Guns – white people’s racism “code”: the conversation on NextDoor Atlanta

 A white womon recently posted on ND Atlanta a query about guns stating “given where we are” she’s considering purchasing and getting training.

I’m not going to repeat what the mostly white male neighbors said but only our interactions.

This is exactly what she said:

Kate: Buying a Gun and training. I have always been afraid of guns.. still kind of am. However , given where we are i ,think i should look into buying one and getting some training. Any suggestions as to where to start first?

 My response:

Me: Seriously? Why do white people think we need to buy a gun for protection? We have every city, county, state, federal law enforcement along with public and private ‘security’ forces at our beck and call = and they’re already executing Black people in the streets.

That above comment was deleted from the page.

When someone said they didn’t realize Grant Park (where Kate lives) was so scary dangerous she responded with this:

Kate: It isn’t necessarily Grant Park in particular but you do understand that Atlanta is now as dangerous as Chicago right?

As I LOVE quoting the bible to christians I had to remark:

Me: Thou shall not kill….unless “given where you are” then kill kill kill

When someone asked Kate what she meant by “given where we are” she quoted an opinion piece by a fear-mongering white male journalist in the local newspaper sighting the increase in violence in Atlanta and using some of the same barely coded rhetoric tRump recently used to characterize Black people in Chicago.

I said for her:

Me: "Given where we are" we all know is white people's racist "code" words for too many scary violent Black people around.

Even though she had already given the rise in violence by Black people as her reason for wanting a gun and training now, she responded to me with this:

Kate: Huh or it could mean too many Boogaloo or proud boys with guns

Me: Really? In Atlanta???

There were a handful of pro-tRump white boys (and their handmaidens) toting rifles downtown in front of CNN the morning Harris/Biden won – before we got out there to celebrate but no one knew exactly where they came from and the police cordoned them off as our celebration grew.

But liberal white people may have an abhorrence to white men in hoods with guns but not a fear or even acknowledgement of their innate danger of violence but instead at the very least elect them to be sheriff or legislator, etc.

I responded:

Me: Maybe you can lie to yourself Kate but I see the truth. I know white women, & I know southern white women, & I know strate southern white women.

And I know (y)our carefully ‘taught’ racist paranoid fear of Black women, children, and men

The truth is that you are MUCH more likely to be murdered by some white man you've trusted, loved, allowed into your life than you are by any random dude white or Black. What’s more, your chances of being murdered by some man who claims he loves you when there's a gun in the home increases greatly.

And why would a proud boy or aryan brother want with killing you - unless you intend to stand in front of the Black & brown people they do target.

Needless to say of the 100+ replies Kate got were from mostly white men mostly going overboard supporting her arming herself.

I did say something like men can only think of guns and killing to get what they want – that comment was erased also.

My last response infuriated some (most likely white) men so much they resorted to name calling and proof that I’m not worthy of taking up space:

Me: DISARM: MILITARY, POLICE, ALL MEN

That post has stayed up – it was a concession as I left out the “fuckin” so I wouldn’t be kicked off NextDoor