Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Black people are a lot like Japanese People


I was kicking it with a Japanese friend of mine today in Yokohama. The convo went a little something like this:

Japanese Friend: I saw a story on TV about Martin Luther King.
Me: Oh yeah?
JF: Yeah. He was such a great man.
Me: True.
JF: He did so much for black people.
Me: For all people.
JF: Ah, Yes, for ALL Black People.
Me: No, not all black people...well, yeah, all black people, but white people, too.
JF: Really? What did he do for white people?
Me: Kept a lot of black people in touch with their patience and tolerance.
JF: Huh?
Me: Well, he offered an alternative to responding to hate with hate, and violence with violence.
JF: What does alternative mean?
Me: Another way.
JF: Oh. What was another way?
Me: A kind of peaceful resistance.
JF: What is Peaceful resistance?
Me: Well, there's no freedom without a fight, right? No one can give you your freedom. It's not a gift to be given. It has to be taken. But MLK knew that fighting with white people in any traditional way would mean a lot more dead black people. Racist white people had more weapons and had proven to be bloodthirsty. So MLK utilized another way of fighting: Peaceful resistance. Fighting without violent retaliation. Kinda like...like political Judo柔道 Make your opponent lose balance or use their power against them.
JF: I get it!
Me: That, plus a lot of tolerance and patience and...
JF: What is patience?
Me: Patience is like Gaman. 我慢
JF: OH! Black people are a lot like Japanese people. Judo and Gaman.
Me: Well, I don't know about all that, but I think humans have a lot in common.

Loco

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