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Susan Mercurio's avatar

At the risk of getting called a racist, I have observed that Black Americans seem to believe that they hold the mortgage on suffering. No one else has ever suffered the way they have. No one is suffering now the way they are.

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M.Browning's avatar

Umm I very rarely if ever respond on a comment so old but I felt it necessary you have certainly succeeded at making your point of sounding bigoted. It seems that any time so-called Blk people express their feelings point out their own oppression we’re met with dismissive &/or vitriolic responses. None of us have ever claimed full agency on suffering especially when we get very little if any recompense for it unlike so many other groups who have the advantage & privilege of being seen as victims by default.

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Feb 29, 2024
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Susan Mercurio's avatar

Why would you disappoint me?

You're proving my point.

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Feb 29, 2024
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Susan Mercurio's avatar

That's what I've observed. American Blacks seem to be tone-deaf to anyone else's suffering. Many other groups throughout history have suffered as much if not more than they have, but they seem not to notice it.

The Rape of Nanking. The Pol Pot massacres in Cambodia. And, as you say, the centuries-long suffering of the Jews.

Nope. None of it counts.

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Huley Brown's avatar

I think you have that wrong. African Americans have suffered a lot, but recognize that there is a lot of suffering in the world today and yesterday. There was all kinds of suffering caused by Europeans when they “Discovered” America. The natives living here had entire peoples wiped out. It happens all around the world and is really sad. All we can do is do better by our fellow man and woman. Hate is a powerful tool and should be removed from the toolbox. Notice I don’t use the term Black. That is a term born in slavery when describing people who were slaves. I guess it is a matter of perspective.

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

A) Speaking of Native Americans is exactly the kind of suffering that I'm talking about, so bringing it up isn't much of a rebuttal.

B) Doing better than the past is exactly what I think we should be doing.

C) Hate is one of the basic emotions in your limbic system and you will never "remove it from the toolbox." What you can do is to recognize it in yourself and learn to direct it to some positive action. If you're accusing me of hating "African Americans," I began with the statement that I would be accused of being a racist.

D) I have heard "African Americans" say that they are not "African Americans" and I've heard many Black people call themselves Black.

E) I was talking about Black people that I have known. As I said, *I have observed* that many Black people seem to believe that they are the only ones who have suffered.

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