A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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See, right THERE, I'm a racist! OK. So be it!
I am convinced that shouting "racist" is a coward's device to evade having to put up or shut-up. It allows a coward to claim to have won an argument by silencing the opposition. Look, if you want to play in the big boy's league you gotta get rid of the thin skin -- no matter the color it happens to be.
I am a southern white male. I have been labeled a racist all my life and frankly, I have never really gotten used to it. I learned to put up with it, and ignore it, as much as possible. But now that I have attained a, ahem, certain age, damned if I will hold my silence any longer.
Let me spell it out for you. If you cannot debate your position without resorting to screaming "racist" then you need to look up the word "transference." For those of you who have yet to master the use of a dictionary, transference, simply put, is when you call someone something that you, in fact, are. Or, you accuse someone of holding and opinion, that you, in fact actually hold. (Ask any shrink.) You are transferring your feelings onto your opposition. Boil it all down and you get the school yard version: "It takes one to know one!"
A very nice southern lady, one of or vaunted "steel magnolias" told me the other day, upon hearing the ladies of the Congressional Black Caucus refer to Senator John McCain (and others) racists, that she was sick of it. She expressed her feelings ever so delicately to me by saying, "I think I'll puke!"
I wonder, do they have any idea how foolish they appear? Or do they just not care? It must be the latter.
Look, black folks in America are going to have to accept that they are no longer in the cat bird's seat. They are no longer the number one minority in America. That position is now owned by the Hispanics. Guess which group will no receive the most attention now? Uh-huh.
African Americans are going to have to decide to either act like grown-ups or continue to kick the sides of their cribs for attention. The latter is going to less effective every day.
The black community in America needs better leadership. If you really want to know who is "keeping you down" -- look to your own leadership. Requesting a UN affiliated group to monitor US election? Indeed! Did you think we wouldn't resent the heck out of that move? Oh, I wonder if those monitors were monitoring Congressman Allen West's loss in Florida? Huh?
White America is tired, broke, and more than a little disgruntled. We're in no mood for the childish game of name-calling.
Now, for those of you, especially in the NFM (Non-Fox Media), who swore paradise had been found when America elected its first black President -- going so far as to refer to our era as "Post Racist America" -- how foolish do you feel now, huh?
Racism is not confined to one skin color. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is full of it -- or has an agenda. I vote for the latter.
Look at the so-called "poverty-pimps" who seem to find every TV camera and microphone in the continental USA when there is a disturbance between people of the white persuasion and people of the black persuasion. I'll refrain from giving them more publicity by referring to them by name. You already KNOW who they are.
Only a fool believes racism can be wiped out. As long as there has been more than one race on this planet there has been racism -- and there always will be. It is the nature of the beast. We tend to fear and distrust those not like us. It is a defensive mechanism. Nature wired us that way to help us survive in a cruel world.
We have worked for millenia to overcome that natural inclination Sometimes we are successful. But most of the time we are not. So, we learn to live with it as best we can. It's what civilized people do.
Now, having said all the above, it is my opinion that as long as folks continue to point fingers and shout racism at other folks, regardless of skin color, the tension between the races will continue to peg the needle on the tension meter.
So far as America being in a Post Racism Era, that's hogwash. Race relations in America today are not that far removed from what they were in the 1960's. Deal with it!
As far as Obama being black, or half black, (whatever!) I could not care less. Heck, I might even like the guy! I doubt it! But lightening does strike occasionally! It's his politics I disagree with, his political philosophy, his socialist agenda, all that.
There is a very good chance that Mr. Obama will be the last black President America has for a very long time. The political left has so threatened everyone else with the "racism sobriquet" that no one wants to go through that abuse again by electing another black person to that high office.
The point is -- shouting racism to get your way has a downside. It not only makes you look stupid, it also convinces people who know better, that you are. And it will come back to bite you.
The "Estrogen Brigade" of the Congressional Black Caucus would do well to consider (in future) what they are going to say BEFORE stepping before cameras and microphones -- and making fools of themselves. As Lincoln is supposed to have said: "It is better to remain silent and and allow people to think you a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." Harken, ladies, harken!
© J. D. Longstreet
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