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Sept. 28, 2005 Ken Hughes is our resident racist, and he boldly admits this. Is it just ignorance on his part – maybe he doesn't realize it? – this is what I've thought all along, but recent columns have the stench of the real deal about them. “Blacks are to put up or shut up, and haven't accepted the opportunities that other minorities have”. Ken can't seem to figure out any reason why some blacks are still at a disadvantage, while other folks, like Germans, aren't.
I wasn't born in the USA, but I was very young when we moved, so I speak English like a native even though it's technically my second language. I was never discriminated against [well, not until I became an atheist], but then again, I'm white. America is a nation of racists. As a white American, I know. I listen as other white people complain about “the blacks”, not considering for a moment that I might have a different opinion. A client of mine once complained about “the blacks” to me, but warned me not to talk like that to the office, because the scheduler is “with a black”. In some hick locales, it's as bad as a mute working amongst speaking people. People assume that when someone doesn't say much, that they also can't hear much, and as a result, the mute hears lots of interesting stuff... Blatant racism in many parts has been pushed into taboo territory, where it belongs, and it's not the Right that made it so. Now, I don't mean that discussing racism (as in re-evaluating affirmative action for example) should be taboo; it's always good to discuss anything and everything, but rather racism in the form of action. Not so long ago, it was not so bad to murder blacks in some parts, and while most people were not directly involved, they did look the other way. Many people connected with such evil are still alive and well. According to my personal anecdotal experience, the smaller and more religious the town, the more blatant racism you will find; white fundie Christan faiths for the most part. I haven't lived in the South, but I've lived out West and in upstate NY, and right now, I live in the middle, the glorious home of the KKK. Thank the Maker for the “actions-taboo” – I do see people bending over backwards at times to appear civil; I see them fighting their inbred racist tendencies ;) You, however, Kenneth, seem to have no such inhibitions, at least not insofar as writing in a public forum. I'm sure you know that most blacks are not poor any longer. This is an amazing achievement, considering the following facts, and is a DIRECT result of years of Liberal-ish policies (well, insofar as polices affect change - blacks themselves deserve much of the credit):
Conservatives have pointed out an interesting study to me which suggests that the negative inner city “black condition” is related to fatherless homes. The study ignores an important variable – poverty. How do children in fatherless black households in gated sub-divisions fare? Who knows, it wasn't studied! What a blatant and obvious omission! Is it the fatherless home by itself? Clearly not. In pleasant, crime free communities, single mothers are able to cope much better. This sure seems like a slanted study put out to give credibility to the Christian based “family values” agenda of the Republican party to me. There is no direct advantage to the Free Market to enter a dilapidated area, so ghettos rot. And because of the way public education is funded in many locales, inner city schools suffer. Money for education should go into a state pot, and then be shot back out where it's needed, instead of remaining inside that gated subdivision – I realize that the Democrats are at fault here as well as Republicans. Liberals think that it's the role of the government to give all citizens the same initial advantages, where feasible, rather than merely punish them when they fail after the fact. Conservatives love to pretend that the law is fair and balanced with regards to blacks – drug laws which differentiate between crack and cocaine are just one obviously blatant and clear example of this disparity. Ken, you said in your piece, “It’s time for forgo the African American identity and become Americans along with the rest of us. Take the same lumps we take, reap the same rewards, become us not them.” I'm glad you think that way, Ken. It was of course American whites such as yourself which caused the racial issues in the first place, which threw diverse people into un-natural collections based on skin color, that caused the black “sub-culture” - so perhaps when you pass into the great beyond, we will be one small step closer to racial unity. White conservatives tend to isolate a group based on some criteria, and force them into the backwaters of normal Americana and then act shocked later to find that said group has aspects that go against the grain of society - gays and promiscuity, for example. Christian-conservatives would do the same to atheists/secularists. They are already trying, but it seems that atheists may be up to the challenge. I see atheist banding together in a political fashion more and more – atheists that are otherwise completely different. But instead of allowing the conservatives to brand us as evil, anti-American, lesser beings, we may be on the verge of getting political influence [more on that in a future article]. The pro-fundie, anti-science pact that the Republicans made will likely haunt them for generations to come... Anyway, Ken, I'm going discriminate against you. First, I am the more moral person, so I take your rights away – nothing good can come of your un-Americanism. Second, I shall decide your fate and punishment: Death it is! You must commit ritual suicide, and you must publish your suicide note on UK right before you go. The details are up to you - think of something interesting, something Japanese-ish might be fun. Run your conservative principles by the Prince Of Peace when you see him and keep in mind before you begin, that, Jesus ain't white. One final note – your powers of prediction are amazing – you correctly “saw” that you would be called a racist. With your powers of foresight, you could easily have found a great job as an oil company “climatologist” ;) One really-final note – I'm going to end this with the “Hughes disclaimer”: I don't regret anything I've said in this piece, if it's wrong or you don't like it, too bad ;) ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. This is my second foray into the UK writing discordia. This time around, I want to be a tad more raw - maybe a bit edgier (does that sound "art-see"?) Maybe I'll address even more issues that most Americans consider taboo... About my personal background and life: I was born, I got some education, worked, ate, and had some kids. It seems I like to write – something that was unknown to me until relatively recently...How's that for detail? ;) Like so many these days, I too have a blog! But, I haven't updated it since the day after I signed up for it, so I won't bother to give out the link. I tend to make the same silly grammatical errors over and over again, and my many many attempts at proofreading often fail, so if you find anything wrong, send me some hate mail; I do love to get hate mail! Email: dahlek65@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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