What do these two pictures have in common? They both feature men that have a shameless need for attention, and when the situation calls for it they are more than happy to bring race into the equation to get it.
By the time that you are old enough to read this blog, I sincerely hope that racism is eradicated and this whole post won't make sense. But, I really doubt that. Racism is part of our great American fabric. It has been since back in the day when one race could lawfully own another. We have come along way since then. Now blacks and other minorities are celebrities, office holders, and amongst the wealthiest of people in the USA. At one time black people had to have separate bathrooms.
(At this point I acknowledge that I probably should be using "African Americans" or some other adjective, but I have never understood that. Most black people have not been born in Africa, just as I as a "Euro American or Danish American" was not born in Europe or Denmark. What the hell is a white African who has American citizenship supposed to call themselves? I am the 4th or 5th generation of my family born in America, so why would I be a Danish American? I am American, and I happen to be white, or Caucasian, or whatever. Hopefully your generation will just be Americans and we can leave it at that.)
Back to the separate bathrooms and race relations. I never understood the whole separate bathroom thing. Did black people at that time have a different size poo? If that was the case I can kind of understand that. Maybe they had bigger poo and had to have bigger plumbing. Maybe their poo was smaller so you could save a few bucks with a smaller pipe. I don't know, but I bet it would have been more cost efficient to just use the bigger poo sized pipe so all people could make poo together. We should have consulted the economically poo sized Jews, they would have never made such a poor financial decision, and they would have hired those hard working medium sized poo Mexicans to install it a cheaper rate.
There are still influential people making money, and empowering themselves using racism as a tool. I am taking two recent examples from very powerful people to illustrate this point. They aren't the only ones, but they fit this purpose.
"His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality," Jesse Jaskson said in a statement, "(Gilbert)sees LeBron as a runaway slave."
Dan Gilbert in this case is the "slave master." He's the (white) guy that owns the Cleveland Cavaliers and once employed (black guy) LeBron James. After LeBron left Cleveland for Miami, Dan Gilbert wrote an open letter expressing his dismay. Was it racially toned? No. It sounded like a guy who just lost his biggest star that he had built everything around. It sounded angry and perhaps a bit petty.
Jesse Jackson thought his comments were a great time to point out the similarities between slaves and NBA stars. Really Jesse? There are people that get pissed in business deals all the time and say things about former employees. The big difference here is that the "slave" made millions of dollars, was the face of the franchise, and was what the whole organization was built around. Slaves were beaten,traded as property, and had no rights. If anything, LeBron was more a hot chick that dumped Dan Gilbert and broke his heart. But calling LeBron a hot chick would not have incited the holy anger of the media and put Jesse Jackson in the spotlight. That is how the Rev. Jesse rolls. It's more important for him to be in the news than to make sense. He's a liberal hate mongering asshole who uses a touchy subject to stay relevant. But he's not alone.
"That cracker made a lot of African-American millionaires," Rush Limbaugh said of Steinbrenner, "And at the same time he fired a bunch of white guys."
Rush Limbaugh is also the kind of kind who uses race at will to drive numbers. George Steinbrenner recently passed away. He was the owner you loved to have, and the other teams owner you loved to hate. He turned the Yankees from the team you hated, to the team you loved to hate because they won a lot. Rush is a guy that worked in baseball, and yet at the death of a legend (whom I don't care for but respect) he decided to bring race into it. Why? He wanted numbers. He wanted to be talked about. He wanted people to turn in to his next show to hear what othere crazy shit he had to say. Read the quote and find one other meaning. The guy wanted attention so he played the race card. Limbaugh is a conservative hate mongering asshole using race to stay relevant.
The race card in America is the equivalent of putting a turd in a punch bowl. It's bound to elicit a reaction, and it is only used to make everyone uncomfortable. If I have one hope for your generation it is to eradicate racism, and hatred in general. Race, gender, and even sexual preference are no reason to judge a person. There are a multitude of reasons within people's control to hate them for. Wait for them to give you a more personal reason. Those who deserve it will give you plenty.
By the way, a cop asking for proof of residency is not racist. It's common sense.
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