Do you know any poor white people?

[traininthedistance]

For f**ks sake.  We should be better than this.

To be clear: I'm not sure that I particularly want to vote the same way as West Virginia.  My deeply held beliefs include the truth that systemic racism is a Real Problem and that even poor people can have bad views, that we have a moral obligation, for the sake of future generations, to prosecute the War on Coal to its fullest extent and leave that sh*t in the ground, that we should invest in our cities, promote cultural cosmopolitanism, etc etc etc.  Being poor doesn't excuse being racist, it doesn't excuse spitting on facts.  These are things I don't have any particular interest in compromising on, and as such I recognize that a Democratic Party I can comfortably be a part of is one that is going to lose in a lot of poor white areas.  Some principles need defending, you can't please everyone all of the time.

But, Jesus f**k, it's still not okay to sneer on people who are struggling like that.  It's not okay to say, "you deserve the sh*t you're in."  You still gotta be the bigger man and treat people with compassion, and do things to help those in distress, despite whatever objectively harmful views they hold.  (And, even if West Virginia is a lost cause for the foreseeable future, taking the high road does make a difference.  Like, in, say, Ohio.)  If you can't do that, then kindly STFU.

[traininthedistance]

The difference between being poor and white and poor and black is, if you are poor and white, and you DO somehow leave the ghetto, you LEAVE the ghetto.  You can wipe the dust from your feet and be done with it.  When you're black in this country, because we live in a racist society, you never, ever, truly leave the ghetto.  The assumptions about you that are embedded in our culture linger just beneath the surface, when they aren't simply laid bare.

To be a person of color in this country means no matter how wealthy or successful you are, you are never free from the bull****.

Seriously, what does this melodramatic BS even mean? Do you mean, even if a Black person is rich, they're "still in the ghetto" because if they're walking down a street at night, someone crosses the street to avoid them? No, if you're rich, you're rich. Even if a salesperson asks you if they can help you find anything (which they also ask White people) you are still rich.

Um

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates_arrest_controversy