I feel like the answer is some shopping cart variation of this:
First you take the chicken across the river. Go back for the corn.
Drop off the corn and bring the chicken back.
Leave the chicken on the first shore and take the fox across. Leave the fox with the corn.
Return for the chicken and bring it across.
Everyone's safe.
I dream of a day when white men finally get a fair shake in this country. We could start small, say a white Congressman or two, and then maybe someday we'll have a white president (or forty-four and a half).
I don't know what precipitated the anger in that response, but I'm sorry I triggered it.
As for the thread topic, I've presented all the pertinent arguments to support my position. If you don't buy it, then that's your right. Either way, I'm done.
I'm not naive. I realize that perfection is not achievable, but constant improvement is, and I think we can do a whole lot better than we're currently doing. Do you really think society has reached the pinnacle - that this is the best we can be? That's awfully cynical.
Or is it just that racial issues don't directly impact you, so you don't see any need to change? Because that's worse than cynical - it's heartless.
It was acceptable to the oppressors but not to the oppressed. The same is true of the word "Redskin" - it doesn't matter whether white people find it offensive or not, it is and always has been a racial slur.
Slavery ended not because black people protested it, but because enough white people developed a conscience and saw it for what it was: racial oppression. The same goes for segregation. Minorities will never have enough power to change things on their own; they need allies in the majority, because the majority has the power.
Sports fans who want to keep their team name because of history: "It's the name of a team. Why don't those people just get over it?"
Minorities whose culture and heritage have been usurped by sports mascots: "Have you considered taking your own advice on that?"
On a related note, I saw a headline today (related to COVID-19) that said, "July 4th weekend will be a test of America's discipline."
In other words, we're screwed.
If the people who respond to "Black Lives Matter" by saying "All Lives Matter" really believed that all lives matter, then they'd be outraged by the police brutality against black people.
If your house is burning down, you call the fire department and ask for help. Imagine if they responded with "all houses matter."
And the torture of chalk dust collects on my tongue
Thoughts follow my vision and dance in the sun
All my vasoconstrictors they come slowly undone
Can't this wait 'til I'm old?
Can't I live while I'm young?
That waiver should also say that they'll forgo health-care services if they contract COVID-19. There's no reason to put more medical staff at risk because some people decided to ignore expert advice.