Current Events > Joe Biden says white people 'can never fully understand' racism

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http://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-white-people-can-never-fully-understand-racism-black-church2019-9

Former Vice President and 2020 candidate Joe Biden visited a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday and told the congregation that white people "can never fully understand" institutional racism in the United States.

He had been visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church to mark the 56th anniversary of a Ku Klux Klan bombing there, which killed four black girls.

In his 20-minute speech, Biden made reference to recent attacks by white supremacists in the US, saying: "The domestic terrorism of white supremacy has been the antagonist of our highest ideals since before the founding of this country. Lynch mobs, arsonists, bomb makers, lone gunman."

"And as we all now realize, this violence does not live in the past," he said. "Those of us who are white try, but we can never fully, fully, understand no matter how hard we try."

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In a lot of ways he is correct in that assertion. Systemic racism has existed for as long as the US has been a country and a lot of those laws and mechanisms are so deeply entrenched they will never be fully removed.
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Not especially a fan of Biden, but he's certainly right on this one.
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Pandering old white elitist fool

To wit: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/joe-biden-debate-answer.amp
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He's not wrong.
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When you're right you're right. Not that I trust him to do much about the problem.
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No shit.

I also don't really understand the pain of child birth because I don't have any of the required bits.

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Broken clock
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We're able to understand the world and universe to the point where we can manipulate substances down to the nano level, create phone calls and have conversations with anyone anywhere on this Earth, send man made vehicles across space and transmit info back to us, yet for some reason, a certain demographic can't possibly understand the fee fees of other demographics.

Smells like bullshit to me.
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Is he telling me I can't do something because of the color of my skin?
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I actually disagree

It's entirely possible to understand if you're empathetic and make an effort to discuss the issue with people that have first hand experience with it. And by that I mean you actually have to let them tell their story, and listen to what they're saying instead of going in with your preconceived notions about it

But Biden is a racist old fart himself, so it's clear that he doesn't get it
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saying a race is too stupid to understand something is racism
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MarqueeSeries posted...

I actually disagree

It's entirely possible to understand if you're empathetic and make an effort to discuss the issue with people that have first hand experience with it. And by that I mean you actually have to let them tell their story, and listen to what they're saying instead of going in with your preconceived notions about it

But Biden is a racist old fart himself, so it's clear that he doesn't get it

understanding and fully understanding via experience are way different things
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UnfairRepresent posted...

saying a race is too stupid to understand something is racism

I hate to defend Biden, but he's just saying that you can never fully understand that which you don't experience. What does a white American know of institutional racism?
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cavalierking posted...

MarqueeSeries posted...

I actually disagree

It's entirely possible to understand if you're empathetic and make an effort to discuss the issue with people that have first hand experience with it. And by that I mean you actually have to let them tell their story, and listen to what they're saying instead of going in with your preconceived notions about it

But Biden is a racist old fart himself, so it's clear that he doesn't get it

understanding and fully understanding via experience are way different things

so someone who has a kidney infection has a better understanding of kidneys and infections than medical professionals who spent 3 decades studying them?

Bullshit

Did you know that there isn't even a definition of what race truly is?
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Did you know that there isn't even a definition of what race truly is?

Did you know racism exists because people forget this?
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Well hes right I'm surprised hes bold enough to say it though
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hockeybub89 posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

Did you know that there isn't even a definition of what race truly is?

Did you know racism exists because people forget this?

Exactly and those cretins should be challenged just like Biden's racism should be challenged

Racism is wrong
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UnfairRepresent posted...

cavalierking posted...

MarqueeSeries posted...

I actually disagree

It's entirely possible to understand if you're empathetic and make an effort to discuss the issue with people that have first hand experience with it. And by that I mean you actually have to let them tell their story, and listen to what they're saying instead of going in with your preconceived notions about it

But Biden is a racist old fart himself, so it's clear that he doesn't get it

understanding and fully understanding via experience are way different things

so someone who has a kidney infection has a better understanding of kidneys and infections than medical professionals who spent 3 decades studying them?

Bullshit

Something along these lines

Humans are surprisingly good at understanding things on a conceptual level, seeing as we can learn and understand things that are both too small to see, and too far away to touch

What I will say though, is that someone who doesn't get involved personally in a community will never truly understand what that community goes through. Empathy requires personal connection, after all
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Is this a stealth white people are the REAL victims of racism thread? Because thats the level of bullshit Ive come to expect here.

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cavalierking posted...

understanding and fully understanding via experience are way different things

Remember the purpose of having others understand your plight. You want to garner sympathy so you can gain their support.

These statements contribute to the notion that minority races are exclusive and people outside of that are not one of them and can't relate even though they all live in the same society. And if they can't relate, they will care less and less and the minority groups trying to move ahead won't make any progress.

Success, regardless of most contexts, is dependent on inclusivity, not exclusivity. There's strength in numbers as they say. So treat them as your own and as your equals. Treating the "others" as 2nd class citizens is detrimental to your cause and will backstab if they're the very ones you're also trying to appeal to.
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UnfairRepresent posted...

so someone who has a kidney infection has a better understanding of kidneys and infections than medical professionals who spent 3 decades studying them?

those are two different perspectives, and the patient definitely has a different one than the doctor

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Balrog0 posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

so someone who has a kidney infection has a better understanding of kidneys and infections than medical professionals who spent 3 decades studying them?

those are two different perspectives, and the patient definitely has a different one than the doctor

The world is flat and the world is spherical are different perspectives

one is ignorant and one is sensible

and neither are based on race
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You're confusing an opinion with a perspective. If a patient with a kidney infection said, "it feels like an animal is clawing out my insides" it would be silly to pretend the doctor understands what that feels like from reading a medical textbook, and even sillier to respond by saying something like "That is an ignorant perspective, that is actually your body's own mechanism of responding to an infection, there are no animals involved"

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hockeybub89 posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

Did you know that there isn't even a definition of what race truly is?

Did you know racism exists because people forget this?

wrong, because "racism" isn't actually about race. it's about how people look.

Fam_Fam posted...

wrong, because "racism" isn't actually about race. it's about how people look.

Yup. There was a story a few years ago about a Native American man getting beat up in Oklahoma because they thought he looked Mexican.
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Fam_Fam posted...

hockeybub89 posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

Did you know that there isn't even a definition of what race truly is?

Did you know racism exists because people forget this?

wrong, because "racism" isn't actually about race. it's about how people look.

That's pretty much literally the colloquial definition of race.

Race doesn't actually mean anything

"white people are too stupid to understand " is also about how people look and is racist
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Take a trip to the Philippines if you're white and want to understand people being racist towards you.

CyricZ posted...

Not especially a fan of Biden, but he's certainly right on this one.

yeah.

Like, can a man fully understand childbirth pains? Can a woman fully understand the pain of a swift kick to the nuts?

You can have a concept of it, but you don't fully get it because you can't experience it.

He is obviously talking about systematic racism, btw

McMarbles posted...

Is this a stealth white people are the REAL victims of racism thread? Because thats the level of bullshit Ive come to expect here.

yes it is

So why is Biden running for potus and not a non-white candidate?

Joe Biden would know a thing or two about white racism, given his participation in the matter.
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HasaDiga posted...

Take a trip to the Philippines if you're white and want to understand people being racist towards you.

Not even just to the Philippines. Try (especially) anywhere in Asia, or even just anywhere that isn't a westernized or majority white country.

I get racism. Can I understand what it's like to be black or hispanic in America? Fuck no.
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What a shock to discover that UR is being contrarian in a pretty uncontroversial topic
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biden has no clue what he's talking about. i think more and more that biden is a neanderthal. many white people in america at this point in time are biracial. they can understand racism. also, not all white people are descended from the anglos who started and kept alive institutions like slavery. they literally have nothing to do with it.

Henry Ford can never fully understand a car.
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CyricZ posted...

Not especially a fan of Biden, but he's certainly right on this one.

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"White people can never fully understand racism" is definitely a better take than "white people don't know what its like to be poor" or "poor kids are just as bright as white kids".
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Based CE full of crap as always

look at all the people here intentionally misinterpreting this simple statement just so they can pretend to be offended and claim that white people are the real victims of racism
ce never changes

Joe Biden is white, so I don't know what that says about him.

I disagree. I believe this is the case more often than not, but not always.
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Balrog0 posted...

If a patient with a kidney infection said, "it feels like an animal is clawing out my insides" it would be silly to pretend the doctor understands what that feels like from reading a medical textbook, and even sillier to respond by saying something like "That is an ignorant perspective, that is actually your body's own mechanism of responding to an infection, there are no animals involved"

lmao if UR was a doctor, that's exactly what he would say.
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FrozenXylophone posted...

So why is Biden running for potus and not a non-white candidate?

@FrozenXylophone

Last time I checked kamala, booker and yang were running.

Or did you forget? ;)

Like dat south park episode, where stan just doesn't get it, until da ends where he gets it because he just he doesn't get it
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Ivynn posted...

Balrog0 posted...

If a patient with a kidney infection said, "it feels like an animal is clawing out my insides" it would be silly to pretend the doctor understands what that feels like from reading a medical textbook, and even sillier to respond by saying something like "That is an ignorant perspective, that is actually your body's own mechanism of responding to an infection, there are no animals involved"

lmao if UR was a doctor, that's exactly what he would say.

Someone went all out on him one day a few months ago and one line stuck with me.

"When you're dead and buried, your tombstone will say 'I'm not really dead'".
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