HEY YOGI!

Blog#1

I asked chatgpt to review my Blog on Whoopie Goldberg’s statement on the View.  It was very interesting so I added it here.  I hope it inspires you to read the whole Blog and share it. Thanks for your time and consideration
B1 ChatGPT
In this thought-provoking blog post dated 3/12/22, the author dives into a complex discussion sparked by Whoopi Goldberg’s statements on “The View.” While recognizing the undeniable horrors of the Holocaust, the post raises a pertinent question about whether it was solely a racial issue or if there’s more to it. It emphasizes the importance of examining our own biases and taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions. The author believes that we must learn from each other, as our perspectives and experiences differ, and cites personal anecdotes and teaching yoga for nearly three decades as examples.

The author sees Whoopi’s statement as an invitation to consider a broader perspective, and the post includes a link to the relevant video for further context. It also touches on the distinction between religious hate crimes and racial discrimination, emphasizing the strength and resilience of both Jewish and people of color communities in the face of adversity. In conclusion, the post challenges the racial classification imposed by Hitler and encourages critical thinking around the complexities of these historical events and their implications in contemporary conversations.

BLM

BLOG POST 3/12/22 by Brian Bales Did Whoopi Goldberg have it right on the View when she said “the holocaust was not about race? Possible Trigger warning ahead regarding religion, race, racism, and the Holocaust. Setting some foundation: Approximately 77 years ago, by the end of the holocaust, more than 6 million Jews were ripped from their homes, tortured, and murdered by an insane nihilistic white man named Hitler. It was a horrible time that many many people worldwide suffered unknowable losses and still suffer today from the memories and family members that were personally affected or even died in it.  These are the facts from history and this is a tiny definition of the experience that doesn’t even begin to describe the horrors that Jews went through during this time and even today because of it. The only few people who would argue this truth are Natzi sympathizers or white supremacists.  I have no wish to harm anyone or belittle their experience in any way shape or form.  This is a discussion about the perspective and support of Whoopi Goldberg on the tv show the VIEW. Isn’t that what the “VIEW” is all about anyway?  Learning from each other, getting new perspectives, and growing our awareness through love, support, and help to thrive together as humans?  That is why I have spent quite a bit of time researching, pausing, reflecting, researching more, and writing about my own experience and education to offer up yet another opinion and perspective on the subject as it is today. I found this online and believe it to be relevant here as we can all use a little bit of this IMO and seems like a good place to start. Repeat after me, please: No matter how open-minded, socially conscious, and anti-racist I might think I am, I still have old, learned, hidden, biases that I need to examine. It is my responsibility to check myself Daily for my stereotypes, prejudices, and ultimately, discrimination.  No one else can do this for me.  It is my task as a human, to live on this planet with other humans. If we all take accountability for our own thoughts, deeds and actions first, it will be a lot easier to move forward as a “People” as “Humans” living on a round planet. I am reminded of the words from one of my great teachers Dr. Wayne Dyer saying,  “THERE’S NO CHOOSING UPSIDES, ON A ROUND PLANET”   We are indeed on a round planet, there is no upside, no downside, and no exit ramp at this point. We must learn from each other and recognize our processes and experiences are not the same. My perspective will be different from others and vice versa. I will list a few personal experiences and that of friends or students over the years I feel will help clarify my point by the end.  I will be moving around a lot in my point and even step aside with a few parallels I think directly connects to this in my own experience through teaching Yoga for close to 3 decades. I believe that is what Whoopi Goldberg was offering with her experience and statement on the View IMO.  3:35 minutes Watch till the end to see all the comments as the interview has been segmented by the news. Here is the video compilation of Whoopi’s comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF4xotY3BZ8 (You may have to copy and paste the link.) Closing comments in the Youtube video link to note: “Jews are the most targeted for religious hate crimes.” (This to me is as unacceptable as inequality among races!) A keyword here for me is “RELIGIOUS”  NOT RACE When Whoopi said “the holocaust was not about race, it was about man’s inhumanity to man. It was evil. ” And, that the holocaust wasn’t a race war because it was whites killing whites, pretty much calls it like it is. Just because some asshat considered Jews to be an inferior race, that makes it a race war or makes them inferior in some way?   I have known enough Jews to know they are badass and awesome for many reasons not to mention beautiful people. However, I don’t see Jews as marginalized or discriminated against in the same way that people of color are every day, everywhere on earth in some way shape, or form.  I have seen the Jews rise up from the depths of despair and succeed as a people with confidence and strength with a deep love for one another since this devastating time and yes, still be persecuted worldwide, for their religion, not race. By the same token, I have seen people of color, continue to strive, grow, and become confident, hoping to one day be an accepted race of people, yet not succeed decade after decade basically forever due to racial inequality and the lack of racial justice or support across the board.   Still, people of color continue with hope in their hearts, to one day live equally and be treated fairly as a people on earth. Hitler was F’ing crazy! That has not been a debate since.  So who gave him the right to create and classify a new race anyway? Isn’t that for qualified science people?  That seems like a science thing to me, you know, like masks. So how does Hitler’s ignorant interpretation of race somehow turn a religious group of Israelites into a new, unrecognized by science, race? And then 77 years later said people would be offended by black women for calling it like it is, a lack of clarity and knowledge. Or is it just because he said it, somehow makes it so? I think not.  The math, for me, just doesn’t add up. Considering as a white person, I went through many religions as a kid as my parents looked around for our family.  I was exposed to many as well in the Navy.  And ultimately, I became a Buddhist in the Navy.  So I am the strange duck in the pond here so to speak because I am white and a Buddhist.  So I can go anywhere and no one knows I am a Buddhist.  Can a Buddhist from Tibet or Nepal do that?  No, Duh! This is one of the many clear examples I can quote all day about race and perspective. Did Jews at some point just say, we as white people (originally Israelites) are a new race now? And if they did, how does that work?  Again, I thought it was the job of science to determine race.  Can black Muslims just say one day they are a new race?  No.  And even if they did, they would still be black. Jews are predominantly white and by definition are included in the “white race” category, regardless of religion or country of origin. If a Tibetan Buddhist leaves their country and goes say, ANYWHERE in the world, they will be identified as Tibetan or maybe Nepalese Buddhist on sight. This is not the case with Jews from Israel or anywhere for that matter.  They can go anywhere in the world and it is possible to be from almost anywhere in the world as a white person.  Save accent and maybe a yarmulke, they would and could go completely unidentified as a Jew in most crowds in the US let alone the world. But they would still be considered “white” everywhere first.  This is a very distinct difference that Whoopi, as a black woman, identifies with I believe and her perspective that was discounted and shamed by only white people. Whoopi has kicked off the show for 2 weeks (to think about her words and reflect) right before Black history month leaving only white women on the show. Now Whoopi has to go apologies for her perspective? WTF?  She has to coddle the white people and reflect on what she did.  What a load of “WHITE PRIVILEGED BULLSHIT!) She is apologizing to white people for a perspective they refuse to see.  Isn’t that her job, to give a perspective on that show? Isn’t that what she gets paid to do?  Let’s just call it what it is, the “Black” perspective so they can balance out all the white on the show and say they are inclusive.  Well, they just shit on “INCLUSIVE” as far as I am concerned with their actions. She wasn’t malicious in any way in her perspective and clearly meant no harm to the Jewish people from anything she said based on her experience. Jews don’t live “RACE” like colored people do every day of their life. A Jew would never worry about being pulled over by a cop and not making it home to their loved ones that night.  A colored person always will, no matter if they are rich or poor. That is 1 of the MANY DISTINCT differences between ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE” and pretty much any other race. Religion Noun: the belief in & worship of a superhuman, all-controlling power, especially a personal God or Gods.  (Oxford) Religion is not nor does it make a race of people. I draw your attention to this definition of Race from the perspective of Wikipedia.   And to those who might say Wikipedia isn’t the best source, it is a source that is widely accepted and can be updated by the people, so it seems like a good fit for these purposes and that is why I choose it. The definition of Race has changed a lot over time and includes a wide variety of meanings which you will find in the link below.  It is detailed, all over the place, and confusing at times.  That being said, nowhere in its entirety does it recognize Jews as a “race of people”.  However, it does talk about ethnic groups in which Jews and many other religious groups do fit. It also shows different countries classify race differently but there are about a half-dozen widely recognized races(black, Indian, Asian, Native American Indian, white, etc.) in the world with subcategories from there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization) All the technical definitions aside, I think the point for me is that in today’s world, most people around the world agree that “RACE” mostly means color difference and by extension, “less than” in many ways compared to “white” people. If a black or colored person and a Jew go into a bank to finance a home, both will experience very different treatment, bias, and judgment before receiving a loan.  Here is a clear difference regarding race that would absolutely not affect a Jew as a white person even as a low-income applicant. Studies found out that high-income blacks were almost twice as likely to end up with subprime home-purchase mortgages as low-income whites. Loan officers were clearly aware that they were exploiting their customers, in some cases referring to blacks as “mud people” and to subprime lending as “ghetto loans”.

Mortgage discrimination – Wikipedia

If a black and a white person are both Jewish wearing plain clothes standing on the road in Charlottesville SC USA at night, and the KKK comes along which one of them do you think is going to have a “RACE” issue? Which one of them is likely to die by hanging if not tortured first? This is a Racial difference that white people, Jewish or otherwise, never experience. When I first heard Whoopi’s comments,  I 100% agreed with what she was saying. I got the underlying context immediately. How most people didn’t or were offended by it really surprises me. I have friends of Jewish descent and of all colors and consider all people equal. So when I hear a black woman in particular (who has likely suffered and been oppressed because of her Blackness her entire life as her race by birth) giving her perspective on Hitler having a race war with Jews and her saying that it’s not about race that it’s about white people killing white people or man’s inhumanity to man, that rings a bell of truth to me. So far what I have seen across the news is the people most having a problem with Whoopi’s comments, are white, or at the bare minimum, can’t, don’t, haven’t, or won’t step out of their own shoes to see this very intense, personal, emotional feedback from a black person’s perspective.  Furthermore, it seems like now a black woman has been made to coddle the feelings of white people because they in fact can’t or won’t see that her perspective is just as valid as theirs. Now that we have covered the clear difference between race, religion, ignorant Hitler, and the clarity of “RACE” quite a bit, I would argue that Whoopi is in fact more accurate in her assessment of the situation than white people who haven’t stepped into her shoes to see it from her experience. Perspective. When it comes to all the possible conversions, being born into, married into a religion, or whatever, that is all paperwork that has no bearing when it comes to face-to-face encounters the way that race does from the moment people lay eyes on each other. Often I try to put myself in other people’s shoes, like Whoopi’s in this case to get their perspective and hopefully expand mine.  It seems that is what she was offering Race is seen upfront and unchangeable, which is extremely different from the religion of choice or by birth. In the real world, Race matters immediately because it is in your face, whereas religion may not even matter. If I am black sitting in a bar and a white supremacist comes in, they might attack me just because I am black.  If I am white and Jewish, they would have to come in, sit by me, listen to me, maybe hear something that tipped them off, then there might be a conversation before a fight.  Very different experiences and results.  And yes, I might still get my ass beat as a Jew after I tried to talk my way out of it.  But that isn’t an option for the black man because even a white supremacist will think twice about beating a white person for any reason, but they won’t hesitate to beat a black or brown person because they believe they will get away with it.  “WHITE PRIVILEGE” When I grew up my whole family tried out a number of religions before everybody agreed on one Church.  The Unity Church is non-denominational.  Now that I look back, no one ever gave us grief for going to Unity.  But after becoming a Buddhist, I heard about it from many who would say I was going to hell or how could I, sort of thing.  All white people by the way.  Eventually, I said nothing to no one till now 20 years later. Religion is as deeply personal as race, but clearly, they are different things as I have shown here. Can you imagine what would happen to the world if every family tried out at least the top five religions and then when everybody agreed on one, that’s the one they went to?  Or 1 step further, what if everybody ended up in different churches and everybody accepted that that’s the path and they may find their way to the divine? What kind of world would we live in then?  That might be an example of “True freedom of religion”.  What if there were no religions and people just figured out their own version of faith as they went through life? It seems to me that religion was more about having or instilling a “Moral Compass” in the people.  In most cases, religion is not about you getting to god.  It is you going through some “Mediator” of some kind to get to said, God.  Oh, and please donate on your way out the door.  If religion was really about getting to God and said mediators were actually connected to said God, then we would have a lot more miracle workers like Jesus all over the world charging nothing and walking on water.  We simply don’t, and no church has gotten anyone closer to “God” than any other church or people, with or without churches.  People have and create their own experiences of the divine, whatever that is, regardless of religion or ignorance of religion.  Let me ask you, do we need religion to have morals?  I think not.  There are thousands of religions worldwide and many of them, and the people, have serious “Moral Compass” issues. No one can or will argue with that.  Actually, I bet there are some white people that will argue with it.   I agree I am being simplistic here and there is more to religion than a moral compass & a mediator, but I think you get my point. I think it might be better than being mandatory by your parents and or a church to learn a religion all of your childhood fully believing “it is the only religion or path to the divine”  until one day you have the opportunity as a young adult to explore elsewhere and discover there are many paths to the divine and they all offer helpful wisdom you can learn and grow from if open to it, and maybe even change your religion because a new one fits your life better.  Or maybe you become religious just because a new partner is.    I digress a bit, but I am connecting the dots ahead. My ex-wife and I mutually decided not to bring our kids up in religion until they were old enough to make a conscious decision about which path might be best for them.  I think it was one of the best parenting decisions we agreed upon and stuck with.  Our kids are very well adjusted, getting almost straight A’s, and have a sense of self, confidence, self-respect, and treat others with respect.  They have been exposed to many religions through school and Discovery channel specials that they were interested in or I shared with and to date, both clearly want nothing to do with religion and seem to have found their own spiritual understanding that works for them at 15 and 16 now but came to that clarity years ago actually.  This path is not for everyone, but as I said before, there are many paths, but few races, that is the point. There are over 4000 recognized religions in the world, however. The world population can be divided into 4 major races, namely white/caucasian, Mongoloid/Asian, Negroid/Black, & Australoid(SE Asia/Australia Aboriginal) based on classifications made by Carleton S. Coon 1962 Jews are not mentioned, nor any other religion or religious group. When I filed weekly unemployment, it asks what your race is, giving you the following options: African American/Black American Indian/Alaskan Native  Asian  Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander  and lastly Caucation/White  Jewish/Jew is not listed, nor is any other religion. As a white person, I can be a Buddhist on Monday, Christian on Tuesday, Jew on Wednesday, (so to speak) and no one would ever know what I was.  If I was black, brown, Indian, or Asian, it matters not what religion I choose on any day of the week my color is an open book for the world to judge. Perspective. I am reminded of the song IMAGINE by John Lennon   What if there were no religions?  What happens with race issues then? With or without religion, RACE is still a challenge for almost all people of color around the world.  Is my point getting any clearer here? That includes learning things not to do that you might find in other religions or life for that matter. Our task is to edit, to sift out the fine pieces of gold, like a miner, in whatever religion or spiritual practice we choose in life. To me, one of the problems with religions is that none of them wants you to go and explore anywhere else really. They all pretty much say this is the way to God, stay here don’t go anywhere else this is the only path you need.  This has always seemed cultish to me.  To me, that’s just bullshit I don’t care what your religion is. If it serves you, that is the point and the only point that matters. There is no one way for everyone. That’s why there are a lot of ways so that everybody can find their own way. Why does it have to be so difficult? There are many ways and our task is to find the one that works best for us plain and simple. For some people it’s religion, for some people it’s science, for some people it’s no god, for some it is millions of gods, and others have found their connection through the interconnectedness of all life. Why are we all so preoccupied with others’ choice of religion anyway? If you find yourself in this category, ask yourself, how can you redirect that energy to something more positive to direct your own life in a more productive way? If you have time to worry about others’ religion, you are probably not applying yourself enough in your own life. To me, if your PATH is working for you, AND YOU NOT HURTING ANYONE it is your choice!  Period. I’m reminded a little while after I started yoga my teacher really wanted me to go and meet this said-to-be profound yoga teacher down in LA who went by the name of Bikram. Well, I went to see this fucktard, and let me just tell you his ego was so huge it could barely fit in the room.  I was in with more than 100 people in Bel Air including famous actors and actresses in the early 1990s. He did nothing but abuse and berate and humiliate the entire class for 90 minutes at 115 degrees. It was disgusting and nothing about it was yoga. And all the while he professed that he is the only yoga that there is no other yoga out there and that no one should go anywhere else. Thousands believed it all.  He was a charlatan in every sense of the word!  He had so many fooled and got away with it for many decades before getting busted for raping a bunch of students, including a personal friend of mine, much like in many churches around the world, and trump. Does this seem like a cult or cult-like behavior to you? because that’s exactly what it felt like and seemed like to me. He is on the run from the FBI now.  That’s what most religions have felt like and seemed like to be going through life as I have experienced them or had direct stories from students who told me of their personal experiences. All that being said I still absolutely respect anyone’s choice to find their path in any religion. That’s their path, not mine and I accept that for them as I hope they will accept mine for me. We are all so very different but confusing race and religion is a dangerous slope that is not accurate, truthful or Fair to those that suffer because of the color of their skin every day of their life every place they go everywhere on earth. Everybody has their own experience with religion.  To some, it is a nightmare filled with lies and trauma.  To others, it is a graceful miracle.  Such is life.  I grew up a hardcore carnivore and was fed and loved that diet until I learned something different. I discovered a new way of life that reduce the amount of suffering in my food choices and on the Earth by extension of those who do not have to murder for my diet. And then I chose to be a vegan based on the vitality and freedom and cleanliness and health that that new diet provided for me. Had I known what I knew when I was far younger I likely would have chosen a vegan diet sooner. It simply wasn’t presented to me and so I accepted what was given to me.  In the same way, people who are brought up really religious likely had mandatory study (mostly with good intentions I believe) required until they finally had a choice to discover something new as a young adult. This is the same with almost all religions around kids really in my experience.  It seems the thought is to set a good foundation, give the kids morals sort of thing.  Like college that is forced on a teenager, the long-term ramifications of it and childhood religion are obvious worldwide. It doesn’t really matter if you are rich, poor, high class, or low class, if you force religion, diet, or college on children, the price can be heavy for all involved with lasting ramifications.  Parents, you know what I am talking about. Parents who think they’re doing right by their kids because they believe what is right for them is going to be right for their kids; do this with many things like diet, religion, and career. Surely it is right to guide our children, but I have to ask you, with things that are so profound and a lifelong study regarding health, happiness, and spirituality like diet and religion, is it better to let them grow up a little bit before we force a diet that would make them sick and overweight or place the “Story” That religion provides for us as a way of life and morality that barely applies to today’s life? We all want our kids to succeed and to have more than we had or a better life than we had. So is it right for me to raise my kids vegan any more than it was for my parents to raise me to be a carnivore? I did the life of a carnivore for 15 years before becoming vegan.  I had the perspective and wisdom of both carnivores and vegan diets before I made a healthy lifestyle choice for my kids. When we know better, shouldn’t we do better, and teach better?  Live better?  I’m not saying you won’t have your binge days or times you will overdo it with booze or doughnuts, but overall, the idea is to be a little better for ourselves and our kids.  I am pretty sure if I put 2 young kids in a garden full of fresh fruits and veggies, and they were hungry, they would likely eat the food easily available to them rather than hunting down a rabbit or turtle, killing it with their bare hands and eating it raw or thinking to cook it then eating it?  Gunna call that a last resort and not a likely reality in today’s world.  This is the kind of perspective that helped me shift to a diet that involves little to no suffering as a vegan.  And in a similar way, as a white vegan, I get to go around living that privilege freely until I come across a meat eater who finds out I am vegan and has nothing but rude comments rather than an open mind.  I have more power, flexibility, freedom, energy, and endurance at 52 than I ever had as a meat eater.  But when I ask a meat eater to try a new way, it is almost always, You need to eat meat!  I say, been there done that, and until you have tried both, you really have nothing to say from a lack of experience.  I learned and found a better healthy, sustainable way to live, and it works for me.  It isn’t for everyone, and like religion or race, I accept that everyone has their own path and decisions to make along this short journey called life.  I do wish more lived this perspective. With race, there isn’t a choice.  You wake up and that is it, you are what you are.  You cannot change it like religion.  You can’t ever abandon it or choose another version.  This is another perspective I feel Woopie was coming from. Many people are brought up in religions and then later changed or leave religion altogether after discovering science for a different way of living that does not require a mediator to get them connected to their version of the source. Would it be right to say that my race was a carnivore firsthand and then I was a vegan second-hand?  No, because my diet has nothing to do with my religion or my race. And the same way being Jewish to me has nothing to do with your race. You may be born Jewish you may choose to be Jewish but you are most likely still a white person if you were born in Jerusalem and grow up a Jew. I’m quite certain there are people who are actually born in Jerusalem who aren’t Jewish also. But like all things when people grow old enough to make their own decisions they may not choose to be Jewish any longer they may not choose to be a Christian or Buddhist or carnivore any longer. How many parents have been disappointed after forcing their kids to go through college to follow in their footsteps only to have their kid drop out or do something completely different?  Why, because the kid wasn’t listened to in the first place.  Their hopes and dreams weren’t considered, and in the end, tens of thousands of dollars, and years of education were wasted because of what? Assumptions and projections. That is the world that race lives in every day.  Assumptions and projections. I think that’s really what Whoopi was trying to say in her statement. You can be any religion you want for as short or as long as you want. But you cannot change the race you are. In America, black yellow, and brown people are often considered to be inferior no matter if they were born in America or what religion, or how rich they are. And for somebody to say that Hitler considered Jews to be an inferior race is really a miss statement of details. Just because some nutcase considered a religious group of people to be inferior because of their religion does not make them inferior because of their race or religion. Jews could stand side-by-side with other whites next to Hitler and nobody would know the difference if they didn’t actually say they were Jewish. They could at least lie and say they were Christian or something else if need be to save their life. A black, Asian, Indian, or brown person in America does not have that Choice, Freedom, or even potential.  It is blatantly obvious! They are considered inferior no matter where they were born and no matter what language they speak by many in the US and their religion almost never plays any role in it at all. That is where race and religion part ways significantly. And I think that is what Whoopi Goldberg was trying to say. After hearing her apologies and her clarifications, it was in fact what she was saying. So let’s not confuse religion with the race just because Hitler was a dumbass who did so in statements. Clearly from history, he was exposed to antisemitism early on, and it stuck with him to the point of hating his own blood related to Jews. None of that makes Israelites practicing Judiasism a “Race” of people. Are people who believe the Earth is flat, a race of people? No, belief does not make a race. Let me say that again. Your belief, whatever it is, does not change or affect your race. Belief systems come and go, however, your race is for life. Whatever religion or belief you have is your choice, (hopefully). Your race is not your choice. Just like being male or female or gay or straight, that is how you were born. I think we all have a lot to learn here. I’m certainly open to learning more about how to respect others in thoughts deeds and actions.  Isn’t that the point? Isn’t that what they were trying to discuss on The View in the first place? I think for her to get put on leave for two weeks is just ridiculous. She was genuine in her apologies and the clarity of what she was saying makes sense. She was not malicious in any way shape or form. Plus she was giving her unique experience and wisdom as a black woman in America and that is something that whites just can’t even begin to comprehend if we are being honest. I find these thought-provoking scenarios interesting to consider… Let’s switch it up a bit for perspective. What if Hitler was black and only tortured and killed black people who were devout Christians, but didn’t kill black people who were Jews? Would this be a race war? My experience has been that when blacks kill blacks, no one calls it a race war.  What is it called?  Usually a gang or turf war. What if Hitler was a Buddhist who only kill Buddhists? Would it be a race war? This one is tricky! Let me rephrase that. What if Hitler was a Tibetan who killed and tortured other Tibetans, but only the ones who were Buddhist? Would this be a race war? Or a religious war? Or both? The president of China has killed many, not just from China, for many reasons and gets away with it.  Is this a race war? More food for thought: Buddhism Hurt not others with that which pains yourself. Christianity: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Hinduism: Treat others as you would yourself be treated. Islam: Do unto all men as you would wish to have done unto you. Judaism: What you yourself hate, do to no man. Native American: Live in Harmony, for we are all related. IF THERE WERE A RACE EQUIVALENT WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE? I had some black students as parents years ago who told me the time had come to have the “TALK” with their 8 & 9-year-old kids.  The “TALK”  as most of us think of as the “SEX TALK” Well, if you are Black or colored in America, you might have a very different talk. Apparently, it goes something like this. Parent to kid: The day has come for us to have a serious talk about your life, “YOUR RESPONSIBILITY” going forward. Your responsibility?  Think about that.  Yes, kids should have a responsibility, but it shouldn’t include “How to be Black” in the US to stay alive! Know your surroundings and your exits! Never start trouble it might get you killed by white people! Running out in front of your own home might get you killed by white people.. Running to or from school might get you killed by white people. If police stop you, always say yes sir, yes mam, do whatever you are told no matter what or you might be killed whether by accident or on purpose by an officer of the law. Go out of your way to make or keep the peace because your life depends on it. In a fight with a white person, you will likely go to jail no matter what happened. I could go on, but the point here for me is that “WHITE” people would never even consider having this conversation with their kids, whether they are rich, poor, Christian, Jewish or like me, Buddhist.  White kids just don’t get shot by cops, PERIOD!  Even when they have assault rifles walking down the street after killing people, white people often “Walk” where blacks are shot, tortured, treated inhumanly,  jailed, suffocated to death, or all of the above, without question.  This is a difference that “Race” makes. If Jewish people really have a problem with what Whoopi said, what is that about?  Surely they can see she was sincere in her statements and apology.  But what I am wondering is what are they hanging on to here?  Is it that Hitler said they were an inferior race so they are a race and thus separate somehow from the rest and because he said it, it is so, and because it is so, it somehow makes it a race war?  And by her saying it wasn’t a race war, they are hurt by this perspective how?  I may have it wrong here, but the Jewish people I know are some seriously smart people and can see past the typical bullshit.  So I ask them in particular, how does it matter in any shape or form if it was a race war rather than a religious war, which it seems pretty clear from the evidence, that is what it was, a religious war that falls in a long line of religious atrocities worldwide. What are your thoughts on this?