Your last sentence is what gets me, and I keep seeing it. I don't think it's true, at all, that no one wants to do the work. I also don't believe that because people don't agree, it automatically means they are responding to a dog whistle. You and I are in a majority of ways aligned in our opinions. But what I keep seeing repeated, here, and elsewhere, is that essentially we are too busy arguing to feel compassion. I can see that lack of compassion coming from the fools in the streets, but not from those of us who are trying to reason with people.

And I think the idea of sticking to the facts, regardless of how anyone "feels" about them is more important than appearing compassionate. I have compassion. It breaks my heart to see the people who have, through no fault of their own, been caught in the middle of the madness and had their lives ruined. And it is for this very reason that I refuse to stop pointing out the facts. Allowing the rhetoric to continue is not going to educate anyone to the foolishness of equating one bad act to an entire system of racism. We don't even know that Derek Chauvin, himself, is a racist. We don't know what his motivations were. Now I know that some will be quick to say "oh, but there are other instances of cops killing blacks". Sure, and more white people are killed by cops than black people are, DESPITE that blacks unfortunately commit far more crimes. That is simply a statement of fact, and I know your opinions plenty well enough to know that you would agree with that. There is no such thing as systemic racism. There are pockets of racism, here and there, and frankly there is just as much black racism as there is white racism, THESE days.

I read something Rezburna said the other day, that was so frustrating to read that I wondered if there was any point in trying to address it. On the subject of "division", he asked when there was a time that we WEREN'T divided. Which totally misses the point. When people like MLK were fighting REAL racism and oppression, there was obviously a great divide. But after that movement, society started to change for the better, at least as far as "race" relations were concerned. But it was right about that time that the Democratic party started working to pulverize black families through systematic demoralization. Instead of letting the black families grow and thrive with their new found freedoms, they were offered free "stuff", minority quotas, and told that they couldn't make it on their own, because the system was still against them. They (still talking about the Democrats) promised to fix whatever it was that they claimed was broken but, for 50 years, have not lifted a finger.

And who do they blame? White people. Specifically, white conservatives. So why did Rezburna's question miss the mark, in my opinion? Because, more than 50 years after the civil rights movement, most white people today barely even know what the big issue was with racism, anyway. They've moved on. But because of the lies the black community has been fed for decades, a great many of them continue to blame white people for their problems TODAY, which have nothing to do with 50 plus years ago. So those who have bought into these lies don't trust white people, and white people, in turn, are often suspicious of black people, even though they have no hatred towards them. My point: We DON'T HAVE to have a divide. But when people blurt out this nonsense narrative the NFL players, BLM, celebrities and the media are pushing, it drives this divide.

I don't know how I, or anyone else, can "compassionately" fight lies that hurt this country, if what we're trying to do right now is anything otherwise. We can't wrap truth in heart covered paper. God said we are to love our neighbors. He even said we are to love our enemies. Love, however, doesn't mean coddling people and meeting them halfway in a lie. I'm all for peaceful resolution, and meaningful conversations. But if every conversation has the precondition that I must first accept the lies of my opponent and work my way toward a "solution" for said lies, then there is no reason to have that conversation. "Systemic" racism is not supported by real life statistics. The common enemy of the public, is the media. They suppress the truth. But a great many of us, contrary to what you said before, ARE able to inform themselves. But when is the "other side" going to make the same effort? That's the real question. I'm seeing a lot of black folks speaking out against this narrative. I'll fight for, and with them. These are people who want to make it, and HAVE made it in life, through their hard work; not waiting on reparations for things of the past that have nothing to do with most people alive today.

Until all people are ready to confront FACTS, and not just their feelings, no one can solve anyone's problems, in my opinion.