The radical cure for racism.

From Jackie Robinson to the Tuskegee Airmen, from Thomas Sowell to Colin Powell, from Tiger Woods to Mean Joe Green, from Denzel Washington to Ray Charles, from every major conflict our country has fought to every sport we enjoy, we have seen them. The amazing people who are of African descent. We have all seen them as they pioneer new inventions, we have all seen them as they have risen above adversity, we have all seen them as they have set the example and we have all seen them as they have entertained us. They have at times embodied the best that man can aspire to. In the Olympics we have seen a bobsled team from Jamaica, YES Jamaica. And we have seen them beat “the master race” in 1930’s Germany. They are just as good as anyone else and they prove it all the time. Only people who are too dense to see or who are too full of poison to figure it out think otherwise. And yet there are people who harp on racism every day. Many of them in the name of fighting it. Well I say if they are harping on it they are really encouraging it! The reason people come to hate is because people are told to! So when people are going around saying look at him he is white so he is ____________ (fill in the blank.) We need to hate him, Or look at him he is black so we have to hate him because he is _____________ (Be honest now, what did you fill in the blank with? And Isn't it possible that, that is because it's what you were trained to do? How about hey look at her she is Hispanic so we must hate her because __________________________ again fill in the blank. what did your mind come up with? what words did YOU put in those blanks? If you did put anything in any of those blanks congratulations you have been exposed to radical, RACIST ideas and they have influenced you into racist behavior. If you could NOT fill in those blanks Congratulations. You are a good person and you need to be careful because this world will eat you up and spit you out. you are lucky to have survived this long. Whatever your mind came up with THAT is the teaching of our society you have to hate this person because... and that is simply the spreading of racism! I think, if only people would shut up about racism and would let the record speak for itself, then we could get past it. Think about it. If you want healing in a relationship you get the problem out in the open, you deal with it and then you let it go. If you keep harping on the same problem over and over and over and… well then it will keep being an issue. NO I am not suggesting we ignore real cases of racist behavior. We need to lance that wickedness like a boil. Drain out the festering pus of it. But lately we are so busy looking for those boils that we are rubbing the skin raw and causing a whole different problem, or maybe it is really a more extreme case of the same problem. Remember the advice you got from your mom? “if you pick it, it will never heal.”? Well the same thing here. Yes we need to stop racism. But we also need to stop CAUSING racism. In a previous post I mentioned what I thought were the causes of racism, but I realize I didn’t give any good ideas on how to combat that issue. So today I want to give you a clear understanding of what I see to be the solution. Here it is. (1) As I already said Stop going on ad infinitum about it. (2) Stop looking for it everywhere, stop calling things racist that aren't! just accept that sometimes things happen because they are part of life; ALL of our lives. (3) Let the actions of the individuals like those I already mentioned speak for themselves. There are hundreds of examples of African descendants who have distinguished themselves and set amazing examples. In acting, there are such outstanding notables as… Louis Gossett Jr. Denzel Washington Cuba Gooding Jr. Morgan Freeman Will Smith Whitney Houston … In music we have such legends as… The Shirelles Ray Charles Nat King Cole Natalie Cole Stevie Wonder Michael Jackson Whitney Houston... In sports there’s… Jackie Robinson Tiger Woods Joe Green Magic Johnson Jesse Owens Shaquille O’Neal… In Military history The Tuskegee Airmen 54th Massachusetts Colin Powell And of course, The thousands of men, and women, who have sacrificed their time and their lives in every combat zone including… The Revolutionary war The Civil war World War 1 World war 2 Korea Vietnam Desert storm/shield Operation enduring freedom… In Science… George Washington Carver Mae Jemison Patricia Bath Garrett Morgan Norbert Rillieux In politics… Martin Luther King Jr. Condolezza Rice Clarence Thomas and this list is a short one there are many more too in all those fields and more. But I think my point is made. I think many would be hard pressed to come up with examples of others that aren’t matched by the examples set here. My point there is that if we simply continue to hold up these awesome examples for people to see and follow then it would not be long before racism would simply slip away. Yes I know some of the names here have also been associated with “bad press” or other(Moments of Indiscretion) but they all rose to the top of their field/s and they all have something good to represent in our culture. Besides look at some of the “Role Models” from other races who also slid to the dark side once (or twice) like… Marilyn Monroe Elvis Presley Bill Clinton Abraham Lincoln And yet they still hold some major prestige, or are remembered fondly, in their areas of expertise. So That is my suggestion for how to overcome Racism. Maybe you think it is simplistic, Maybe you think I am to naïve, Maybe, just maybe, you think I am a racist myself. I am not sure how you come to that point considering the whole set of this piece but I have seen that level of stupidity before. But I honestly believe, As did Martin Luther King Jr., that there is a place in this world where we can all live together EQUALLY without any one “race” having better opportunities or chances than any other. THAT is true equality, and THAT is what will ultimately destroy the specter of racism.