re: Did anyone catch the Jon Stewart and Oreilly debate on white privilege?

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The concern I have when I hear anecdotes like yours or 'strongsafety's' is how do you filter life's normal setbacks/conflicts, from those with a racial basis. Is everything racial? Is anything racial.

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Thats a good point NC, and I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Like I always say, I've lived a pretty damn good life so far, and relatively free of any major "setbacks/conflicts." Were there a couple of times where I felt] I was "discriminated" against due to my skin tone (being asked to show ID while walking on campus, etc), sure. Is it possible my race had nothing to do with these instances? Sure. Short of a person calling me the n-word, saying he hates blacks, etc is there anyway to be 100% certain race played into a particular situation? No, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen to some people some times.

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orget color and analyse culpability. Do you have some culpability? If so own it, fix it, and move on. Set presumptions of race aside, and solve the problem for yourself independent of race.

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I agree with this as well. I can only control what I can control. No earrings. Pants pulled all the way up. No baggy clothing. No slang. Nothing that could evoke some of the negative images often linked to black Americans in today's popular media. Anybody who is black but engages in any of those behaviors must first address his own decisions before blaming racism if/when he gets himself into a pickle.

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All that is more generally directed advice, than to you in specific. One doesn't achieve what you have without possessing a strong sense as to how to persevere. Certainly, you've been there; done that.

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Yep, I'm still dodging the haters every day just like my pops taught me, NC