Hi Branden,
I just listened to your
Intermission episode from Season 4. A lot of what you said is what I
needed to hear right now. Racial discrimination has been an issue that
has bothered me for as long as I realized it existed. One thing you
mentioned was the fact that the individuals who don't want to believe in
White Privilege (I refuse to put that in quotes anymore, because it
insinuates it's not real) want to see those fighting wear themselves
out. This week has been difficult, because I have felt burnt out. I
hadn't engaged with the people who are in denial of White Privilege
until Monday of this week. The main reason why I want to do the episode
on Grievance is how I feel the lyric, especially the chorus, strikes a
nerve with the peaceful protesting of Colin Kaepernick. I have a
subscription to The Athletic and read a story titled, "Roger
Goodell and players have spoken. Now, an action plan for what comes
next." Normally, I don't engage on the discussion board, especially when
it comes to a polarizing topic like this. I always tell myself it's
not worth arguing or trying to reason with many individuals who want to
try to blow up the narrative of the story written. The most frequent
comment made was that they will cancel their subscription to the
Athletic (not sure if you are familiar with it, but it's revenue is
purely reliant on subscriptions and they do not place ads on their
platform), because they don't want political issues written about on a
sports website. A lot of slander was given to Colin Kaepernick about
how shitty of a QB he was/is and that he doesn't give a shit about the
NFL and is all about himself. The response I regret giving the most was
telling those opposing the existence of White Privilege that I didn't
care if they were on board or not. That's bull shit. I care a lot of
those who can't see this as an issue of humanity rather than about
disrespecting the flag (main reason I want to talk about Grievance) and
claiming the black community for not taking accountability. I responded
to dozens of comments and kept getting mentioned that I was making an
argument without any facts. It's pathetic to me that you need "facts"
to see White Privilege. I wasted more than half a day at work and most
of my evening on Monday going back-and-forth. That experience took a
lot out of me, but I now see the importance of calling out those,
especially white men, who cannot accept the movement of Black Lives
Matter.
When
we were near the end of taping our show on In Hiding, you asked me if I
wanted to plug something. I gave you a somewhat half-assed response,
but I wish I had been more blunt. My wife and I have financially
supported the ACLU and HRC for the past few years. After the death of
George Floyd, we began donating money to the Know Your Rights Camp,
founded by Colin Kaepernick. I strongly believe in these organizations
and hope by helping these groups, that they can enact the change
desperately needed. This will be a long and exhausting fight. The bill
Trump signed yesterday was the same bull shit as every other time.
We'll incentivize and re-train expecting that intangible action will
handle the problem of police brutality on black men. The budgets of
these departments need to decrease, so funding can be put back into the
communities that have no support of public programs to lift up and
develop the youth in those challenged areas, so they can succeed in this
fucked up world.
Looking forward to talking about Grievance. I'm sure I will have a lot to say for that episode.
I Pledge My Grievance to the Flag,
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