After yesterday's rant concerning Imus, my cogitations led me to ponder the nature of the civil rights movement and “The Struggle”. Now don't ask how I got there, just trust me, the way MY mind works, I can start thinking about the VA Tech massacre and end up at Chaos Theory...but I digress...
Now let me state parenthetically that I have a great deal of respect for the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. I’m sitting in a leather chair, wearing an expensive shirt and comfortable business shoes, typing on my desktop PC with a 21” monitor with my laptop sitting on the other side of my desk, right next to my coffee warmer . In about an hour, I’m going to get into my Isuzu Rodeo SUV and go to Chipotle for a burrito. Later, I’ll head to my suburban apartment, turn on some music (probably The GAME, Snoop Dogg or Nas) and pump it through my Dolby Digital surround sound until my walls shake, then sit back and enjoy an adult beverage…and I can do ALL of that in part thanks to the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement and in particular, the people who led that movement and kept it going.
Institutional racism did much more than disenfranchise an entire group of people; it enslaved their minds, causing self-inflicted slavery that’s lasted much longer than any of us would like to admit - but again I digress; that’s a rant for another day. The Civil Rights Movement and its leadership engaged in “The Struggle” to eliminate institutional racism…and guess what, they were successful. Don’t get me wrong, racism is still very much alive and well in
What’s my point? “The Struggle” as we defined it in the 60’s is pretty much over. The institutional racism that they fought so valiantly to defeat has been defeated. So, instead of belittling people like Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell just because they’re politically conservative, and instead of hesitating to support Barack Obama simply because he’s not part of “The Struggle”, perhaps the leadership of the black community could begin to focus on the removal of the self-inflicted chains of slavery that continue to cripple the black community. Instead of holding hands and singing, “we shall overcome” every February, perhaps the leadership could begin to discuss, in very real, direct and confrontational terms WHY we’re killing each other and robbing each other in the black community. Why do gangs still exist? What is this generational dependency on welfare where grandma, mom and all 4 daughters live in the same housing project with multiple baby-daddies? Why didn’t the million man march produce more good husbands and dependable fathers? Why are more professional black women dating white men? We simply can’t keep saying, “the white man is keeping me down” when we make poor choices and our so-called leaders are stuck in a time warp.
Racism is not dead, but the American Dream is more real for black people now than ever before. If you don’t choose to support Barack Obama, then don’t; but don’t because he hasn’t been in Washington long enough to have a political track record to review; don’t because he doesn’t support our troops in the War On Terror; don’t because he’s not the best man for the job in your opinion…but for crying out loud, don’t piss on the man’s parade because he’s not part of some movement that should’ve changed its focus or been put out to pasture long ago.
Just my thoughts…err ranting for today…
2 comments:
Wow. i would venture to say that many non-black people are also hanging on to the same outdated stereo-types and racial predjudices in an attempt to prove how enlightened they actually are. It never ceases to amaze me that the harder you try to avoid something, invariably, the more you wind up face first in it.
How many of us, when describing a co-worker, have to work the color of skin in? "You remember E-, honey, he's the black guy I work with." And i'm sure that when people do that, they (for the most part) mean no disrespect, it's just a way of pinpointing the person you're talking about. But why feel the need to do that??
Is there any relevance to the story? No. I can't think of a single example where you absolutely MUST say, in this day and age, what race, nationality, or creed someone is.
Why are people killing people? Why is the media focusing our attention on the fact that black men are killing other black men? Or that 238 illegal Mexican immigrants were detained at the border.
Shouldn't it be enough that people are killing other people? THAT's the tragedy...that people....of ANY race....are put into a position where they think that harming another human being will somehow better their situation.
Am I racist? No. I don't think so.I guess it depends largely on your definition of racism.I don't feel that my caucasian heritage is any better than yours...whatever it may be. Do I have some prejudicial tendencies and misconceptions? Most certainly. Everyone does. I don't care if you're black, white, yellow, brown, or turquoise. You are going to make assumptions about people that are not like you. And you're going to act based on those assumptions. And sometimes your assumptions will be right about that person but seldom will those assumptions hold true and valid for an entire race of people.
If I'm being a dick to you. Call me on it. Say I'm being a dick. Don't call me racist. Because in most cases, it comes down to me just being a dick.
But I think that people are so worried about not getting their asses sued, that they bend over too far the other way.
I'm not sure that institutional racism is dead. I just think it's being covered up a lot better now. And its name is 'Political Correctness'.
PC is the new Racism (I'm sure there's a rant in there somewhere. Or at the very least an interesting idea for a documentary.
When people start acting out of love and eliminate the boundaries of a "ghetto" or the "good neighborhood" and strive to bring ALL PEOPLES to a place of love and hope. THEN the struggle will truly be over.
But there's a long way to go.
This is the reason I have been the way I am my entire life. I have never been one to try and dress up or try to look my very best, or make sure my car was super clean. My parents and grandparents have always been like that. My pops would always be on me about how I dressed if I were really bummy that day, or washing the car.
They usually say, 'well you should want to take care of your things, and have nice things'. BULLSHIT! I had an 83 Toyota corolla with over 300,000 miles, an 88 Toyota camry with over 400,000 miles, I have a boom box that is over 25 years old that still works fine. Don't feed me that crap about taking care of things, I know how to do that. Your concern is not about taking care of things, it is how those things are perceived. You are concerned with how people see you and what they think about you, etc,. Now granted in 'the Struggle' days African-Americans were concerned more as a community about how they were being perceived because it was a community struggle. They felt a need to show that, 'we are intelligent, respectable, hard-working people who deserve a chance.', so in retrospect, there was a time and place, and more importantly, a need to dress up, or make sure your car was clean, or whatever while they fought through the struggle.
But today, if you can not come up to me and speak to me as an individual to find out what I am about(unless I am involved in some action that you are observing which may state the type of individual I am), then you probably do not have the necessary intellect to converse with me in the first place. I enjoy walking around bummy and watching the different reactions of those who are taking note, and those who will still speak. And when they do decide to speak, there is that revelation of, 'oh, this guy is smart', and later, ' I may have bitten off more than I can chew'.
But all that to say, if you observe a person long enough, your observations will tell you whether or not you want to converse with that person or not. There will always be racist, or people who teach division and hate. There is to much money being made from this. And the followers of this idealogy don't know any better. Weak minded individuals like this need someone to blame their problems and deficiencies on. You can only hope that the children one day will realize that it is the individual and not the community that you need to be concerned with.
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