The black, white and red of the colorblind society
Rosa Parks died this week, and thus turns to historic perspective the life of a woman who played a momentous role in American history simply by having the courage to keep her seat on a bus. Nowadays most of us might wonder what is so courageous about keeping your seat, but nowadays we don’t have laws and cultural mores that harbor openly humiliating laws such as America’s former sanction of segregation.
Times have changed. Laws have changed. Some attitudes in culture have changed. But humans are humans, and struggles will probably never end. Racial tensions will probably exist as long as humans exist as a variegated species. We all wish it weren’t so, but it is simply impossible to wholesale change human nature across a society—for the roots of all our problems are written deep down into the untouchable (as of yet) genetic code—we naturally succumb to xenophobic propaganda.
Take the current mission of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. What started as a social movement that was sorely needed as a remedy to an unjust and openly immoral system has turned into a self-propagating system—a movement that started on the path of liberation and equality has turned into a machine that promotes strife, suspicion and hatred. The eyes of a movement that called for us all to be colorblind now has eyes that have turned red with ambition and envy.
Civil Rights leaders admonish young black people to remember about their ethnic history—which they should in the same manner that all of us should remember it… along with the rest of American history and world history. Civil Rights leaders tell their youth to "Remember what it is to be a black man!” For some reason that has become a calling slogan of so-called social leaders… but for some reason you won’t find any intelligent leader in other ethnic groups calling out for the youth to "Remember what it is to be a white man!” That sounds too much like the talk of groups such as the KKK and other infantile groups that promote hatred and stupidity.
Civil Rights leaders tell their youth that the White Man is still picking their pockets—that we (white people) are living off of their toils and stealing them. We don’t give them a fair share of the wealth. Those same Civil Rights leaders tell their youth that their race is entitled to something for all this… and the races in America become more tense with each other’s presence rather than more comfortable. No wonder either—the same kind of talk was being passed through German culture early in the last century by none other than Adolph Hitler when condemning the Jews!
It’s funny because I’ve been around the block over the years as a journalist. I’ve noticed that the Civil Rights leaders (along with other propagandists) usually have nicer cars than me; nicer homes too, not to mention a more robust income. Most of my friends (of several colors and religions) have never seen this so-called oppression. The only thing we see is that everyone is at some kind of disadvantage… and none of us appreciate anyone telling us that we are robbing and stealing and abusing when in fact we are working and loving and living as good people! Nothing in this life comes easy—and the Civil Rights leaders that talk about "entitlements” are both liars and parasites.
There is no doubt that the civil rights movements of fifty years ago were essential for the growth and prosperity and health of our nation. They exposed one of the greatest hypocrisies of all time. People like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and the original civil rights leaders were part of something special and important; they had good cause to be impassioned and enraged and obsessed because their brethren were being treated like sub-humans. I just have a bad feeling that the social movements they helped spawn have mutated beyond their intent and now serve to destroy the spirit of equality and justice that so many crusaders fought for so many years ago.
We are Americans in this country, not races. The thread that holds this country together is the experiment of hope and unity, not division. Certainly there are systems, programs and institutions in this country that have a lot of work to do to reach perfection—but that is something that comes with life itself. And it afflicts all of us, not just minorities. You hear very little about it because it is not politically correct to say this, but there comes a point when even "affirmative action” becomes a racist endeavor because it is forcing people to be judged and accepted based on skin color rather than merit and character and ability. Affirmative action was a required method when desegregation started—but whether the black community likes it or not, there is a point that it counteracts its very purpose.
We are people, not colors. We are people that happen to have colors.
Most Americans of every race understand this, which is why we have come to a point where young white (and black and yellow) boys idolize powerful black athletes; ambitious black (and white) martial artists worship Oriental martial arts legends; young scholars (of any race) look up to intellectual German and/or Jewish scientists. And so on.
Parents and social leaders who are obsessed with skin color are the reasons our culture will likely take a long time getting to the next level of cultural evolution.
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