Racism

Oh no, the "R" word. I think it's time for a frank (sorry about that) discussion on the subject and who seems to be the racists of today. Ever since the campaign for the 2008 presidential elections this subject has once again reared its ugly head. So here we go.

Let's start at the beginning. Early on in our country's history slavery was a common practice in the southern states. Thomas Jefferson had hoped that this issue could be resolved and the practice ended peacefully by slowly phasing it out. His idea was to have a hard date that in which all black people were born after would be free and southern farmers could replace the slave labor with hired hands. Needless to say this did not happen and it took the civil war and a courageous President Lincoln to end slavery.

Now in this country there are those that are still closed minded and have problems with people of color. Not just blacks, but every other race. In my opinion these people are morons. I was born in the 1960's. When I was a little boy I saw the battle for equality on the evening news. I did not understand why it was happening then and I still don't today. Everyone has seen the bit of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech were he says that one day he hopes that people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Even as a small child this made sense to me. I hope this is how I have treated people along the way.

What has made this country great is the contributions that we have gotten from folks that have come from all over the world. In the fields of science, technology, medicine and any other field you can think of, people of all races and backgrounds have achieved great things. Needless to say our lives would be much different without these advances.

In this day and age though it seems that if you are a white person it is okay if you are discriminated against. Take the recent case of the firefighters in New Haven, Ct. The city threw out promotional exams passed by 17 white men and 2 Hispanics and no blacks. For some reason the city thought the folks who didn't pass would sue and great trouble would follow. Lo and behold it was the white firefighters who sued and the second circuit court agreed with the city. Guess who wrote the opinion, Sonia Sotomayor. She ignored the law that says discrimination based on race is illegal. Naturally the Supreme Court overturned her decision. This is not the first time either.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sonia Sotomayor is a racist. She thinks that since she is a Latina woman that she has had the deck stacked against her since the beginning. Yet she then goes on to say that she is a product of affirmative action, that she was not the most qualified to get into an Ivy League school, but since she was considered a minority she got in. Now she is being considered for the highest court in the land. What a shame.

I could also start in on people like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Spike Lee, George Lopez, Jeanene Garafolo and others who do nothing but spew forth hatred and keep us divided, but there are only so many hours in a day.

But again this is the age we live in. If a white male had said something along these lines, he would have been eaten alive by the national press and every special interest group in the country. As he should be. But why do we allow anyone to say these kinds of things at all? I believe in free speech, but when it comes to folks that preach hatred, something needs to be done.

I understand that the history of discrimination against people of color in this country is long. But I do believe that we as a nation have made great strides to correct the errors of the past.

What really gets to me is the fact that we allow groups like the NAACP, La Raza, a "fill in the blank" Chamber of Commerce or any other group with a race or nationality in it's title to exist. Isn't this discriminatory? Doesn't this send the message that it is okay to tell people outside of your group that they are not welcome?

I think it does. I think that in today's society that this is unacceptable. If the tables were turned and these were white only groups, they would all be branded as racist organizations. I would really like to know what makes these groups any different.

Hopefully someone noticed that I did not once use the term African-American or Hispanic-American or Native-American or any others to categorize a group of people. That's because I don't believe in those terms. I believe that we are all Americans. If you were born here then you are by definition an American. If you have immigrated here, then you are a(n), whatever country you came from until you become a citizen. Any other label that you put on yourself just means that you think you are different and deserve special treatment. If a goal is equality, then these labels shoot the argument for equality right in the foot.

It's time that we let the issue of color go. It no longer applies.

If the people that I have mentioned earlier and those that agree with them really want to see where the majority of racists are in this country, all they need to do is look in the mirror.