After the murder of George Floyd, have you noticed that it is now de rigueur to capitalize the word “black” (when referring to a race, as in the opposite of white, but not when referring to a color, as in the opposite of white)? They took a vote, and passed an Act to change the Rules of Grammar.
This is the height of herd mentality, wokeness, political correctness, hypocrisy, and kowtowing (although it escapes me as to what, or whom, you might be kowtowing to). I blame the media, which used to be comprised of journalists, for this stupidity. Just how false and pretentious is this practice? They can describe a suspected killer as being “Black” (upper case “B”), and the person he killed as being “white” (lower case “w”). Now we have “Black leaders” (otherwise known as ticks), “Black churches” (not simply Christian churches, and when was the last time anyone referred to a “white church”), and one of the greatest myths ever foisted upon the American public, “the Black community.”
I am here to tell you that there is no such thing as the Black community. Is there a White community? I am pretty sure that I am white, damn near 100%, or at least as far back as my wood-pile records go. I have never attended – never been invited to – a gathering of the white community. I have never attended any event that excluded any person of any other color, or excluded anyone on the basis of anything (except maybe my high school Honor Society, which discriminated on the basis of academic performance – a bigoted meritocracy). This being a fact, how can I know how to think/feel/act? My “community” has let me down!
There is no white community, no white monolith. Get some white Catholics and some white Baptists, some white Alabama football fans and some white Notre Dame football fans, some white stockbrokers and some white car mechanics together, and you know what they all have in common? They’re all white. That’s it. End of story. Their “whiteness” connects them in absolutely, exactly, no other way. The white guy in front of me in a check-out line or a red light is just a white pain in my caboose (especially if he won’t pull out into the intersection when the light turns green, instead of parking behind the stop line, with his white head up his white… oh well, never mind). If you are black, then you are a black pain in my caboose. Get over yourself, get on with life, and get out of my way.
Barack Obama was black, and probably still is, and is referred to as the first black President, even though he is just as white as he is black. Kamala Harris (who has, herself, pronounced her own first name as “comma-la” and as “kam-ala,” but has castigated others for mispronouncing it – because they are racists), is referred to as the first person of color to be elected Vice-president. Her “colors” are those of an Indian (not the Native American type) mother, and a Jamaican father. As an added bonus, she is the first person elected to be Vice-president who also has a vagina. (This is purely speculation on my part. She says that she is a she, but she could be “trans” for all I know. Thus far, she has not tweeted anatomical proof.) Either of these facts only matters, of course, if you are practicing identity politics. But here is the very important point you want to keep in mind: Kamala Harris is a person of color – you must refer to her that way. Do NOT, however, refer to her as a colored person. There is a distinction. Since I ain’t woke, the distinction eludes me.
I want to be honest with you. I am sick of the subject of “Black.” Not black people, not “people of color.” Rather, it’s the purveyors of hate and division that hide behind the mask of justice and equality. They speak of equity, not equality, which means giving them something in the way of reparations (something more than food stamps, subsidized housing, cell phones, free lunches, or Medicaid). They preach inclusion through exclusion, such as the Denver school that reserves its playground one night a week exclusively (There’s that word!) for “people of color.” Or University campuses that designate “safe spaces” to be used exclusively (There’s that word!) for “marginalized” individuals (e.g., minorities, LGBTQWXYZ, and schizophrenics).
These people exploit the ignorant. They weaponize diversity to prevent unity. What they actually demand is conformity. They want to be treated equally by being treated differently. In Georgia, like everywhere else in the United (yeah, right) States of America, the month of February is designated as “Black History Month.” It usually peters out in about a week. But in Georgia, we go the extra mile. In Georgia, we additionally designate the Friday after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday.” There is no apparent movement afoot to designate a “White Saturday.”
If you disagree with the woke, then you are a racist. (I doubt that most of those folks could accurately define “racist.” [Hint: Hitler was a racist.]) The word they should use 99.9% of the time, is “bigot.” Your supposed racism is a consequence of your “privilege.” I confess that I cannot accurately define “privilege.” I guess I’ve been too busy busting my butt to earn a living and pay taxes to take time out to attend a privilege seminar. I do know this – privilege doesn’t mean that I pay less at Walmart or Lowe’s. They don’t have “white” prices.
If I were in charge – as I should be – I would make it a crime to refer to a person’s race, unless it was in a police report, along with traits such as sex, age, height, and weight. Martin King famously said that one day people would be judged on the content of their character, rather than on the color of their skin. I think that most white folks are in favor of that notion, and maybe even most black people as well. But we hear from the activist, not the ordinary. We hear from the proponents of Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theorists, Cancel Culture, and Antifa, not our neighbors. I would outlaw referencing any American using a hyphenated term. No African-Americans, no Mexican-Americans, no Native-Americans (even though I am one myself, having been born in South Carolina).
Racists, bigots, xenophobes, homophobes – these types of people do exist, and in every shade of skin you can find. But they are the exception, not the rule. They are not the majority. No one in America today is enslaved, or even oppressed (unless you are being forced to listen to Joy Reid). For the love of God, get over yourself. Keep your family intact, get a job and show up every day, generally mind your own business instead of the business of someone you’ve never met. Be nice to other people. Allow them to be nice to you.
Here’s my solution for ending racial strife: interracial marriage. Interbreed until we’re all mulatto, a nice high-yellow, a soft café au lait. Then we wouldn’t know who to hate.