
Race relations have been the hot topic of conversation now for several weeks due to the “outing” of Jeremiah Wright’s preaching. However, I believe that if Barrack Obama had not been running for president, Wright’s views would not even have been noticed. However, this problem has been festering in the United States for some time now and I believe that we are now dealing with an infection that has abscessed and in order to heal we will need to lance it. To begin with, I am a Caucasian. One may wonder what experience a white person has had with racism in order to give a commentary upon that subject and I consider that a valid question. Truth be told, I have had a great deal of experience with being on the receiving end of racism.
I attended one of the worst high schools in Richmond, Virginia. I was bussed to school from my home to a poor section of town to attend John F. Kennedy High School. The school was located smack dab in the middle of the projects. At the time, Richmond was the murder capitol of the nation and drugs were the primary cause of our reputation for violence. Additionally, the projects surrounding the school were known to be one of the deadliest in town. It was there that a thirteen year old white kid and the remaining students of the schools white population were deposited every morning during the week. The remaining student population was 98% black, with many of these students living in the surrounding projects.
While attending this school I was called a honky, white cracker, cracker, white bread, and whitey. There were several fights to teach whitey his place and the girls were not spared violence either. The school administration ignored the racial aspects of these problems until somebody nearly died. A friend of mine was nearly beaten to death. My friend was white and his assailant was black. The school janitor found him lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor of the boy’s bathroom at 4:30 a.m. and called for an ambulance. When you have to survive in an environment like that, you develop behaviors that keep you from being noticed. So I have some knowledge of experiencing bad treatment just for the color of your skin. It is just that the racial roles were reversed, I was the victim and the bigot had black skin.
As I grew older and graduated from high school, I came face to face with racism again. I had applied for a position as an automotive technician at the Sears Auto Center. The move would have been a lateral one because I was already employed as a sales associate in Hardware. I wasn’t successful in getting the job, but having a friend who worked in the personnel office has its benefits. I asked her what I could do in the future to improve my chances of employment with the Auto Center. She swore me to secrecy and when I had given my word, she revealed that there was nothing I could have done. Sears was never going to hire a white person for that position because there were too many whites employed at the Auto Center already. She told me that I was more qualified than the black female that they had hired, but there was nothing that could be done because of racial quotas. I was angry, but there was nothing that I could do if I were to honor my word, but it rankled me that the only reason that I was not hired was due to the color of my skin. Once such a thing has happened, it opens your eyes to the injustices of racism. While my previous high school experience was not pleasant, I attributed it to the actions of thugs and criminals. I had no idea that being white could prevent you from being employed. It was a rude awakening.
While we still have racism in white America, there is also racism in black America. We hear black preachers talking about liberation gospel and how whitey has never repented for his treatment of the black man, how the government created HIV to destroy the black population, how the crackers created gangster rap to kill black people, and how Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shuker were the next great black leaders, but they weren’t smart enough to dodge whitey’s plot to get them to kill one another. We also hear Mayor Ray Nagin speaking of a chocolate city where New Orleans “will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be.” To tell you the truth, the only difference between the black people who subscribe to this garbage and David Duke, is the color of their skin.
Yet society constantly denies that there is racism anywhere, but in white America. However, hatred is an emotion that all human beings have. Racism is based upon the human desire to elevate the self while denying status to another for an arbitrary reason and this response is fueled by hatred. In the case of black America, they wish to elevate themselves while they throw whitey under the bus while being cheered on by people like Jeremiah Wright, who tells them that it is God’s will that they do so. Yet any criticism of the black community only engenders attack regardless of race.
Bill Cosby was sitting on a panel hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington D.C. and was speaking about parenting skills. The Washington Post reported, “Cosby, whose recent scathing observations of the parenting skills and personal values of low-income black people have earned him criticism…” Indeed, Cosby suffered a firestorm of criticism from leaders within the black community. Despite this, Cosby has stood by his commentary much to the displeasure of those he criticized. I have heard comments from other black men who have argued much the same as Bill Cosby.
One such man was a substitute teacher back in High School. There was a class discussion and a black student complained about how the system kept black people down. That was when the substitute teacher made a speech. He said that he was tired of the excuses that black people made for not progressing. He said that when the Irish first came to America, they were hated more than a black man was and that a white man would hire a black before he hired an Irishman. Yet, the Irish had broken free from this status and now were judges, politicians, lawyers and doctors. He then asked why is it that everyone else in America can succeed, but blacks are cursed to remain in poverty. He then said that it was because black people have their hands out, waiting for the government to give them something. He told the class that as long as they have their hands out waiting on the government, they would never amount to anything. I was shocked. I had never expected to hear such a thing from the lips of a teacher and to this day he has my respect for telling the truth. Although his name escapes me, I will never forget his words. A people who have their hands out waiting for the government to give them something will never know true freedom.
Until black America wakes up and realizes that the Democrats have pulled the wool over their eyes, they will remain an underclass reminiscent of the boy in the Dickens novel who timidly asked “Please Sir, may I have some more?” One would expect the leaders of the black community to strive to break free from this status, but all of their efforts are directed toward maintaining the status quo. The only salient question is: Why?
The Democrats maintain the system via handouts because it is a block of voters permanently slaved into the party. The black leaders maintain the system in order to obtain wealth and for the status of being the elite of the black community. The NAACP maintains the system in order to maintain relevance in modern society. The “liberation gospel” pastors maintain the system in order to get ahead and to become community leaders. The black community at large maintains the system because they believe that they are owed. Thus, we have a vicious circle that will never end until realization dawns upon enough people at the lowest level and they realize that they are being used.
Am I wrong in my assessment? I don’t think so. Otherwise, the accomplishments of people like Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Clarence Thomas would be celebrated by the black community rather than derided. That such accomplishments are met with scorn is a travesty. America is the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of the world. Her highest law guarantees that anyone can be successful and enjoy a good life. All one has to do regardless of race, creed, or national origin, is to pursue your dreams. But in order to do so you must accept responsibility for your own life and stop blaming others for your failures.
It is time to let go of the hate and move forward.