Mark Anthony Conditt (not pictured) was the name of the serial bomber who terrorized the nearly 950,000 residents of Austin, Texas, for the past week or so that was responsible for killing two people and injuring four others. Conditt killed himself with a bomb earlier today when approached by law enforcement.
You may know many of the other men pictured here. If not, just Google “White Terrorists.”
By now, it isn’t much surprise that many of the same people who were abnormally irate about NFL players taking a knee, women protesting gender equality, or students walking out of school for a few minutes (none of these instances killed anyone) were quiet or had lame excuses about these men. Even the “president,” Donald Trump, while he has had a lot to say when people of color commit crimes that make national headlines, he has said absolutely nothing in just about any of these cases, and as of right now, nothing has been said about Conditt, either. We may need to wait a few days for Saturday Night Live for another Alec Baldwin impression. Trump seems to get more angry about that than the deaths of American citizens.
Speaking of America, do you ever wonder why white males, despite what they do, still seem to be viewed as more favorably than any other group?
Let’s say Conditt was a Muslim. Trump and many others wouldn’t hesitate to call him a terrorist.
Hispanic? Then we’d have to hear about that damn wall again, along with people saying to “deport” him and crying about illegal immigration.
Black? Well we’re just thugs and criminals. At least those of us who aren’t “lazy” or on welfare, as pretty much ALL of us are, right?
But Conditt was a white male who killed people.
And this doesn’t anger people nearly as much. Why? For one simple reason.
Because a white male is viewed as a “symbol” of America.
Oh believe me…as a black male, I’m not exactly shouting this from the rooftops or will be quick to buy a bumper sticker with this on it. And I’m sure many of you, SANE WHITE MALES included, feel the same way. You’re not all like this, nor do you condone it. I get that.
But somewhere along the line, the white male has become one symbol of America and the thing is, a lot of people not only believe this, but have been conditioned to accept it.
Back to Conditt and other white males. What is the classification given to them, as Muslims are classified as terrorists, blacks as “thugs and criminals,” and Hispanics as “illegals”?
For those who don’t just skim over it, many are considered as “troubled” in some kind of way. The recent Florida high school shooter was said to have been bullied. I don’t condone bullying whatsoever. But interesting how it couldn’t be possible that a person of color would have dealt with bullying. That never even comes up.
Mental health is also often mentioned when the perpetrator is a white male. Normally, mental health is taken as a joke by many. But when this sort of thing happens, we all of a sudden hear people talk about how much we need to “pay more attention” and to “take mental health seriously,” as otherwise, we would be laughing at it.
But again, for a person of color to commit a crime…I don’t recall too many (if any at all) instances where mental health was mentioned whatsoever.
Now let’s talk about protests. Protests on gender equality by primarily women. They were ridiculed and put down in every way. Same for Black Lives Matter activists. They’re often questioned on “why they aren’t at work” or for those who choose to riot and are NO part of these protests, that’s what people choose to focus on.
When NFL players took a knee, they did so during the thirty seconds or so of the National Anthem that we don’t even see on television. Yet, they were called everything in the book and owners were encouraged to “fire those sons of bitches” (the president in all his maturity said that one). And yes, a few even spewed the classic “they can leave the country if they don’t like it here.” So apparently that whole “Freedom of Speech” only applies when it makes certain people comfortable. Gotcha.
However, in August 2017, there were multiple White Supremacy rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia. It isn’t surprising that the same ones who said the above either made next to NO comments about these rallies, but also followed the lead of the president by saying that “there are problems on both sides,” with some even saying that these are “fine individuals exercising their Freedom of Speech.” So it wasn’t a problem them.
I’m not an expert, but I’m also not a stupid individual. As a black man who has lived in this country for my entire life (no, I’ve never been to Africa), my take is simply this. Again, people have been conditioned to view white males as more favorable even when these kinds of things happen.
In my opinion, many are quiet, not because they’re “not seeing” this stuff as they like to claim. They see it. Lord knows they see it whenever it’s a person of color who does something wrong. Yet in these cases, either they “don’t see” it or it’s more about “both sides,” mental health or bullying?
At what point in history has it been proven that these issues could NOT happen to people of color? I cannot recall any instances of a medical professional saying that mental illnesses don’t happen to people of color or that they cannot be bullied.
I’m seeming to annoy some people on my social media in speaking about this. But what is a reply I get often? Something to the effect of, “I don’t care what color they are” or “I’m tired of people focusing on race!”
Well of course, here you’re tired of it. Ironic that the same people aren’t “tired” of it when it’s coming toward a person of color. Hell, half time, they’re either saying it themselves, “liking” posts where it’s being said, or sharing them.
A person of color does something wrong, and it is all about THAT person or that race/religion, etc. That’s how many feel they can justify it. However, a white male commits a crime and there just HAS to be “something else” going on that we need to address. God forbid they be held accountable for anything. Nah…there has to be something else unforeseen taking place that makes them just as much the “victim” as those they’ve hurt or killed.
In short, many are quiet because they feel that speaking up against a white male is like speaking up against America.
And of course, we can’t have that, right? That’s likely why we don’t often hear of white males being told to “go back to” anywhere, even though not even they were here first. Some folks really believe that white males have been here since the beginning and are the only ones who deserve to remain here. Hell, we have a president who encourages a lot of this behavior. If that hasn’t made it abundantly clear, I don’t know what else will.
All I will finish with is this: If a person exercising his or her Freedom of Speech pisses you off more than a person who KILLS other people, especially to the point that you can only speak about one and not the other, you are part of the problem.
And a BIG part of the reason that people, especially people like me, will never shut up about it.
And my skin does not need to be white in order to say that. There’s a reason I didn’t ask for your permission to speak on this…
…it’s because neither I, nor anyone else exercising Constitutional rights who do NOT have white skin, need it.
Change is coming. Either you can be on board or not. But it’s happening, with or without you.
People's Court 
💯. Great blog and so true
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