I say you need to be black to understand. To achieve through hard work and merit you need a level playing ground and that’s years away. In my short 60 year existence 42 years I have been serving our country, 27 years as a United States Marine and 15 as a defense contractor. I went all the way to uh em… God status attaining the rank of Master Gunnery Sergeant of Marines. For me the experience of being a U.S. Marine made me who I am today. I spent my entire adult life surrounded in a sea of honor and integrity, learning things no Father can teach a son unless he lived the Marine life. The cowards always say “I should have been a Marine.” I stay silent. From the time you pick up Sergeant you are promoted on performance period. Your record against your peers and you have a secret member selection board who cast secret ballots on if you make the cut. You nasty civilians always need a scapegoat and it is always us Black Americans. All racists and under achievers like Angela will just vomit words out of their respective sucks. A level playing field is all any man or woman asks for, hard work, unselfishness, intestinal fortitude, mental, moral, and physical courage will take care of the rest.
So, it was the fall of 1988. My first C-school, as a green-around-the-gills E2, was at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California.
One evening, after about 8 of us sailors were knee-deep studying for an advanced cryptology test, we decide to head over to a local bar on the base.
We're too new (and too dumb) to care that is was a Marine bar. In our minds, "hell, they're on our base. "Let's go check out what these Gyrenes's do on a Thursday night"
We enter, we see not just Marines, but Navy guys, too. "Cool," we say to ourselves. "All is well. We're supposed to gel, anyway. After all, these f*ckers catch a ride on OUR ships. We're on the same team!"
An hour later, one of the E3's has pounded down one too many Jack and Cokes. Our table starts seeing him pointing at the far wall. We see a picture, a memorial of sorts, that is about 20 feet tall, 10 feet wide. The E3 starts making fun of the man on the wall. I knew the guy had to be special for such a massive picture. But, it wasn't until about 20 Marines came over to us, staring us down, did I understand just how special this General was.
Your fellow Marines would have none of our excuses for any Navy guy, young dumb or not, making fun of their brethren God: Chesty Puller (white guy)
The E3, a black man, was still shouting absurdities at the wall. We initially felt the desire to defend him. Then, looking around, we saw the Marine swarm get bigger. Finally, the senior Navy guy in the entire bar, a Chief, basically yelled off the top of his head, "All Navy assholes, get the F*ck out of this bar ASAP! Or, I'll have your heads!"
That Chief was also a black man.
Yet, here's the thing:
We, then, didn't see through color filters. We were ALL men of honor, supporting our country, no matter how drunk some of us were, we understood how to 'stand down' when an extraordinary Legend, like Puller, was about to be made fun of or disrespected.
In the words of Morgan Freeman, "I am going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."
The whole point of my post above, where I debrief my readers on my encounter with the lovely young black lady, is that constantly focusing on racial differences and categorizations may perpetuate rather than reduce racism.
And, to be super frank, I don't need to be a person of color to 'be in your shoes' and/or understand human nature at its core.
We are highly-suggestible beings; easily brainwashed, programmed and led down some very nauseously-irrelevant paths. The young college girl's assertion that somehow, someway, Kamala Harris, as POTUS, would protect / defend her rights as a black women are not only nauseous, but they are absurd.
I have many black friends. And maybe one, yeah just one, actually cares to feel entitled or feel like he should be of a 'protected class.' In 2024, I think we can all agree that seeing past color filters and straight to the heard of the matter -- protecting our rights as humans against tyranny, in foreign lands and on American soil -- is the valuable focus to have.
REMEMBER: Anti-Whiteism is a real, also an absurd, mind-virus
I am all about fighting against racism and other disgusting forms of prejudices, but I will also take a stand that in this country, in 2024, we DO NOT still need to keep believing that Equality has to be viewed through the lens of color. It doesn't. It's done, now!
Barry I appreciate you taking the time to soak in my reply before your response. First off much respect for your Naval Service, we speak the same language. Second your MOS, cryptologist is a very low density, highly skilled community. As men from the United Stated Naval Service we share a lot of history and traditions. In the Military we have several published orders and directives from the CNO and CMC that ensure good order and discipline. I have been on several amphibious ships that contain brigs way down in the belly of the ship were it’s inhabitants are served just bread and water, damn… We have NJP, we have Courts Martial’s and we have much larger Brigs on Marine Corps Bases. So these things instill good order and discipline. We are close to the same age and most of us, as we get older we get the privilege to enjoy little and big enlightening moments we grow wiser and a we can get irritated fast, real fast but Barry you hear the conversations where the “N” word is used, you’ve probably participated in a few, regardless of what you believe, if you stay silent you are complicit. I’ve been in some organizations where I was the only black Marine. We get a call late at night we are meeting at the airfield at zero dark thirty. We are all staged and waiting to board our aircraft and one of my fellow Marines asked the question where are we going after we land. The Platoon Sergeant replied “Just a place with a bunch of “Niggers” with aids”. I would racists terms thrown around all the time in the all white platoon “mud shark” “moulie” all kinds of shit. They said it around me but they would never say it around our officers. I had a Master Sergeant one time who was the biggest ass I knew and he had his crew. I can smell a racist a mile away and I figured correctly. It’s the junior White Marines who tell you these things. I have been done dirty a few times by just a tiny few who have slipped through the cracks. I once had an XO who had a picture of Nathan Bedford Forest on his wall. It was truly offensive to me and I had enough rank to tell him to take it down and he did. At times it is very difficult on Blacks even in the civilian ranks. I was a project lead on a program back when I first transitioned. I had to review an expense report that was submitted by an employee who just returned from overseas and was imbedded with a unit. He tried to claim full per diem when he didn’t rate it. It came to like $12,000 over what he rated. I called up the employee and asked him how long has he been on the job and he replied he has been doing it for over “4 years.” Then I told him that what he was doing was fraud, he replied “I am just doing what I am told.” I think took it to my manager who simply said “have him resubmit it.” I couldn’t believe it. So when the time came I was using my company issued work phone for texting (which I had no idea there was a fee) my same manager wanted to fire me over 100 bucks🤦🏾♂️ of course I wasn’t because the Program Director squashed it. I could go on and on. So Barry I hope you have been enlightened because what I just told you isn’t from the 50’s or the 60’s. Like I said until our generation dies off Black Americans will always need tools in place to level the playing field.
I say you need to be black to understand. To achieve through hard work and merit you need a level playing ground and that’s years away. In my short 60 year existence 42 years I have been serving our country, 27 years as a United States Marine and 15 as a defense contractor. I went all the way to uh em… God status attaining the rank of Master Gunnery Sergeant of Marines. For me the experience of being a U.S. Marine made me who I am today. I spent my entire adult life surrounded in a sea of honor and integrity, learning things no Father can teach a son unless he lived the Marine life. The cowards always say “I should have been a Marine.” I stay silent. From the time you pick up Sergeant you are promoted on performance period. Your record against your peers and you have a secret member selection board who cast secret ballots on if you make the cut. You nasty civilians always need a scapegoat and it is always us Black Americans. All racists and under achievers like Angela will just vomit words out of their respective sucks. A level playing field is all any man or woman asks for, hard work, unselfishness, intestinal fortitude, mental, moral, and physical courage will take care of the rest.
Quick story for you, Lawrence.
So, it was the fall of 1988. My first C-school, as a green-around-the-gills E2, was at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California.
One evening, after about 8 of us sailors were knee-deep studying for an advanced cryptology test, we decide to head over to a local bar on the base.
We're too new (and too dumb) to care that is was a Marine bar. In our minds, "hell, they're on our base. "Let's go check out what these Gyrenes's do on a Thursday night"
We enter, we see not just Marines, but Navy guys, too. "Cool," we say to ourselves. "All is well. We're supposed to gel, anyway. After all, these f*ckers catch a ride on OUR ships. We're on the same team!"
An hour later, one of the E3's has pounded down one too many Jack and Cokes. Our table starts seeing him pointing at the far wall. We see a picture, a memorial of sorts, that is about 20 feet tall, 10 feet wide. The E3 starts making fun of the man on the wall. I knew the guy had to be special for such a massive picture. But, it wasn't until about 20 Marines came over to us, staring us down, did I understand just how special this General was.
Your fellow Marines would have none of our excuses for any Navy guy, young dumb or not, making fun of their brethren God: Chesty Puller (white guy)
The E3, a black man, was still shouting absurdities at the wall. We initially felt the desire to defend him. Then, looking around, we saw the Marine swarm get bigger. Finally, the senior Navy guy in the entire bar, a Chief, basically yelled off the top of his head, "All Navy assholes, get the F*ck out of this bar ASAP! Or, I'll have your heads!"
That Chief was also a black man.
Yet, here's the thing:
We, then, didn't see through color filters. We were ALL men of honor, supporting our country, no matter how drunk some of us were, we understood how to 'stand down' when an extraordinary Legend, like Puller, was about to be made fun of or disrespected.
In the words of Morgan Freeman, "I am going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."
The whole point of my post above, where I debrief my readers on my encounter with the lovely young black lady, is that constantly focusing on racial differences and categorizations may perpetuate rather than reduce racism.
And, to be super frank, I don't need to be a person of color to 'be in your shoes' and/or understand human nature at its core.
We are highly-suggestible beings; easily brainwashed, programmed and led down some very nauseously-irrelevant paths. The young college girl's assertion that somehow, someway, Kamala Harris, as POTUS, would protect / defend her rights as a black women are not only nauseous, but they are absurd.
I have many black friends. And maybe one, yeah just one, actually cares to feel entitled or feel like he should be of a 'protected class.' In 2024, I think we can all agree that seeing past color filters and straight to the heard of the matter -- protecting our rights as humans against tyranny, in foreign lands and on American soil -- is the valuable focus to have.
REMEMBER: Anti-Whiteism is a real, also an absurd, mind-virus
https://bearsbulletins.substack.com/p/anti-whiteism
I am all about fighting against racism and other disgusting forms of prejudices, but I will also take a stand that in this country, in 2024, we DO NOT still need to keep believing that Equality has to be viewed through the lens of color. It doesn't. It's done, now!
Semper Fi and God Speed!
Barry I appreciate you taking the time to soak in my reply before your response. First off much respect for your Naval Service, we speak the same language. Second your MOS, cryptologist is a very low density, highly skilled community. As men from the United Stated Naval Service we share a lot of history and traditions. In the Military we have several published orders and directives from the CNO and CMC that ensure good order and discipline. I have been on several amphibious ships that contain brigs way down in the belly of the ship were it’s inhabitants are served just bread and water, damn… We have NJP, we have Courts Martial’s and we have much larger Brigs on Marine Corps Bases. So these things instill good order and discipline. We are close to the same age and most of us, as we get older we get the privilege to enjoy little and big enlightening moments we grow wiser and a we can get irritated fast, real fast but Barry you hear the conversations where the “N” word is used, you’ve probably participated in a few, regardless of what you believe, if you stay silent you are complicit. I’ve been in some organizations where I was the only black Marine. We get a call late at night we are meeting at the airfield at zero dark thirty. We are all staged and waiting to board our aircraft and one of my fellow Marines asked the question where are we going after we land. The Platoon Sergeant replied “Just a place with a bunch of “Niggers” with aids”. I would racists terms thrown around all the time in the all white platoon “mud shark” “moulie” all kinds of shit. They said it around me but they would never say it around our officers. I had a Master Sergeant one time who was the biggest ass I knew and he had his crew. I can smell a racist a mile away and I figured correctly. It’s the junior White Marines who tell you these things. I have been done dirty a few times by just a tiny few who have slipped through the cracks. I once had an XO who had a picture of Nathan Bedford Forest on his wall. It was truly offensive to me and I had enough rank to tell him to take it down and he did. At times it is very difficult on Blacks even in the civilian ranks. I was a project lead on a program back when I first transitioned. I had to review an expense report that was submitted by an employee who just returned from overseas and was imbedded with a unit. He tried to claim full per diem when he didn’t rate it. It came to like $12,000 over what he rated. I called up the employee and asked him how long has he been on the job and he replied he has been doing it for over “4 years.” Then I told him that what he was doing was fraud, he replied “I am just doing what I am told.” I think took it to my manager who simply said “have him resubmit it.” I couldn’t believe it. So when the time came I was using my company issued work phone for texting (which I had no idea there was a fee) my same manager wanted to fire me over 100 bucks🤦🏾♂️ of course I wasn’t because the Program Director squashed it. I could go on and on. So Barry I hope you have been enlightened because what I just told you isn’t from the 50’s or the 60’s. Like I said until our generation dies off Black Americans will always need tools in place to level the playing field.
She's already likely getting lowered admissions requirements and scholarships based on skin color and not merit, and she's still complaining. Eyeroll.