Re:Will Racism Ever End?

This is in response to a note by Mr. Parker...

First of all, Mr. Parker, I'd like to say that I appreciate the thought and insight that clearly goes into your notes. They are thought provoking and interesting.

In response to the question posed by your note, "Will Racism Ever End," I would have to say that my knee-jerk reaction is "No." At least not in our lifetime...maybe in the lifetime of our offspring. Let me tell you why...

Racism often stems from two things, ignorance and a sense of victimization (which is undoubtedly coupled with a sense of entitlement. )

Ignorance comes into play more often than we tend to acknowledge...

When white people crack the offensive jokes about our hair, features, African American Vernacular English, and other things it stems from ignorance. Since, more often than not, they haven't experienced black culture, nor do they know more than their few token black friends they (just like all of us) tend to refer back to stereotypes and pop-culture imagery to help them form their opinion. This "ignorance fueled" racism, I tend to see as racism of the "low brow" variety...

Grandfather clauses, Good Ol' Boy networks, Ivory Towers, Glass Ceilings, and the logically flawed arguments against minority equality programs are a combination of the two reasons for racism.

They are ignorant because they assume that blackness exists in a vacuum. It is as if the, as Condoleeza Rice said, "birth defect" of having skin blessed with melanin makes us incompetent and incapable in their eyes. They believe that we are all the same....except for those that are a "credit to our race"....you can't believe how many times I've been called "one of the good ones"....

It also points directly to a sense of entitlement because HISTORICALLY the only demographic that has ever mattered in America has been the white male landowner...

The sense of victimization comes into play because they feel as though minority quotas and equality programs are taking positions, jobs, and whatever else from qualified white males....let's not go there right now.

The sense of victimization basis for racism is often seen in middle class to lower class individuals who feel as though they have been pushed away from their birthright of success and a slice of the American pie by all these "G*ddamn foreigners," "F*ckin Mexicans," and "Stupid Ni&&ers!" (Taken from an actual quote I heard once...)

They are the ones who are easily mislead by various forms of propaganda and are most likely to revert back to stereotypes to explain their frustration with people of a different hue...

The man who displayed his ignorance with you, Mr. Parker, felt victimized...because you had invaded what he felt as though was his "personal" place...his Birmingham version of "Cheers"...(which had no black people that I can remember)

I think we are FINALLY on the road to healing...rather than the appeasement that has been going on for the past 40+ years. Senator Obama has a lot to do with that...

Racist attitudes on BOTH sides are coming out more and more....Only by honest examination can we eradicate the plagues that have stricken this country known as racism and prejudice...

I'm done...

Racism in America....

Check out the url below AFTER you read the post...

http://sandrarose.com/2008/06/05/the-assassination-of-barack-obama-freedom-of-expression-or-racism/#more-1362

In America we have this wonderful thing called the 1st Amendment...

As a blogger, journalist and poet by calling, and "jerk-in-residence" at an institution of higher learning right now, I use the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by that amendment to the fullest...

Through freedom of speech we are guaranteed the right to freely express ourselves regardless of the medium...

However, there are certain fundamental things that you must understand about freedom of speech....

There are three types of speech that are not protected...

One is slander/libel...

The other is Hate Speech/"Fighting Words"...

I fully understand that the use of such speech would possibly get me arrested, reprimanded, and I could very well become the defendant in a lawsuit...

With that being said, I'm going to need people to understand that the use of NOOSES directed at a black person (Whether they are Joe Schmoe on the street or, like in this case, Senator Barack Obama) it is HATE SPEECH and should have no expectations of protection.

Calling Senator Obama's daughters "Nappy Headed Hoes" is not unprotected...but it is most definitely outside the boundaries of good taste...

Why does it seem that the racial division of this country is a festering sore...rather than a healing wound?

I don't really understand right now...

My Take on the Obama Nomination...

I woke up Wednesday morning proud...

I was proud that the man I had believed in from day one had become the first black Presidential nominee from a major party in American history...

I was proud that the politics of fear, straw man arguments, and misdirection failed...

I was proud that all the battles I had with Republicans, Conservatives, and Clinton supporters had been ultimately justified...

I was proud that Senator Obama was resilient enough to stand strong and never lose focus of what was truly important....offering a change from the typical "pay for play" politics that have plagued this country for decades...

I was proud of Hilary...for standing strong and fighting...

I was proud that I lived in an America where the majority of citizens no longer saw white flesh and a "Y Chromosome" as a prerequisite for leadership...

In his speech on Tuesday night, Senator Obama said:
" There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn't just about the party in charge of Washington, it's about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African Americans, and Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.

All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment—a moment that will define a generation—we cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say—let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America..."

My generation has been and will be defined by the leadership of a man that could have very well been one of our parents, Senator Barack Obama...

I have shouted for years...well, at least since I had the mind to actually pick up a book on politics, that America has needed new blood at the helm. Someone untainted by the moral rigor mortis that has been typical of our leadership for the past few decades, someone who does not seeing politics as a cushy job but rather a calling, a leader who cares for the people who give him power rather than the corporations who usurp that power daily...

Truth be told...I just wanted someone to look up to.

Is it too much to ask to turn on the TV and see someone who I can honestly say that I would like to be like? That understands me, my struggle, and the intellectual burden that lays heavy on me (and has crushed many of my peers) as a member of Dubois' Talented Tenth...

I would be less than an intelligent man if I didn't say that before I became an Obama supporter...I researched his platforms, focuses, and ideas. I looked at them objecively and found that my views matched up with his. I read his book, read his speeches, and listened to his platforms....and found myself working to get out the vote for Senator Obama.

Amusingly enough, for my support...I have received a lot of flack from my fellow Alabamians...

I've been called EVERYTHING under the sun...

While they play what I like to call the "Politics of the Soundbite"

This election reminds me of a Langston Hughes poem that I fell in love with as a child..."I, Too, Sing America"

"I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America..."

Young America....we are now at the table....and I am proud....

For the first time in my adult life....I can say I'm proud to be an American....

And I DON'T take it back...