Chamblee54

“Hey RISK!; we all know what Luther is about now. The man is an unapologetic racist. … I don’t believe hate speech like what Luther propagates needs any more of a platform then the presidency. … his agenda is more than obvious. He is not a casual listener of the show wishing to take part in meaningful discussion. He wishes to spill vile and venom and spread his racist ideology …”
This comment was in a facebook thread about the RISK! podcast. There was a story about a White man, dating a Black woman. Things went well, until a third party told the Black woman that the White man used the N-word. I suggested that there might be things about this story that we do not know, and that it is not fair to trash the young man because of this incident. Since this was a boy-girl story, it has two sides. There is usually more to the story.
There is one thing certain. I did not say anything derogatory about people of color. Racism has an elastic definition. Being called racist is not the same thing as being racist. Many people are trying to fight racism with name-calling and character assassination. There is a lot of collateral damage in social justice warfare. Two wrongs do not make a right.
I recently reposted the story of this conversation. While reviewing the notes, I saw the comment above. Who would make a comment like that, based on a few comments in a thread? I looked for his facebook page, to see what I could see. The young man’s name will not be used today. In another chamblee54 post, the young man was known as Man03; this is the name we will use today.
Within a few posts, the facebook page lets you know that Man03 passed away in July 2020. If you read between the lines, you see that Man03 had some troubles, which may have led to his demise. If you scroll back in his timeline, you see that his wife died in 2018. Man03 seemed to be into Rave/Burner communities, and his wife had been a major animal lover.
On May 25, 2018, I attended a live RISK! show in Underground Atlanta. The last storyteller was a young man, talking about the tragic death of his wife. I saw that Man03, who told that story, was the same person who called me an “unapologetic racist.” The story starts at 51:55 of this episode.
When a stranger attacks you online, there is often trouble in that person’s life. There is no way to know what was happening with Man03 when he attacked me. I have always been more puzzled than angry, at the wrath of strangers. Now I feel sadness, that another human being was feeling so much pain. Maybe Man03 is in a better place now. Pictures from The Library of Congress.
UPDATE: The risk fans discussion group posted a comment by the Black woman. She had been in touch with the White man, who apologized for his bad behavior. I made a comment, along with a link to this feature. The comment was deleted, and I was blocked by the group.