Gotta be honest.....I think a good number of them are just attention whores, and/or people who wanna be seen doing a 'good thing'. I think some of them only care because it's convenient, and because it's something that's happening right now.
I also believe there's some of them who are legit compassionate about race issue in the U.S. and the various ways it affects us.....the ones who aren't protesting just for now, but will be in their 50s and 60s still protesting and discussing the issues.......but I gotta be real and say that I think that's only a small percentage of the overall. If I had to put a number to it, I'd say 20% MAXIMUM....and I know nikkas will think I'm being very generous with that number......
Nailed it. The key thing here is noting the difference between people who just want a pat on the back, and people who couldn't care less about attention and are focused on the issues. I'll expand more for anyone who wants to get deeper into the subject here.
People by nature are self-centered. If you can sit down with a white person who campaigns for changes in racial attitudes and that person can tell
you how racism personally affects
them then you know that he or she is for real. For a lot of white people, they don't recognize how systematic racism can make their lives more difficult, so they're not actually interested in doing things to change it and are willing to entertain ridiculous 'explanations' and actions that keep the status quo in place. It's simple enough to go on facebook and write "OMG u guys, what happened 2 michael brown was a misscarriage of justice for real. Man america needs to wake up!" and wait for the likes and shares to roll in. It's simple enough to write "no justice no peace!" on a cardboard sign and walk around on your day off(which might be every day if you're unemployed) in the hopes that you'll get on TV and have your picture spread over the internet.
Bogarting your cash and only donating it to
local politicians(not easily corruptible or lame duck federal politicians, shout out to B.O.) that are really about that life, funding media projects for the black community, spending it on community improvement projects however is a different story. Willing to say nothing and just go and drop off books at schools to help children learn to read and understand the system so that they can dismantle it, or creating a team of people to counsel stressed people and help them succeed in the work force--you know, things that will actually get shyt done is too hard. If you encounter someone who is willing to do all of these things and more(and yes, this includes black people), you know that something is actually being done.
The time for waiting is over. Protests and riots don't work. We live in a different
century now. Insanity is sometimes defined as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. People need to stop waiting for people to do stuff and actually go out and do things. Someone who is "down for the cause" is an active participant. They are using their FINANCIAL power to get things done through boycotts, donations, business projects, whatever. The time for begging for mercy from white superiors is over. We have the right tools, we should be using them to build something instead of asking someone else to show us how to use those tools or begging someone else to build for us.