Race has certainly been in the news of late with the furor over the vitriolic remarks made by Barak Obama’s pastor and mentor. I always worry about people who make preposterous remarks. The Rev. Wright said the US government gave the black community AIDS? What about all the white people who have it? Did the US give it to the millions of Africans who have it? Hasn’t the origin and spread of the disease been traced and documented? Remarks like that rank right up there with those who say the Holocaust never happened. Weren’t there survivors from the many camps? Soldiers who liberated the camps? Didn’t the Germans keep records? Never lie about anything that is easily checked.
This is something else I’ve noticed about people. If they want to blame others for anything, they will find a way to justify their rationale. Somehow promiscuity and irresponsible sexual habits don’t get mentioned as a basis for the AIDS problem. It just fell out of the sky? They have no ownership? It is so easy to blame others and avoid the mirror.
Some blame race for problems that may have nothing to do with race. Didn’t get a job promotion? A white person got it? Given all other factors as equal, could it be something as subtle as grammar? (Or work ethic? Or deadlines met?) If I were a personnel director whose company had to be represented in the market place around the country, one thing I would certainly want is people who spoke standard English. That has to do with language use, not with race. I’ve known plenty of blacks who speak standard English. I’ve also known plenty of whites who do not. However, if it is an issue, blacks may be shouting discrimination for the wrong reason. If people say they are educated, they need to speak as educated people do, whatever their race, and that means using standard English. It can be corrected. No one wants to say that out loud because even that comment sounds discriminatory.
Obama’s grandmother worried about passing black guys on the street? Darn tootin’! So has most of the female population, black or white! Why wouldn’t she if the men are hanging out in groups? Women don’t know what to expect. They feel very vulnerable, and they should. It’s a creepy feeling. Men fail to acknowledge that. However, I’ve felt a start whenever I’ve passed groups of Middle Eastern men in London, or Asians in Paris, or white guys in Augusta, Georgia. People are not identifying the correct cause of that fear.
I do know that I am tired of being blamed for slavery. Wasn’t there, didn’t contribute to it, as is the case for all of the people living today. If I’m going to be held responsible for a crime, let it be something I actually did. Everyone’s family has suffered at some point in history. That’s life. My father’s original ancestor left England rather than starve to death. He half-indentured himself to his uncle to pay for his passage to the new world. It took him 3 1/2 years to repay him. No free rides.
As Americans we have had so many wonderful opportunities. If life isn’t what we want, then let’s get up off our collective backsides and change it. Let’s rejoice and be glad. Let’s celebrate our successes and enjoy the beautiful life God, and hard work, has given us.
Happy Easter!
