Racism

I’m sure everyone has heard by now that Don Imus’ radio show is no more. Do I think what he said was stupid? Yes I do. Did he deserve to be fired? No…and I’ll tell you why. First, I can’t believe I’m even spending time on this, but I have a point so stick with me. Don Imus made his remarks a week ago, yet it took a few days for everyone to be offended. This shows how few people listened to that segment that day as well as put any stock in what Don Imus said. If there was outrage expressed that day or the day after and he was fired then, well maybe I could look at this situation as the employer doing the right thing. But given the amount of time this whole scenario took to play out, it shows me that the BIGGEST reason racism exists is to keep jackasses like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in business. Yes, what I’m saying is the two biggest names that supposedly lead the fight for civil rights and to end racism are the two who keep it going so they’ll have a paycheck.

I want to share a story about how I learned about racism. I was 5 years old, and my family went to a campground for the weekend. One afternoon, I told my parents I was going to walk right up the trail to play in the playground. I get there, and was the only white person. I started to get on a swing and a couple of black little boys came over and started telling me that “honkeys aren’t allowed on these swings” and they pushed me off. I started to walk to the monkey bars where several black kids were playing and they all started telling me “these bars ain’t for honkeys!”, and not knowing what they meant, I started to climb them. Guess what, several black kids pulled me off and once again informed me that honkeys weren’t allowed. Now I was 5 years old and had no clue what was going on, but I was upset because all I wanted to do was play. I went back to where my family had our camp setup and my dad could see I was upset. I told him what happened and he told me that sometimes people of different races don’t like others who aren’t in their race. I honestly had a hard time with that, because at the time one of my best friends was a black kid named Alan who I was in pre-school with. That was my introduction to racism. It’s funny in a sad way because I always hear about racism being taught…so that means these kids were told to hate white people.

I don’t say this to be negative about blacks at all. I say this to show that racism can and does exist in races other than white people. And guess what…it will NEVER go away in this world. As long as people look different, there will be people who don’t like them. It’s the way it’s been for a long time, so just deal with it. If I was to travel to Watts or Compton, would I be welcome with open arms? Yeah, right. It’s just the way things are, and you live with it. Is it right? No, but like I said, it’s the way things are. And do you know what I think is the number one contributor to racism? It’s when people keep making it an issue. I don’t care if you’re white, black, or whatever…there will always be people who don’t like you because of your race. So what do you do? You ignore it and LIVE YOUR LIFE!

I watched “South Park” last night, and they made so much fun of the stereotypical lesbian, Iranian, and Mexican that I can’t believe there wouldn’t be outrage over it. In fact, they even have a character named Token Black. So why doesn’t Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson go after Trey Parker and Matt Stone? Easy…because they know these guys won’t back down. Heck, they already made fun of Jesse Jackson in a show…someone said the “n” word and to apologize he had to kiss Jackson’s bare butt. Why aren’t they outraged over this? Oh wait…there’s no blood in the water.

I hope this shows that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are like sharks in the water looking for blood. Both of these individuals disgust me because they call themselves reverends, yet do NOTHING but divide people and run around screaming about hate. They are attention whores and have used this situation with Don Imus to try and prove some sort of relevance. When people quit making race an issue, it won’t be a big deal. To quote from the movie “Rocky Balboa” - “Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

So do you want to point fingers and be a coward using excuses? It’s what Sharpton and Jackson want so they can have power. They thrive by continuing to point out that the system is against you, therefore you can’t succeed without their help. They’re liars, and the fact they call themselves “reverend” disgusts me. Remember this - Jesus was from Nazareth and Nazarenes were considered VERY low on the social ladder. Did He EVER say your perceived status was a valid excuse for not pursuing something? I don’t think He did.