Tuesday, April 24, 2012

What is Going On?

NOTE: This post is going to raise some hackles. It is related to race relations, but it is not from the perspective that you are used to. And if you are a racist looking for a place to spew your hate, you have come to the wrong place. If you want to post a comment, go ahead, I will just delete it. Or better yet, I'll post it just so others can see how ignorant you are.

So, do you suppose that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP will speak about what has just happened in Montgomery AL? It seems that a crowd of black men beat a white man senseless, beating him so badly that he was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. After the beating ended a witness said that she heard one of the assailants say "Now that's justice for Trayvon," referring to the teenage boy shot and killed in Fla this past winter.

I doubt very seriously this is going to make the nightly news on any of the major networks nor will it see the front page of any major newspaper.

I don't know if it just me but it seems like race-relations are deteriorating at a rate that concerns me. Over the past several years there have been several cases of crimes against another race and it seems like those cases are on the rise. In recent weeks we have seen an uptick in actual and threatened black on white violence. The incident in Montgomery is just the latest, triggered, in part, by the Trayvon Martin tragedy.

None of my liberal readers will be surprised that I lay the blame for this deterioration squarely at Obama's feet. When he did not order the Justice Department to go after the Black Panthers for illegally putting a bounty the individual who is now charged with killing Trayvon, it had to have sent a signal to the more radical elements with in the black community that it was OK to target those who they felt had done them wrong. There have been other incidents during this administration that has emboldened the more radical element in the black community to strike out, sometimes with violence. Think back about the events surrounding the "beer summit" and the dismissal of voter harassment charges against the Black Panthers.

I know first hand that there is a segment of society, black, white and Latino, where there is a festering sore of racism.

Several years ago I was attending a professional development course in Shreveport, LA. There is no way one could miss the simmering tensions between blacks and whites. Twice during my six week stay I witness it first hand. And it was not white racism towards black, but the other way around.

In my first few days there I was playing in a softball game. The team I played for was made up of all Air Force members. Most of us were white, but we did have about four blacks. The team we were facing was entirely black. During the game I never even gave the make up of the teams any thought at all. That soon changed. At the conclusion of the game I headed over to the dugout of the opposing team to shake their hands, as has been customary in any softball league I have ever played in, whether it be the local "beer league" or a highly competitive traveling team. As I approached the dugout one of the players looked up at me and said "What the F**K do you want white boy?" Other players joined in with the name calling and veiled threats. I just turned around and headed back to my dugout. One of my teammates basically told me that teams that are not diverse don't shake hands.

The other incident occurred towards the tail end of my six weeks. For anyone who is a college football fan, Eddie Robinson is a name that stands among the legends of college football coaches. For nearly his entire career, Robinson coached at Grambling State University, a traditionally black school. He was bringing his Grambling State Tigers into Shreveport to play NW LA Tech. I couldn't pass up a chance to see a legend in action, especially since it looked like his career was coming to a close. So I gather up a few friends and we went. Or should I say attempted to go. When one of my friends (who was also white) and I were crossing the parking lot, the level of hatred directed towards us had me utterly baffled, and frankly, quite scared. Scared is a normally reaction when receiving threats of violence if we attempted to enter the stadium. Needless to say, I did not get a chance to see the game.

I make these points to show my readers who might not be aware, that racism runs both ways. There is no question that racism from whites towards others does exist; I acknowledge that. But it also runs in the opposite direction and to ignore it or to say it isn't possible is just the wrong attitude. But the media does not cover it to any degree. It is not part of the progressive narrative to show that a racist attitude has nothing to do with your skin color. You don't have to be white to be a racist.

I have no desire to further drive a wedge that will continue to separate us along racial lines, I'll leave that to Obama and his Justice Department. I just wanted my readers to be aware that we need to recognize that unless something is done soon, relations are going to pass a point where the damage to to great to repair. I personnally don't ever want to reach that stage.

3 comments:

  1. Yes - if you paid attention only to the media you would think only white people can be racist. There is no chance of racism going away until it is widely acknowledged that anyone can be a racist and be a target of racism.

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  2. Sorry to say, that it is happening all across our nation. It's pretty scary.

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  3. Breaks my heart...a black friend of ours, now in Heaven with the Lord, told us that if your skin is darker than others, you are a target of racism among your own people..His other use to scrub him with bleach and a brush to try to make his skin lighter, so he would be accepted...Now that is deeper racism than I am used to hearing about...Very sad....The Bible says there is ONE RACE, Human Race....And I believe that the Jackson's and Sharpton's of this world are keeping their own on the Plantation and not letting them rise above that mentality, but continue to tell them that free stuff is what they should attain to....
    Clarence Thomas said that he didn't take entitlement money to go to college because his granddad told him that he needed to excel on his merits or it would not mean anything to get the diploma with other peoples money (my paraphrase) Great granddad and it has paid off for
    Clarence....What a wonderful man of character.
    That's my two cents worth....And I pray for people of all colors o WAKE UP and see what they are doing to one another.
    Love from NC

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