So I'm a little tired of hearing it Aren't we all? OK. To be blunt. I'm pretty sure those of us that are sick of hearing about it are all sick of it because it's those idiots that we would most classify as racist that won't let it go. Really. We all know there are still some inequities in the United States. One of my best friends and I sat at Carowinds and a young boy, probably about 10 to 12 years old, asked his mother if he could buy a toy rifle with his "report card money". We commented how great of a son these parents had raised when she looked at him, shook her head and said unequivocally "no". He turned around, no whining, no stomping his feet, not a sign of disrespect, and put the toy gun away. Of course, eventually it occurred to her and I that his mother and father wanted no part of it because of the potential risk. They were a nice middle class black family with a daughter and three boys. The fact it even occurred to us at all is probably a lot about the Missouri shooting. But the truth is, geez, where has our society come and how far do we have to go. I've been blessed with blonde children in spite of my dark hair and olive skin. Worrying over some racist hasn't really been a problem in my life since I was like 7. Yet, this whole flag thing has definitely reminded me that I'm sick of racism.
Now here's the thing. If at any time you've even remotely blamed another race for anything wrong as you perceive it, well you might not like this, but yes, you are a racist. If it's the (white) man's fault, then you are blaming someone else for your issues. If, as I recently read in a rant on Facebook, you have ever blamed all the minorities in this country for the end of our country, our way of life, regardless of which minority you happen to be blaming, then you are acting like a racist. If you've used racial slurs, I don't care which ones or what color you happen to be, then yes. Yes, you are a racist.
The problem is we all know that we can be that shallow and stereotype at a moment's notice. We all know that race baiting is one of the favorite things of the news channels we watch and we all, well almost all, recognize the behavior as unacceptable. There are plenty of organizations, both public and private, that want to use race baiting as a way to boost their sales, their ratings or just for their own amusement. And those idiots don't even include those that actually genuinely believe there is a some kind of race war they are trying to create. Those that are hoping for a race war are thrilled when those greedy *ssholes are just lining their pockets at the expense of us accepting each other as human beings. I mean really CNN, CBS, FOX, NBC, et ales, there aren't enough issues in the world to worry about other than making money on race baiting?!?! Let's suffice to say human greed seems to trump peace every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Where does that leave us? The average American? Well, I'm not sure. I've read a lot of false and/or fake history over the last few weeks. I don't care. The fact is that if you have to make stuff up to win an argument you've already lost. There's no arguing that South Carolina never had that flag before 1962. There's very little doubt that it was in response to the desegregation of the South. There's little doubt that South Carolina was not happy about Virginia trying to incorporate that flag into the CSA flag, so it's not really a part of SC history until 1962. All of that just makes it offensive that anyone would argue it's history for SC. It's only history is tied to desegregation and well, we won't even bother calling it poop at this point. Smells like poop, looks like poop, well, probably poop.
But so many people have forgotten what this country was like in the 1970s. I know we have changed, grown and evolved. I love my country. But I remember watching Miss America in the 70s with my grandmother who told me that particular year that it was a great thing--a representative of the United States. The same grandmother who told me I was American as American could be. And yet every last one of the contestants was blonde--even Miss Alaska, Miss Hawaii and Miss Puerto Rico. Really?!?!? I pointed out this discrepancy to my Grams. How is America, the United States of America, this Great Melting Pot and there wasn't a single non-blonde? There was no other discussion and it was one of the only times Grams and I did not watch the whole Miss America pageant. As Donald Trump ran his mouth this week, I was reminded. As friends over the last couple of weeks have used the N word extremely liberally as they defend a flag that isn't even a South Carolina flag, I have been reminded. You simply cannot claim to not be racist and use racial slurs. This is likewise with the few minority friends that I have. You simply cannot blame all Euro-Americans (aka. whites) and use terms like "the man" and other equally obnoxious terms and deny they are racially motivated.
What do we do? We have made such leaps and bounds as a country. All I can say is stop arguing over crap. Stop letting people who want us to stereotype because they are shallow and horrible lead any of us astray. Is it easy to shake off our friends when they are wrong? Our own background when we know it's not how we were raised or even if we were raised that way? No. It's not. But is up to us. We need to unite. How? Stop buying the hype. We are genuinely smarter than that. We are all capable and God, or whatever God you believe in, never meant for us to hate each other or stereotype each other so horribly. End Racism. End Race Baiting.
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