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Saturday 18 April 2015

This 'redneck' may have just started a white revolution against racism

Dixon D. White, who describes himself as "a simple southern guy, who was raised in a small country town in the south," posted a video rant on YouTube, which he titled It's not the video's title that gained the attention of the internet, however; it's the subject of White's rant - racism.

If you were to judge the video just from the title, you'd probably never watch it. When we think of America-loving rednecks, we've seen enough videos from confederate flag waving, NRA supporting, card carrying KKK members, who upload YouTube videos complaining about how poor white people, like themselves, are the real victims in racist America. But don't judge White's video by the title alone.


The content is hard-hitting, and surprisingly honest. So honest, that it may even make you cry.


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After his first video rant got over 300,000 views, White uploaded two more videos to his YouTube account, W Honky.

In his second video, he sums up the underlying motivation for racism, white fear and greed.


He starts off by saying, "I'm here to talk about fear. Pride. Arrogance. Narcissism." He asks the difficult question, "What is it that stops so many white people from wanting to change our hearts in regards to race?" Then he goes to answer that question, saying part of it is fear and part of it is greed. He says it's greed because:




"We don't want to lose power, we don't want to lose dominance, we don't want to lose privileges. We don't want to lose benefits that the system of white supremacy has created here in America for white people."




White goes on to talk about the fear factor.


"We're scared. We're scared of black vengeance. We're scared of black retribution. We're scared shitless, and we always have been, since day one, when we put our hands on black people. Grabbed 'em, snatched 'em up, put 'em on a boat, made 'em our own fricking personal slaves..."




He talks about how white fear and white greed is the driving force in our white supremacist society, before finally calling on white people to "Face your fear. Face your greed, so that we can have a more peaceful country."

His second video is even more brutally honest than the first.


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In his third video, uploaded to W Honky's youtube account on April 6th, White issued a challenge to white people. He talks about the response from black people, who contacted him after his first video "with tears in their eyes, because they had never heard a white person speak like that." He goes on to say that the back community has been deprived of the truth. He called on white viewers to talk honestly and openly about race, saying 'get your cell phone' and 'point it at your face'.

The video responses to this challenge are flooding in. The level of honesty from the people in these videos is both touching and startling.


For example, there's this video from a 20-year-old resident of Tennessee. In the comments section, Keisha writes:



Sorry it got cut short guys ♡ may make another video tomorrow. I've been catching hell all day about the racism discussion from family and friends just an FYI.... we have plenty of hate and bullshit in the world.... and it's time we clean up this mess and realize that it happened because we let it happen. Nothing has really changed, nobody has opened their mouth because we have been spoon fed the benefits of our corrupt media, our corrupt government, our white washed nation.



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Here's another video that was shared to youtube by Cathy Thompson-England in response to the challenge.

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These two videos are just a small sampling of the commentary coming in. New videos are being added to White's Facebook page every few minutes. They're coming in from all across the country, from places as diverse as Texas and Connecticut.

Anyone willing to make a video in response to the challenge can upload their own video to Facebook. Many people are using the hashtags #truth #racialhealing and #Dixonchallenge.


I'm sure that due at least in part to the overwhelming amount of support he's gotten, White has started a public Facebook page as well as a Facebook group called The Video Racial Healing Challenge. There's also a web page, where all of the video responses are being gathered. Most of the videos are still being posted to his personal profile page, however, due to the nature of Facebook tagging.


Watch White's video call to action here.


Mexico's 'Volcano of Fire' in Colima spews colossal column of ash over Ciudad Guzman

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Mexico's Colima volcano has spewed a giant 3.5-kilometre-high column of ash that rained down on a nearby city, authorities say. The Jalisco state civil protection agency said a "moderate" quantity of ash fell on Ciudad Guzman, a town near the western state of Colima, where the volcano is located.

A civil protection official said there were no reports of damage or injuries in the city of 100,000 people.


Officials urged the population to use masks if they venture out of their homes, remove excess ash from rooftops so they do not collapse and cover water drains.


The 3,860-metre mountain, also known as the Volcano of Fire, is among the most active in the country.