I get so tired of how some people seem to insist on stereotyping all black people as lazy, shiftless, chitterlin' eatin', drug addicted welfare leeches who refuse to go out and get a job. This is the sort of attitude that, when I hear it, I want to smack these folks and tell them what racists they are being, but alas, sometimes, it's better to keep one's mouth shut and let them go on sounding like an igoramus rather than try to engage in what will more than likely turn into a useless debate. It saddens me when I think that maybe our country has made a lot of progress in race relations to know that maybe we really haven't after all. Since the election of President Obama, I am hearing a lot more racist remarks than ever and it really upsets me that the historic election of a black man to the Presidency seems to have brought out the worst in some people. There are elements of the TEA Party that sound like outright white supremecists that are spewing some racist hate speech and it astonishes me how many people get behind folks like that. In a mere two years, we've gone from a spirit of hope and change to one of angry white men clenching their fists and cursing anyone that doesn't look like them. It's so sad, and I suspect that a part of that is the sour economy and the perception by angry white men that their jobs are being taken by "ferriners" and other "undesirables". I think if our economy was humming along and jobs were plentiful, this sort of attitude wouldn't be so prevalent. But people are angry. The economy crashed in '08, millions of jobs vanished and most of them haven't come back. And it's always the party in power and whoever is currently President who is usually who people blame for their problems. In this case, we have a black President who people see as the very personification of their problems - someone whose father is of foreign origin and who represents a minority and who has a decidedly un-American sounding name and I think that scares some folks. They are afraid of his name, his father's country of origin, his race and the fact that his father's family were originally Muslim back in Africa. People are afraid of anyone of the Islamic faith because of the radicals who are besmirching that faith's name. So people are expressing their fear of the unknown by blaming anyone that doesn't look like them. And who's an easier target than the President of the United States, who just happens to be both black and an intellectual, another thing that turns people off completely. The previous President was, by all accounts, elected because of the perception that he was someone who people thought would be fun to have at a backyard barbecue and with whom they could sit and share a beer. It didn't matter that he was as dumb as a box of rocks, it was the perception of him as a good ol' boy that is why he was elected. That's a sad statement on how people perceive their elected officials. I just hope that someday, our country can get past its original sin of racism and that people will come to understand those who do not look or sound like them, but I rather doubt that will ever happen. After all, people are most afraid of that which they do not understand, and I suppose that's a fairly normal human trait that can never be overcome. I just wish that this trait could be bred out of humanity once and for all. It sure would be a more peaceful world in which to live.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Racism in America
I get so tired of how some people seem to insist on stereotyping all black people as lazy, shiftless, chitterlin' eatin', drug addicted welfare leeches who refuse to go out and get a job. This is the sort of attitude that, when I hear it, I want to smack these folks and tell them what racists they are being, but alas, sometimes, it's better to keep one's mouth shut and let them go on sounding like an igoramus rather than try to engage in what will more than likely turn into a useless debate. It saddens me when I think that maybe our country has made a lot of progress in race relations to know that maybe we really haven't after all. Since the election of President Obama, I am hearing a lot more racist remarks than ever and it really upsets me that the historic election of a black man to the Presidency seems to have brought out the worst in some people. There are elements of the TEA Party that sound like outright white supremecists that are spewing some racist hate speech and it astonishes me how many people get behind folks like that. In a mere two years, we've gone from a spirit of hope and change to one of angry white men clenching their fists and cursing anyone that doesn't look like them. It's so sad, and I suspect that a part of that is the sour economy and the perception by angry white men that their jobs are being taken by "ferriners" and other "undesirables". I think if our economy was humming along and jobs were plentiful, this sort of attitude wouldn't be so prevalent. But people are angry. The economy crashed in '08, millions of jobs vanished and most of them haven't come back. And it's always the party in power and whoever is currently President who is usually who people blame for their problems. In this case, we have a black President who people see as the very personification of their problems - someone whose father is of foreign origin and who represents a minority and who has a decidedly un-American sounding name and I think that scares some folks. They are afraid of his name, his father's country of origin, his race and the fact that his father's family were originally Muslim back in Africa. People are afraid of anyone of the Islamic faith because of the radicals who are besmirching that faith's name. So people are expressing their fear of the unknown by blaming anyone that doesn't look like them. And who's an easier target than the President of the United States, who just happens to be both black and an intellectual, another thing that turns people off completely. The previous President was, by all accounts, elected because of the perception that he was someone who people thought would be fun to have at a backyard barbecue and with whom they could sit and share a beer. It didn't matter that he was as dumb as a box of rocks, it was the perception of him as a good ol' boy that is why he was elected. That's a sad statement on how people perceive their elected officials. I just hope that someday, our country can get past its original sin of racism and that people will come to understand those who do not look or sound like them, but I rather doubt that will ever happen. After all, people are most afraid of that which they do not understand, and I suppose that's a fairly normal human trait that can never be overcome. I just wish that this trait could be bred out of humanity once and for all. It sure would be a more peaceful world in which to live.
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6 comments:
The fear itself is a problem already. Much more dangerous are the people who exploit it and feed it, in order to advance their own agendas. They are playing with fire - and the way they're going, it won't be long before the US is ablaze.
Wow, you are really getting spammed. You ought to delete some of these junk comments. All they do is link to the spammers' websites.
HeeVee, how do I fix that?
OK, having confirmed that delete still works (for the blog owner and for the comment author), I'll try this again. :)
To delete junk or spam comments, log in to your Blogger account just the way you would to write. Go to the comments page for each entry. There should be a little grey trash can icon below each comment, right under the date. Click on that. You'll get a box asking you to confirm that you really want to delete the comment. Poof.
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