== 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.
TEXT 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.
TEXT 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.
TEXT Link 3
Ascraeus has responded, at the following:
TEXT 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)
DIR 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.