I agree with the Edg's premise (quoted below) that it is VERY DIFFICULT for a white person to know what it is to be black, but I disagree that a white person cannot possibly know what it is to be hurt, brainwashed, intimidated, forced, challenged, tortured, and negated.
Separate point ~~ I can often pick out from a distance the difference between an American black and a foreign black (esp from Africa). Blacks raised in the U.S. have an internal tension and defensiveness that foreign-born-and-raised blacks don't show. That tension shows in their posture and body language. This is such a sad statement about how their environment affects them. I am not assigning blame with that statement, just observing that their environment, due to all the causes that shape it, causes a lot of tension within them. Another separate point ~~ Reincarnation (I'm *exploring* this, not making a case for reincarnation) would make it possible for a white to have been an American black in a past life, and therefore feel in their bones or their genes or soul or wherever it shows up, the tension, fear, anger (WRATH!), suspicion, that accumulates over a lifetime. ~ Spiritkin Edg wrote in the "Questions for FFL's racists" thread: > "No white person could possibly know what it is > to be born black with the MASSIVE EVIL BRAINWASHING > OF CENTURIES IMPACTING ONE'S MINDSET. No white can > comprehend what it is like to be in a culture that has > been forced to keep its mouth shut at the point of a gun > -- FOR CENTURIES. No white person can possibly know what > challenges are presented to a good hearted black person > who is daily TORTURED with glares, sneers, abasements, > and negative judgments by the dominant, heavily armed, > racist kidnappers of whole African villages.