I think I just read her quote more cynically than you. Also, the really annoying part to me was her talking about her extraordinarily privileged upbringing like it is a bastion of enlightenment into which no bias can ever penetrate.

I always think of this excerpt about excuses from hipster racism from Lindy's piece:

Yes. People who think this woman "had a choice" do not understand the desperation of poverty.

Thank you. This woman is already viewed by the courts as a criminal because she's a poor Black mother. She's already unfit. We can't overlook that element here. She doesn't get the benefit of having her case evaluated individually because she doesn't get the benefit of being treated as an individual - she's…

You might need this :) http://jezebel.com/5905291/a-comp…

I like it!

I think that's fair. We're all limited by our experiences. I think I'm particularly annoyed by her phrasing more than her tone because I happened to live in an incredibly violent city in an area that people either tried to escape or accepted they would probably be murdered in. And people are really condescending…

The art world of downtown Manhattan is definitely privileged. I can tell by your tone that you're trying to be sarcastic, but I'll answer honestly: I have no idea if your daughter grew up with privilege. That's why I didn't comment on the way your daughter grew up.

I thought so too, but there's no way she's joking in describing her incredibly privileged upbringing, which makes me wonder about the entire quote:

Clearly, you don't know much about the all-knowing perspective of growing up in the art world of downtown Manhattan, peasant.

Well with more cynical audiences like me and more hopeful audiences like you, they're about breaking even on accurately getting their point across :)

Absolutely. If you're looking for a good litmus test for listening to people's political opinions, a great choice is listening first to the way they consider the past (any time in the past, really, but the post-WWII era especially). If your interpretation of the past is that it was golden, you probably have some ideas…

I think those studies show that rapists have a lower recidivism rape than other crimes, but not lower than other violent crimes. Just a Google and a glance at some of those stats, but I'm surprised property crimes have the highest recidivism rate. Apples and oranges, in my mind, which is why I compared rape to another…

How on earth is what I wrote making you feel attacked? Your race and gender are what they are. There's no attack there. I'm pretty sure you're white and I'm pretty sure you're male, from what you've written. That's not an attack. I suggest getting more familiar with the privileged perspective your race and gender have…

Totally. And I think it's almost worse that it's "unintentional". If they want to say, "It's more beautiful because it's a manifestation of white values", I'm going to slap them but at least they recognize their bias. When people say things like "for good reason" in this context or "traditional" it makes me worried…

Right?? ETA: It's one of those "it's tradition" statements...when tradition means (like it ALWAYS does) reinforcing the values of white beauty and bodies.

My understanding of the fact that people want to blame someone other than the one that pulled the trigger for this young man's death is marked my experience as a non-dominant individual who works predominantly with Black teens. I see a lot of sexist and racist underlying factors in the want to equate a young Black…

Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying. I agree with your interpretation of the DA's words and the ramifications of their truth (though I think there's only a privileged set that trusts cops in this country to start with, sadly), though I still think he should have been better about his word choice.

Then they should have said that. Because in a culture where women are routinely raped and it's treated as normal, and where cops are often treated as above the law, it's incredibly important that the law enforcement officials speaking to the public be specific about what the true crime is and what's just acceptable.…

I know what he meant; I want his phrasing to be more accurate. BE BETTER, DA.