I have said what I do to help my community. I pastored here for almost two decades. I have done countless funerals (from city officials to homeless; from ODs to suicides). I volunteered to coach little baseball. I have worked and coached in the local high school. I have substitute taught. We have held community outreach events, fundraisers, community clean-up days, community cookouts, community food distributions. I have walked up and down streets and sat with people on their front porches and talked and prayed and cried and laughed with them. I have played ball with fatherless boys in the streets. I have thrown batting practice for hours for any kid who would grab a bat. I have mediated and broken up fights in the neighborhood. I have been the only white person sitting in a coaches’ meeting. I have been the only white person in the gym. My son has been the only white kid on his sports teams and in his sports camps. Some will accuse me of bragging. I was already told I said too much. But you asked. There’s more I have done and more I could have done.

I don’t know anything about my comment history being open or closed and I don’t really care. whatever it is, it is. If you could read it all, it would say the same thing. But why deal with actual facts and statements at hand if you can dig up irrelevant stuff, right?

You question my statement that “a good number of black Americans support Trump.” Then you answer your own question by acknowledging 6-15%. That’s more than 2,000,000 at the low end, more than 4,500,000 at the high end. That’s a “good number” it seems to me. I don’t know what you mean by throw Rasmussen at you. I don’t know who that is.

Fatherlessness and bad education is not a race issue (although there are interesting correlations about race which IMO don’t really have to do with race per se). Only people who know nothing about urban areas would make such a claim. These things are much more connected to socio-economic status, I believe. And that doesn’t know racial boundaries. But if you deny that fatherlessness and bad education is a problem for racial minorities in our country, then … well, I don’t know what to say. That seems the most obvious thing in the world, even for those who know very little about contemporary urban problems.

As for “the kid with dark hair” it wasn’t a useful descriptor of identification. It was an insight into the mind of about a 5 year old (I don’t recall the exact age) for whom skin color wasn’t the thing that stood out. Why? Because he was raised that way. The point was that people want to call me a racist, but my son didn’t even have that category in his mind despite the fact that I was his number one influence. So why don’t those close to me who know me, live with me, and live around me see this racism that you do? Maybe because it isn’t actually there. You have simply made it up.

There is no doubt that Charlottesville had a large news presence. But my comments were on real life, and most people don’t live life on news channels. You are mistaking news coverage for what people were talking about. Awareness of things like that also depend to a large degree on interests and socio-economic status (such as the ability to have cable TV and have the interest to watch the news station). And the news cycle moved on pretty quickly.

I am not the great White Hope in any sense. I have tried to make a small difference in my community. But when someone (you? I don’t recall) challenged me to put my money where my mouth is by writing a $25 dollar check, I decided to point out that a $25 check is the easy way out. Why don’t you quit writing $25 checks and move into a neighborhood like mine. Start doing what I have tried to do. Talk is cheap. We need people who will leave their cushy lives in the suburbs and the gentrified areas and move in a try to make a difference.

Oh get over yourself already.

I don’t mind it being discussed. But discuss the point of it. You once again have completely missed it. A charitable view is that you misunderstand the whole issue and the comment. You have yet to comment on anything relevant to the discussion. You instead (as usual) have tried to make it about me. Stop it. Get over your obsession. Focus on the topic rather than me.

I have said what I do to help my community. I pastored here for almost two decades. I have done countless funerals (from city officials to homeless; from ODs to suicides). I volunteered to coach little baseball. I have worked and coached in the local high school. I have substitute taught. We have held community outreach events, fundraisers, community clean-up days, community cookouts, community food distributions. I have walked up and down streets and sat with people on their front porches and talked and prayed and cried and laughed with them. I have played ball with fatherless boys in the streets. I have thrown batting practice for hours for any kid who would grab a bat. I have mediated and broken up fights in the neighborhood. I have been the only white person sitting in a coaches’ meeting. I have been the only white person in the gym. My son has been the only white kid on his sports teams and in his sports camps. Some will accuse me of bragging. I was already told I said too much. But you asked. There’s more I have done and more I could have done.

I don’t know anything about my comment history being open or closed and I don’t really care. whatever it is, it is. If you could read it all, it would say the same thing. But why deal with actual facts and statements at hand if you can dig up irrelevant stuff, right?

You question my statement that “a good number of black Americans support Trump.” Then you answer your own question by acknowledging 6-15%. That’s more than 2,000,000 at the low end, more than 4,500,000 at the high end. That’s a “good number” it seems to me. I don’t know what you mean by throw Rasmussen at you. I don’t know who that is.

Fatherlessness and bad education is not a race issue (although there are interesting correlations about race which IMO don’t really have to do with race per se). Only people who know nothing about urban areas would make such a claim. These things are much more connected to socio-economic status, I believe. And that doesn’t know racial boundaries. But if you deny that fatherlessness and bad education is a problem for racial minorities in our country, then … well, I don’t know what to say. That seems the most obvious thing in the world, even for those who know very little about contemporary urban problems.

As for “the kid with dark hair” it wasn’t a useful descriptor of identification. It was an insight into the mind of about a 5 year old (I don’t recall the exact age) for whom skin color wasn’t the thing that stood out. Why? Because he was raised that way. The point was that people want to call me a racist, but my son didn’t even have that category in his mind despite the fact that I was his number one influence. So why don’t those close to me who know me, live with me, and live around me see this racism that you do? Maybe because it isn’t actually there. You have simply made it up.

There is no doubt that Charlottesville had a large news presence. But my comments were on real life, and most people don’t live life on news channels. You are mistaking news coverage for what people were talking about. Awareness of things like that also depend to a large degree on interests and socio-economic status (such as the ability to have cable TV and have the interest to watch the news station). And the news cycle moved on pretty quickly.

I am not the great White Hope in any sense. I have tried to make a small difference in my community. But when someone (you? I don’t recall) challenged me to put my money where my mouth is by writing a $25 dollar check, I decided to point out that a $25 check is the easy way out. Why don’t you quit writing $25 checks and move into a neighborhood like mine. Start doing what I have tried to do. Talk is cheap. We need people who will leave their cushy lives in the suburbs and the gentrified areas and move in a try to make a difference.

It wasn’t an advanced version of “some of my best friends are black.” I am not sure what that refers to. I was challenged to make a $25 donation by someone and you felt free to insert yourself into the conversation that you weren’t a part of. I said what I said to show that I have contributed far more than a measly $25.

My comment about my son was to show how we have raised our children–namely, that skin color is not important; people are. If you think differently, have at it.

If you are laughing at the way these conversations go, it demonstrates your lack of awareness both of conversations and of realities you apparently haven’t experienced. I have been wrong before and have admitted it. So once again you make a flatly false statement as a personal attack with no no apparent recognition. I can demonstrate multiple times in our conversations where you have been demonstrably and unquestionably wrong on facts, and you have never admitted it.

I am predictable. I don’t change. I treat everyone with respect and dignity. I tell the truth. I interact with grace towards those who disagree. I would think that would be a good thing. I don’t understand why you would dislike that. But then there’s a lot I don’t understand about you, beginning with your obsession with me.

This is exactly what I said, someone made an offhand challenge and you responded with that. In there was the comment about what your son said. If you didn’t want it discussed, then don’t mention it. As for inserting myself, these are open threads, no? Joining an open discussion is inserting oneself?

I’m aware you have been wrong, but if you can point to a comment where you humbled yourself by admitting you were wrong, I’ll gladly do the same. It seems certain I would have made a note of that on my calendar.

As for the laughing, it was genuine, but only in response to the text I quoted. You have a habit of sounding like you are looking in a mirror while complaining about me.

You posted two versions of the comment, one later had an extra paragraph at the bottom. It was the most recent and I responded to it. This one is just duplicate material so you might want to edit it and just write “double post” or something.

Not sure what this means or what it refers to. Of course, I care. I have always treated your with respect no matter how you have responded because human dignity and common decency are things I care about.

You might want to delete this version, as I already responded to the copy you posted later where you added the little zinger at the end you forgot first time around. At least I know you still care 😉

This is typical of conversations with you. There are real issues to be discussed about which good information and ideas could be exchanged, and you are hung up on whether “kid with the dark hair” has any importance.

Oh my goodness, sometimes you honestly do provide a good laugh and I guess I have to thank you for that.

LT, you were the one who, in response to an offhand challenge by someone, rattled off your advanced version of “some of my best friends are black.” You were also the one who made your son’s comment part of that litany. I don’t fault your son for anything, but your interpretation is odd. Either way, you put it out there, not me.

Being “color blind” doesn’t mean you don’t realize that someone is, for instance, African American. Doing that can easily lead one to ignore the realities of being a person of color in this country. That certainly isn’t reconciliation as you claimed is your purpose, and it can lead to a “whitewashing” of the issue (with absolutely no pun intended, though the term couldn’t be more apropos).

You are correct in one sense, this is rather typical of conversations we’ve had. Now and then I just have to do it anyway to remind myself of the phenomenal lengths to which you will go in order to absolutely positively never ever come close to indicating you might just possibly, even fleetingly, be wrong.

You do have at least two redeeming qualities. You are incredibly predictable, and you do make me laugh on rare occasions. Thanks for this one.