I suppose it\u2019s altogether fitting I write this on a day when I\u2019m off work in honor of the memory of one of our country\u2019s greatest civil rights proponents.\u00a0 [IMPORTANT NOTE: if you are sensitive about strong opinions related to current day politics, or rather societal hot button topics, do not read this.\u00a0 You have been warned.]
\n
\nI have zero tolerance for racism.\u00a0 I dislike prejudice in general, but the sad truth is that each of us in some form or another are prejudiced simply due to our flawed human condition.\u00a0 But the particular brand of prejudice we label as racism can bring my blood to a boil.\u00a0 Yet I also feel a sense of sadness because the \u201cideals\u201d of racism clearly illustrate an unparalleled depth of ignorance, often blended with greed and selfishness.<\/p>\n
Racism, at least in these United States, has generally become synonymous for whites hating blacks.\u00a0 Often still, slavery is referenced in with racism for good measure, or perhaps for drama, even though that was officially outlawed in the U.S. over one hundred years ago.\u00a0 Do not misunderstand, I abhor the whole concept of slavery in any form and consider myself blessed to live in a country and at a time when I am not faced with it.\u00a0 Slavery in and of itself however is not exclusive to the U.S. or to whites owning blacks.\u00a0 Neither is it technically coupled with racism.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe me?\u00a0 Read the Bible.<\/p>\n
It certainly is most appropriate to think of racism in terms of severe repression.\u00a0 But then again that\u2019s a hallmark of prejudice in general.\u00a0 Consider for example the present day inequality in pay scales between women and men.\u00a0 Yes prejudice, and racism, have left very deep wounds in this nation, and in this world.\u00a0 Unfortunately, after all of our battles and struggles, in spite of our high minded thinking and sophistication, it still exists.\u00a0 You often hear stories of how people today are still affected by it.\u00a0 Even myself, a middle aged white male with very long hair, am affected greatly by prejudice as people around me seem to somehow know what my \u201cintentions\u201d are purely based on my appearance.\u00a0 This sort of blatant prejudice I\u2019m afraid is a permanent part of the human experience.\u00a0 What we don\u2019t, or refuse to understand becomes what we fear and hate.\u00a0 However, what I fail to grasp is why the racism portion of prejudice doesn\u2019t go away already.\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t the world been enlightened enough by now to recognize the stupidity of it?\u00a0 What\u2019s most alarming to me today is how racism has suddenly gained in acceptance as of late.<\/p>\n
Racism in the Untied States in 2009 has seemingly become sophisticated and welcomed.\u00a0 It\u2019s become elitist.\u00a0 It\u2019s become a standard.\u00a0 And tomorrow it moves into the White House.\u00a0 Has anyone noticed?\u00a0 \u201cHow can you say that?!?!\u201d is undoubtedly the rabid cry of supporters.\u00a0 Yet if you\u2019re willing to actually contemplate some simple observances, weigh them in rationale, please read on.\u00a0 If you\u2019re more interested in reacting than thinking, stop reading now.<\/p>\n
Unless every single news agency has misrepresented the facts (something I can actually believe), and unless the man himself has misrepresented the facts, our new commander-in-chief, Barack Obama, has a black father and a white mother.\u00a0 So let\u2019s see, unless basic math has changed lately, that would mean he\u2019s equally black and equally white.\u00a0 50-50.\u00a0 Half black.\u00a0 Half white.\u00a0 NOT black, but half black.\u00a0 Which means it\u2019s every bit as valid to say that he\u2019s white, as it is to say that he\u2019s black.<\/p>\n
Ask yourself, why has the focus been on race, and especially focused on Obama being only black?\u00a0 He\u2019s also white.\u00a0 At any time during the campaign did anyone ever focus on that?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Being white doesn\u2019t get black votes.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t get the vote of the self righteous who view electing a black man to the presidency as a badge of honor.\u00a0 Did anyone notice Barack didn\u2019t really need to discuss issues and policy until the end of the campaign because the focus was on race and that was enough?\u00a0 RACE!\u00a0 Would Obama\u2019s political ideals alone have gotten him elected?\u00a0 If we were only allowed to read what he thinks and believes and not know his race, would he have won the election?\u00a0 I honestly don\u2019t know as I never heard enough of his ideas to say.\u00a0 It was hard to hear anything above the \u201che\u2019s black\u201d roar.\u00a0 But… he\u2019s white too.<\/p>\n
The press is practically wetting themselves over the hype of how this inauguration is going to be so historic.\u00a0 And what are we hearing from the press?\u00a0 Race race race.\u00a0 There is some mention of Barack\u2019s African heritage which of course supports the constant focus on race, but little has been said about his mother\u2019s heritage.\u00a0 But of course has there ever been mention of a new president\u2019s heritage, much less his race?\u00a0 If the U.S. is truly free from racial division why mention it?\u00a0 Why does it suddenly matter?\u00a0 The very act of calling attention to and making an issue out of Barack\u2019s race IS by definition racist.<\/p>\n
Millions of people are spending a lot of money in the midst of a bad economy so they can flood into the area to witness history.\u00a0 There is a commotion in D.C. now that I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ve ever seen since the civil rights march.\u00a0 Folks, there have been many black leaders in this world.\u00a0 He\u2019s not the first and won\u2019t be the last.\u00a0 Oh, and did I mention, he\u2019s also white?\u00a0 Well that\u2019s not important, he\u2019s black.\u00a0 No one cares about a white man taking the oath.\u00a0 I obviously suffer under some fanatical delusion that race has nothing to do with it, but that he\u2019s a man like all other men, with some qualities that might make him a good leader, none of which happens to be race.<\/p>\n
After the inauguration has passed, will the headlines say \u201cThe U.S. has a new white president\u201d?\u00a0 Can you imagine the understandably appropriate uproar from the black community if at any time in our history there was such a headline?\u00a0 Yet in 2009, we can expect headlines to proclaim a black president, and articles having a great deal of the focus placed on the man\u2019s race, and we\u2019ll all be okay with that.\u00a0 America, hello?!?!\u00a0 Is anyone paying attention?\u00a0 Give it up already.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have a new president.\u00a0 His race is unimportant.\u00a0 Just be sure to mention he\u2019s also white.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard more black Americans now making statements like \u201cthe white house is gonna be black now\u201d.\u00a0 Are you freaking kidding me????\u00a0 Should we paint it black too?\u00a0 After all the color of the thing is why it\u2019s named what it is, not because of the race of the individual currently in office.\u00a0 The most ridiculous part about this is how the press and black community in general don\u2019t find anything wrong with that statement.\u00a0 So now we\u2019re down to renaming the residence of the president based on his or her race when it\u2019s never been that way before?\u00a0 But then again, it could be white, because he\u2019s white as well as black.<\/p>\n
Recently Obama has been compared to some of this country\u2019s greatest leaders, Lincoln and Kennedy.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 As of this writing he hasn\u2019t taken office yet.\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t done anything yet.\u00a0 How is it he is already deserving of such praise and adoration?\u00a0 Because he\u2019s black?\u00a0 Or because he\u2019s also white?<\/p>\n
Has any part of this made you realize even for a moment, how utterly and insanely ignorant it is for us to be defining him by his race?\u00a0 For me, I have no idea how the man will do in his new job.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care if my leaders are women or men, black or white or what ever color you want to attach to an individual\u2019s race.\u00a0 I want them to be intelligent, calm, collected, wise, a peace seeker, strong, and willing to seek the counsel of others with the same qualities.\u00a0 I want them to be self sacrificing and willing to make the tough decisions.\u00a0 Willing to listen to the people and not more concerned with serving themselves.\u00a0 I reserve the right to make any comparisons to past presidents until I see what Barack is going to do.<\/p>\n
Good luck Barack.\u00a0 With the current state of this world and the U.S. economy, you\u2019ll need it.\u00a0 I hope you really are the great white hope everyone is looking for.\u00a0 Or should I say great black hope?\u00a0 Either way, I\u2019ll pray for you and our country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I suppose it\u2019s altogether fitting I write this on a day when I\u2019m off work in honor of the memory of one of our country\u2019s greatest civil rights proponents.\u00a0 [IMPORTANT NOTE: if you are sensitive about strong opinions related to current day politics, or rather societal hot button topics, do not read this.\u00a0 You have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state","category-us"],"views":1539,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchorstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}