia, the USA), most European or majority- | |
Caucasian countries DO NOT have high levels of immigration. A few | |
statistics to illustrate my point: | |
* In the UK, more people speak Welsh - WELSH - than the most-spoken | |
immigrant language, Polish | |
* Even the relatively xenophilic Nordic countries all are less than | |
20% first- and second-generation immigrant (save Sweden) | |
Furthermore, jynx is missing a CRUCIAL point - these countries NEED | |
migration. You see, jynx, the white European countries you love so | |
dearly face a SERIOUS demographics problem. Their educated populations | |
no longer want to raise 5 children, so many families go without | |
children, put them off until later in life, or only have 1 or 2. So, | |
their populations are dying off, and their labor forces are shrinking: | |
i.e., they need labor. Add to that the fact that their well-educated | |
citizenry don't want to do work that they find menial or dangerous: | |
i.e., they need labor. Migration keeps these White European countries | |
functioning, something which I'm sure you'd like to see. | |
> Do a little more research on the racial make up of | |
> the highest portions of our world's society. | |
Well, let's see: | |
* At least in the United States, the highest-paid race is Asian, | |
followed by "Non-Hispanic White"; (Gopherpedia: List of ethnic groups | |
in the United States by household income) (and I'm talking a disparity | |
of just under USD 30,000 between non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks) | |
* The typical net worth of a White family in the US is USD 171,000; | |
for a Black family, it is USD 17, 150 | |
(In this case, I'm highlighting the US, since the recent protests are | |
centered on the US, but the trend exists elsewhere, too) | |
* In historically "White" societies with large numbers of immigrants, | |
political leadership is historically more White than the population; | |
the US has had one Black president, and Australia and Canada have had | |
no non-White PMs | |
* Globally, White European societies are more powerful per capita than | |
those of any other race; the UK has only 60 million people, and yet is | |
a global power, while Ethiopia, with almost 100 million people, is | |
treated like an undeveloped backwater outpost | |
* 4 - FOUR - "White" countries have nuclear weapons, while only 1 | |
Asian one is confirmed to have them; 1 African one MIGHT (though they | |
were developed by the white Apartheid government) | |
So, jynx, there's the research you asked for. | |
Now, let's finish with this gem: | |
> Do you blame Nigerians for | |
> looking out for their own? Do you blame the Bantu for their invasions | |
> in Africa? Do you blame specific tribes in the Americas for their | |
> bloody battles and for wiping out tribes no longer with us on this | |
> planet? Do you blame China for keeping their racial character? Do | |
> you blame India for the same? | |
(First, to be entirely technical, India has no distinct racial | |
character; if jynx had bothered to look into that, he'd see that each | |
Indian state and union territory really has ITS own character, and | |
then smaller ones within that; India has something like 60 official | |
languages and three to four major religions) | |
Here we come to some classic "whatboutism" that the far right just | |
loves to bandy about. | |
The inherent problem with this argument is the following: | |
1. Many of these issues have been overshadowed by even greater ones | |
created by White Europeans; e.g., sure, African tribes warred and | |
pillaged, but Belgian King Leopold I created a colony literally aimed | |
at exploiting African labor in the Congo, and his administration | |
murdered African laborers who didn't meet rubber quotas. | |
2. Ascraeus was only highlighting one specific issue. There are plenty | |
of criticism pieces across the spectrum aimed at China's internment of | |
Uighurs or the Indian Government's recent policies aimed at Muslim | |
Indians, and I'm guessing that ascraeus would likely agree with them; | |
however, the spotlight is on racism broadly, and the relationship | |
between law enforcement and African-Americans in particular, hence the | |
focus on the African-American experience in ascraeus's piece. | |
3. JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE HAS DONE IT, DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT. Jynx, | |
let's say everyone else was shooting people for fun - would it make it | |
right for you to do it? My mother instilled that lesson in me at a | |
very early age. Turns out I shouldn't jump off a bridge if all my | |
friends are doing it. | |
This movement, the protests in the US and elsewhere, aren't about | |
creating some sort of "White vs. Black" dynamic. They're not about | |
blame, they're not about subjugating "the White Man." They're about | |
delivering equality to a group that has time and time and time and | |
TIME again been (literally and figuratively) beaten, chained, and | |
whipped into subjugation by society. Increasingly, White Americans and | |
Europeans are coming to realize that systematic change requires their | |
support, and they're giving that support more than ever. This isn't a | |
White vs. Black vs. Asian vs. Hispanic issue, this is a community- | |
wide, national, global issue that involves all of us, together. | |
This is for the kids who die, | |
Black and white, | |
For kids will die certainly. | |
The old and rich will live on awhile, | |
As Always, | |
Eating blood and gold, | |
Letting kids die. | |
Kids will die in the swamps of Mississippi | |
Organizing sharecroppers | |
Kids will die in the streets of Chicago | |
Organizing workers | |
Kids will die in the orange groves of California | |
Telling others to get together | |
Whites and Filipinos, | |
Negroes and Mexicans, | |
All kinds of kids will die | |
Who don't believe in lies, and bribes, and contentment | |
And a lousy peace. | |
- Langston Hughes, "Kids Who Die" | |
== Update (July 3, 2020) == | |
After an email conversation with The Free Thinker (who manages | |
Free Thoughts, hosted on aussies.space, linked below) | |
Free Thoughts | |
I realize I was incorrect in my numbers on nuclear weapons. In my | |
count, I had mentioned 1 Asian country with confirmed weapons, i.e., | |
China, but I should have also included India, Pakistan, and North | |
Korea, bringing the total number of Asian countries to possess them | |
to 4, as well as 4 "White" countries. Additionally, it appears that | |
South Africa may no longer have nuclear weapons, lowering the number | |
of African countries that possesses them to 0. | |
Also, let me make clear my argument surrounding the weapons, as well | |
as the 3 other points I included in that section of the article. My | |
point in raising the statistics about nuclear weapons, pay, net worth, | |
and leadership was to counter jynx's claim that the "highest portions | |
of our world's society" are not White. Frankly, I think that just | |
these 4 points demonstrate that to be false. | |
Finally, I did make a couple of spelling fixes here and there. | |