The Decline of America: "Is whiteness the Problem?"

[@karenl7786]

As always Prof Hunter, you are asking the questions and bringing the conversations that we need to have no matter how uncomfortable or difficult. Loving the deep dive.

[@dawnharris6162]

Absolutely!

[@roygreen9834]

You don’t start out wrong and end up right. Native Genocide, Slavery, Jim Crow, Conservatism and The Southern Strategy. Tell me how you make this right!!

[@justmyopinion9883]

Roy Green, I have often thought the same thing. You hit the nail on the head.

[@matthewalvarez2741]

Trump 2024 that's how

[@Bambi7ish]

@@matthewalvarez2741 Poster Boy for White Supremacy.

[@matthewalvarez2741]

@@Bambi7ish so supporting god, family, and country qualifies me as a white supremacists. Go figure why people like you on the left always say it

[@rodneybrye3310]

True it’s going to be difficult

[@romaineknox-chapman3323]

This is interesting…our society cannot stay the way it was for decades and centuries. This country was never great, especially for people of color or women. Everyone is realizing the big lie and the bill of goods they were sold. As mentioned, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Great stuff! Thanks for your enlightenment. I love your show Ms. Karen Hunter!🥰🥰

[@darylsmith8574]

The absolute truth sit next to Greatness, only before

[@dawnharris6162]

Well said!

[@miltonthegreat6520]

Thank you Ms. Hunter, I'm glad for your voice.

[@Theinfamouskiki411]

College educated and good in every hood! LMAO! thats most of us on here. I love the guest but I don't share his hope. I see america sliding into the same madness as such as germany or italy during WWII. Fascist populace then implosion.

[@user-zu9yp4xx8g]

Hopefully it comes fast then America will be normal again

[@chiskeys9285]

As Martin Luther King said, no lie can live forever!!!!

[@karencoffey-carlton2058]

This was a great conversation and reiterates what Dr. Carr has been saying.

[@morriswilburn9858]

The health of our society has been declining for several decades. No father in the home, parents not parenting, declining levels of education, substance abuse, violent crime, ethnic conflict, decline in morals, low character, selfishness, narcissism, hedonism, laziness, disrespect of authority, and so on. These conditions are aggravated by irresponsible political leaders, mass media and social media that fan the flames of every type of conflict and portray criminal lifestyles as normal or even attractive.

[@jroldskool67]

very interesting conversation. Thanks Professor Hunter.

[@phyllisfoster6589]

What a powerful conversation. This platform throughly nourishes our intellects and thirst for cultural truth. Thank you Professor Hunter.

[@carolnewman8590]

Thank you Karen!!!🌹America will reap what it has sewn, Eventually.

[@berniecohens6409]

I've been missing this platform for the last few months 😪 I am so glad l found you again b1

[@KarenHunterShow]

Welcome back!

[@azmadu]

Its always refreshing to listen to European Americans, USAians if you will, who've been on their own journey of decolonising themselves through deep study, research, and understanding of how the world has been shapped by the actions of yesterday which resonate still today. As he accurately stated the education of children truthfully is the only way that that settler colony can ever hope to realise the dreams of Dr King, otherwise it will be an Octavia Buttler dystopian future. Bravo for this interview 👏🏾

[@dawnharris6162]

Agreed 💯!

[@hopefortheholla]

I absolutely agree with you Prof. we have to continue to press into creating spaces for AFAM community and meaning making.

[@wrealunderstandingpodcast6285]

Excellent conversation

[@robertwalker8453]

I agree with you about Obama, Karen. There was so much white angst and fear when Obama was elected; yet when you really look at it, Obama was a middle class white male with “black” skin. He was raised by a white mother and white WWII era grandparents from Kansas. He had only met his father twice in his life. He did not even fully identify as black until late in his undergraduate years. I think he on some level realized that had he pursued identifying as “white” as he been raised he would always have to “roller skate” up hill in a way that he didn’t have to by embracing his blackness. Back in the day there was little If any concept of being biracial; it was all binary-your white or black and society did the choosing. No matter what he would say or do he would always be seen as not white. Accepting that social truth about being black in America actually let him focus his energy on being more strategic. He chose to align with the black community and married a beautiful, strong black woman. The reason why he was always able to outmaneuver most whites is because formatively and essentially given his upbringing he was white and beat them at their own game. Most whites failed to see him as he really was-a white male with black skin and they lost their shit which ultimately shows how superficial and illogical racism is. To go one step further in a lot ways the path he choose fooled a lot of black people because the upbringing and inculcation that he had was patently white middle American. In the end it shows how our society is so easily triggered.

[@cafemochavibe]

Obama is not a white man in black skin. Obama is a black man who grew up in America. He is a black man who had a different path in learning who he was in the community. Yes, he was raised by a white parent and grandparents. He may have bought into some of the myth, but most Americans bought into it to a certain level at some point, including some with two black parents. That mentality is being broken now. As far as him being biracial, most kids will be “biracial” very soon. So, do we call all of them a white person in black or brown skin, or will we understand that being black is not a one way thing? White America needs to evolve, but we as the black community will have to evolve our view of what is black. When we jump into the “he/she isn’t black enough”, then we’re doing what white nationalists’ desire. It drives a wedge amongst us. It is good to look at each person’s motives for why they behave and believe as they do, but must be careful that we don’t drive that wedge. We are not a monolith.

[@sheritamitchell1036]

Professor Hunter, you NEVER fail to educate, improve my understanding, enlighten...thank you! Paying attention...👀

[@DarryleCanyon]

Sorry in advance for the language but DAMN this was a great discussion! Just brought Prof. Esty's book and can't wait to read it. Thank you Prof. Hunter for always helping me better understand the world I live in.

[@justmyopinion9883]

This was a magnificent conversation. Loved it. Thank you for sharing.

[@lillianvazquez6672]

Gracias sis...I made it for lunch. Always so empowering and takes me thru the week with more knowledge of moving forward ✨️ 🙏 🙌

[@KarenHunterShow]

Wonderful!

[@matthewalvarez2741]

Smh how is this empowering

[@ervin1jp]

Obviously a well intended person, but the fact remains: The question "What does whiteness mean for YOU?" sends them in a thousand different directions, never to return. The object of the question will be shifted to society, the country, other people.... That's because - I believe - that it's engrained in their psyches from childhood that whiteness is in fact "suppose to mean" supremacy, superiority, and exceptionalism, but they're scared as hell to say it. That's why I always say that to take away their whiteness (refuse to refer to them as white) is a direct attack on their sense of superiority. There can be no sense of supremacy without whiteness. The two are inseparable in their minds - and some of ours too.

[@bigred0079]

Anglo's the world over didn't conquer the world through political nor intellectual strategies, but through the barrel of a gun. And as long as they out-gun you there privilege is safe.

[@Bambi7ish]

That's why they'll die before they give up their 2nd Amendment rights. They use that gun for their strength, otherwise they're not strong to dominate. They will never allow there to be an equal playing field. They'll lie and kill to maintain being on top.

[@ms.harris807]

White people floss what they're holding. Black people don't. White people can believe that if they want too but reality will remind them that the last time they thought that they lost. The Black slaves fighting in the Union Army brought home the bacon. Without them we would still be enslaved. You really don't want to fight people who's backs are against the wall and white people know that Black people can and will fight. How many white people really believe that they won't die? Most of the military is Black and brown. Never forget the Haitian Revolution. There are people in the melanated community that will kill their babies and go home and sleep like one. Quiet people are very dangerous people.

[@SugaShan]

The answer to that question is ALWAYS YES

[@JUBA616]

We've been told we're indispensable. As more people in the US realize they aren't and will face the same fate as people oppressed by the US abroad and as people who look like us here the more this nation will unravel.

[@Bambi7ish]

Pride goeth before destruction.

[@phyllisthompson4207]

You got it!!

[@ljhudson11]

It don't seem like he answered the question, when asked what does it mean to him personally. That's crazy it seemed very hard for him.

[@6time686]

He didn't answer it and Professor Hunter asked him twice. Even she caught his deflection...

[@k.e.5886]

The last shall be first and the first shall be last… you can’t hold onto something that wasn’t yours in the first place oop just a Word this Sunday morning

[@bechet12]

The whole world is in decline. Depending on where a group is within the sphere of power determines the strength of the reaction!

[@noblelee4765]

It ALWAYS HAS BEEN...

[@theresahumphrey7371]

The problem is unbridled Capitalism

[@jetunb]

omg i have so much else to say: on the one hand he says the error is in investing in the american myth of exceptionalism and at the same time he frames the solution within the same american myth. HE JUST DROVE IT INTO THE DITCH as dr carr would say

[@kristisundberg5052]

Well, I think Dr. Carr has influenced my thinking so much regarding this notion of what a 'nation' is vs. a settler colony. Sometimes I think we(and I know the word 'we' is a question in itself) limit ourselves the idea of a collective/community being framed by physical borders. If the fascists are forming international movements, then we should also be able to find camraderie and support outside our physical borders towards the betterment of humanity. I can see how there is already an existing nation in the African diaspora and beyond. It would be quite beautiful if us melanemic folks could collaborate in creating a better future for all human beings; but we'd need to humble ourselves first, and I fear that our faulty assumption of greatness has left us so far behind, spiritually, creatively, and pragmatically that we'd try to control or screw up what we can't understand. It's hard for us to conceive of who we might have become, if we hadn't taken that wrong turn in Europe so long ago, as Dr. Carr might put it. Fortunately, in the meantime, there's always good stuff I can do in the here and now to reduce suffering.

[@violeteva3927]

This conversation is missing Jared Yates Sexton the author of “American Rule” I would LOVE to see that conversation with Professor Hunter and him about what’s happening now

[@Marcus410]

"If it's a lie. Then, we fight on that lie." - Slim Charles to Avon Barksdale. "The Wire"

[@jr2no160]

It's about time the general public become aware of what many of Us, who engaged the learning, been known. From European pseudo scientist and philosophers/philoso-liars were selling since before Darwin. 🤨 Glad to finally see the subject matter being discussed.

[@thelmajohnson8733]

I've been saying it for years.

[@toryjei9435]

Dude struggled with some of these questions about whiteness...in literal terms. He should've been here to model denouncing whiteness.

[@myimperfectdiary890]

Yes yes yes

[@russellsmith6417]

Prof. Hunter, there is an interesting book-- no longer in print-- called "Blood in the Streets" (authors Davidson and Rees-Mogg) that I red a few decades back but talks alot about how power in the last 500 years or so has depended on the use of technology (usually weapons technology). Once a culture gets "fat" they stop investing in production and start going towards luxury. It's been my "bible" ow world view (er... the social structure world view) since.

[@kennywhateva6279]

I totally agree.. 🎯 whiteness is not holding up

[@Lance_Thorpe_Esq.]

Hello. I appreciate your passion and input into this conversation. I would be interested in speaking with you, offline or online but specifically about your understanding of christianity's role in the mythos of "whiteness", "ameriKKKa", "Blackness", etc

[@sunw80]

Just so you know that the KKK was founded by the Democratic Party. So yes, let's have that conversation.

[@janwig9347]

yes

[@clarissajones5636]

Great interview and fantastic sirct questions, Karen! 'What does it mean to you to be white?' Guest answers not as direct but he tried, his best? What is this "white -moral- panic"? Sounds like an oxymoron.

[@robinhawkins3801]

I have arrived finally at the conclusion discussed. America is not great at all. Built by free labor of slavery, America is not great. I almost typed 'we'... I'm not sad about this at all. I feel like for the first time in 64 years, I'm not conflicted or torn. It is what it is. Great conversation. Ready to figure out my Christianity and citizenship!

[@preelenede]

❤️🖤💚

[@aquaticlife9251]

Lol. You have to ask? It's baked in. Racism IS their culture. Notice every other culture has a problem with them. They don't want to self analize because that would mean coming to terms with what they are and what they've done, changing their" better than everyone" image they gave themselves. They don't want to acknowledge what their race has done to the world. And to this point, is it me or does it look like they don't care to or care what they have done to the world? They ignore what they have done and continue to due and expect everyone they affected to be forgiving and ok with it. No apologies to nations and countries. No reconciliation with the wronged. No responsibility for the atrocities. No reparaions for damage that was caused. And certainly no empathy for the hundreds of years of chaos and pain they caused to so many. "Yeah it happened. Maybe. But what can you do? Am I right?" They never acknowledge the horrors they inflicted on cultures and never helped find closure for the those cultures. And their answer to anything is that violence isn't the answer when that's literally what they have done to the planet. "Before you start to uprise, here's a book we want you to read about peace. We don't actually follow it's teachings but we need you to turn that other cheek for us." They want it all. Take what is yours and destroy what you know with no ramifications. They must acknowledge what wrongs they have done with the attempts to whole heartedly make things right. That is how it wotks. That is how it alway has worked. White people can't heal and/or stop repeating these same tendencies without it. People of color ( everyone that isn't white in this world) will never heal as a people if these actions never occurr. Never. You can't slap your significant other for no reason and just go on with your relationship like everything is fine. Expect an equal and opposite reaction. White folks have somehow avoided this part of the exchange. For now.

[@aquaticlife9251]

SLAP!!! ....soooo what do you want to eat for dinner tonight, Hun?

[@cullenami]

I'm guessing you have no idea how racist you are.

[@SuperKenndog]

The title is pretty simple to answer. Next question

[@ghoultek3994]

The professor slipped up right at the end in his last comment about having the Tucker Carlsons in the "minority" where we want them. There we go again with the minority/majority speak... the superior/inferior speak... the hierarchy crept right into his thought process without him even noticing it. The professor's statement implies that the minority class can be ignored, disregarded, is powerless, lacks relevance, and is therefore subjected to the will of the majority. This way of thinking is how the extreme right wing camp can organize and plan a resurgence in the fringes/shadows. Technically there are no fringes/shadows its just a self inflicted blind spot of the so-called majority. As long as there is no equality, equity, repair (reparations... made whole), acknowledgement, and accountability there can be no real forward movement. It will always be a two steps forward one step back scenario where nothing is achieved.

[@matthewalvarez2741]

Reperations for what ?

[@ghoultek3994]

@@matthewalvarez2741 repair for the damage done and that continues to happen

[@matthewalvarez2741]

@@ghoultek3994 so the damage done in the 1800s makes you a victim. You want people that where not involved to pay people who weren't involved. Hand outs from the government of course lmao

[@ghoultek3994]

@@matthewalvarez2741 you didn't read my reply in full, but don't sweat it... I see you've been trolling so enjoy your laughs I'm out

[@matthewalvarez2741]

The truth isn't trolling but alright

[@sylvialong9200]

Just look who’s here

[@KarenHunterShow]

what does that mean?

[@Ohioboiquan]

What’s the guys book called? I wanna buy it

[@KarenHunterShow]

it's in the title of the video...

[@Oshun_KC]

The 1st 11 words pretry much sums up the entire reason why humanity might not survive. You bring up any destructive issue in this world, I can connect it back to whiteness. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@cullenami]

This is an extremely racist statement and I'm not surprised the person who runs this channel liked it.

[@markreynolds8938]

The national mission? Wtf are people talking about?most Americans just want people to do wtf they want to do as long as they leave them alone. Get over it and live your life it's not that long

[@horacepearson9423]

The Biblical world history are found in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Starting with Babylon and King Nebuchanezzar's reign and you follow the statue in his dream, you will find that USA and UK are in the feet (iron and clay) of this world history..read history book 📖

[@tyronewill8632]

Also America in particular is under the judgment of the most High

[@dpeon242]

Are you a JW? If so I would advise you to do some research on the religion itself The UK is in the top 10 but is no longer a world superpower next to America.

[@sergioperezio5523]

On minute 3:55. It is possible to stay on top of they adopt a Nazi or American westward expansion model. Their control of weapons and technological industries gives them an advantage. Ask any soldier that has fought in a war where his side had no air power no monetary resource with the freedom to conduct transactions publicly, no ability to send their wounded to hospitals as free persons.

[@jjw56]

Ummm …. Could be

[@nicolaogunlari5311]

Ms. Hunteri hate to say it, but our Americans culture is dying, and unfortunately it's due to looking so much as black and white. Other countries are now playing us, and unfortunately we can't see it.

[@akaziaj]

Interesting. Drew, so you're not good looking enough, you gotta go and add an angelichalo glow filter too.😍😉

[@KarenHunterShow]

LMAO! what's that? I need one.

[@mobilityendurancestrength6210]

Dems have already lost a lot of black voters including myself.

[@lewisseals1211]

He wast so nice now.

[@nigelralphmurphy2852]

Why is that white guy on this show? Disgraceful.

[@KarenHunterShow]

why not?

[@cullenami]

​@@KarenHunterShowbecause your audience is racist and you are perpetuating this racism by demonizing whiteness.

[@nic-tv4090]

You can't talk about whiteness and not talk about black and blackness as well. White and Black in the context of racial designation came from the same place which is the european middle ages and both need to be examined and debunked. Theres a book called THE INVENTION OF RACE IN THE EUROPEAN MIDDLE AGES. This is a bit drier read BUT it does show what would become "race" classifications as it developed between the 1100s and 1500s Europe. For example sub-Saharan Africans were generally called Ethiopians. That was the catch-all term for any dark skin African, western Europeans encountered at that time. You don't necessarily see the term "Black" used for Africans in the early middle ages but you see it in their artwork...BUT many of the images in their art that portrayed bad things like executioners and negative religious symbols were characterized with black colored skin and African features, so you start to see an early connection with Black = sin/evil/unredeemable. Its not necessarily SAID but its SHOWN. Around the 1300s and 1400s you start to see the term "Black" in association with dark skin Africans. As the slave trade moved across the Atlantic to western Europe, the catholic church in Spain starts to use its influence to further marry the color Black + unredeemable sin + slavery = dark skin Africans are supposed to have this position in a social structure in life. This is adopted in the Americas and by the late 1600s, 1700s the colonies/USA are looking for ways to perfect the slave system they have by developing chattel slavery making the condition heritable and permanent for offspring thru the mother. While all this is happening the term Black and Slave are used interchangeably and synonymously in their laws and customs. When you say slave you mean Black and when you say Black its understood its about a person of the lowest social order. All of this took centuries to work out but by the 1800s the culture had solidified and the perception of Africans/American Blacks had been set. So by the time slavery was "abolished" (except as a form of punishment for crime) the immediate response was to come up with work arounds for this group of people whom the Bible deemed unredeemable and therefore subjugation was supposed to be their normal and rightful state of living. Hence Black Codes and Vagrancy Laws and Jim Crow Laws and before you know it we're in the latter part of the 20th century around the1960s before the last vestiges of all that shit is officially removed tho the perceptions and treatment remains defacto. So using the term Black as if its always been like that is not only imprecise its just not true. sub-Saharan Africans are NOT "black" Example, The comedian Godfrey is not Black. He's Nigerian and specifically from the tribe Igbo. Neither is Trevor Noah..he's half Swiss-German and half south African specifically Xhosa...The Xhosa are a South African cultural group who emphasize traditional practices and customs inherited from their forefathers. Each person within the Xhosa culture has their place which is recognized by the entire community. Starting from birth, a Xhosa person goes through graduation stages which recognize their growth and assign them a recognized place in the community. Each stage is marked by a specific ritual aimed at introducing the individual to their counterparts and also to their ancestors. And Trevor wants to boil all that down to the term black??? Why Africans claim that is mystifying to me considering they KNOW who they are and are in their own land. Using the term black Africans is as nonsensical as saying yellow Japanese. And to be honest African Americans aren't "black". we came from places in West Africa that had language, culture, religion etc. But IF AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE NOT BLACK THEN WHAT ARE WE??? This isn't a new question, black people in America have been thinking about this for at least the last 70 or so years if not longer. Its where the X came from for the Black Muslims in the 60s. But I don't know if the last couple of generations (X and millennials) have thought about the extent of the damage done to black Americans due to race science and the Atlantic slave trade. That the specifics of our African heritage has been forever lost and altered to a group of people who have for the last 100 years at least been looking for an identity. Its where you get moors and 5 percenters and anything Egypt (even tho the enslaved Africans came from west African countries and Egypt is in east Africa.) and so on. But Black is the most consistent identity we've had since arriving in the country. Negro is spanish for black...the n-word and its various offshoots are just a bastardized slang for negro = black it all comes back to the same thing. Maybe that explains why pretty much every other group (to my knowledge) does not use the slur pertaining to them in their pop culture to the degree that Black Americans do. The n-word permeates every aspect of our culture and entertainment to the point where its weird if we DON'T hear it uttered at some point. But therein lies the most traumatizing part of the crime committed against Black Americans. Simply put, we don't know who we are as a people. The demand for reparations is a legal endeavor and when your dealing with seeking legal recompense for the American descendants of slavery you have to build a case and what should be a part of that case besides all the fuckery we've had to deal with from slavery thru Jim Crow thru The War On Drugs etc is the loss of identity. That is a profound thing that no other group coming to this country has ever had to deal with. Unlike pretty much any other group in American society you have one group thats been completely cut off from its original heritage and ethnicity and MAYBE thats why the n-word flows so easily from the descendants of the African slaves because thats what we've been called more than anything else in this country..its a part of our AMERICAN history.

[@markreynolds8938]

Where in the rest of the world are black people live in a better life than the ones that are living in America?

[@Bambi7ish]

Portugal. Blacks have survived much when they were set free with NOTHING although they were the ones to give whites the head start. Now look where many (not all) have come. Imagine if there was no Kkk, Jim Crow, Segregation, Red lining where they'd be. A very different place. However, the founders and Supreme Court designed blacks to have no worth nor respect. They've had to fight for it whereas other races did not. Case in point, white massacurists get taken Alive with a gun, Blacks are gunned down running without a gun.

[@ervin1jp]

You'd be surprised. Pick a country and do a search on this platform.

[@markreynolds8938]

Yeah I have and what's your point?

[@ervin1jp]

@@markreynolds8938 Just search for "Black living in (country)" or somethin' like that and listen to the comparisons given by Black folks actually livin' in other countries.

[@markreynolds8938]

Yeah dude it sounds like 1st world problems buddy