I am appalled. I just found out that I am a racist and a coward and I did not know it.
Eric Holder said yesterday, “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.”
How could I have been so self-deluded?
Wow. I know, huh? The things you find out about yourself if you just listen to newly appointed/elected government officials.
I always thought that I treated everyone fairly in my daily life with no preference or deference to anyone based solely on skin color. I always loved the words of Dr. Martin Luther King who said so eloquently, that he dreamed of a day when people “would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”. But now…I find out that that philosophy is racist and cowardly. And it is proclaimed by the top law enforcement officer in the land, our new Attorney General, Eric Holder.
Apparently, I’m a racist coward because I want to be color blind. This great national offense of racism doesn’t want to die – even though we just elected our first black president. Just when you thought it was okay to climb out of the past, to put racial injustice and animosity behind us…the Attorney General in the national media yesterday drags it back out.
At my favorite Baptist Church in North Hollywood, the congregation being 90% Black, I have often been asked to get up and read long passages of scripture for special events. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Good Friday, Easter Sunday. Guess they thought my acting background translated to passable delivery of the Lord’s word; I was always happy to oblige, and I hope I did not disappoint. But each year, when the month of February rolled around, I was always asked the same question: Would I like to participate in a special Black History Month pageant? My answer was always the same: No thank you, I don’t believe in it. And their response was always the same: A puzzled look washes over the inquirer’s face, he starts to respond, then not knowing how, drifts away, puzzled. No matter how many times I explained my position, it seemed to make so little sense to them, as to gain no purchase in memory banks. This yearly ritual has been repeated six years running.
I don’t believe in Black History Month any more than I believe in White History Month. To me, Black History Month is a complete insult to Blacks. We must prop up an entire race of people, give them special awards, honors, and recognitions, underscoring their accomplishments and achievements and contributions to society, based on their color… as if it’s so truly remarkable that they did it in the first place…and are African American to boot? Stop the presses! A black person accomplished something great! As if they couldn’t have done it on their own, without help. As if they are somehow inferior to whites. That they somehow overcame their blackness…and did all these wonderful things despite the obvious disadvantage, encumbrance, disability…of being a person of color.
Am I the only one in America…who finds this the least bit patronizing and insulting…and downright, well, racist?
I’ve got a lot of black friends who have accomplished great things in the arts and music world, in the business world, the legal profession, the medical profession…and not one of them has ever expected anything from me other than to be a good friend. I celebrate the achievements of all my friends with love and support and good cheer, and with absolutely no patronizing overt or subliminal addendum of how wonderful you did all this “and you’re a black man, too! Amazing!” I don’t compartmentalize my friends based on their skin color, ethnicity, religious affiliation, political leanings or sexual preference. We’re all just people, period.
I believe it was the great Vince Lombardi who, when chastising a player for a grandstanding end zone dance, post touchdown, would yell, “Knock off the hoopla – act like you do it all the time!” We could all learn something about humility…and equality…from those words.
But now I find out we’re a nation of cowards because we don’t talk about race enough.
Mr. Holder went on to say, Even when people mix at the workplace or at after work social events, many Americans in their free time are still segregated inside what he called “race-protected cocoons.”
Uh…yeah. Maybe because people like Eric Holder are so preoccupied with race that every waking thought is consumed with it? And they insist on inflicting into every thought and daily conversation within the black community a general and constant grievance-addled invective that fosters a victimhood mindset? Just a thought.
So…let me get this straight. If I’m a racist coward because I don’t want to talk about race all the time, don’t want to even think about it, just wish all racism would go away, and everybody just get along as if we we’re all just human beings…and truly do want to judge people not based on skin color, but on the content of their character… Does that mean Dr. Martin Luther King was also a racist? If he were here today, and repeated those words about ‘content of character’ …would Eric Holder call Dr. King a coward?
I hear Eric Holder’s words and I get a chill up my spine. It doesn’t sound like freedom from racism to me. It sounds like reverse racism. It smacks of concepts like “reparations”…”affirmative action” (code for racial preferences)…and “get-even-with-’em”… So, Mr. Holder, what can I infer from your words…but a tacit warning?
This, Mr. Attorney General…this is what you want to stir up? You should be ecstatic for the ultimate affirmative action as reflected on November 4th. White guilt to a very large extent enabled a charming but inexperienced young socialist to assume the reins of the most powerful nation in the world. And still we are cowards because we don’t talk about race enough?
Dude – are you off your meds??
This supports my assertion that no matter what whites come up with, no matter how many ‘adjustments’ or reparations, or consolations they offer, groveling grotesquely at the altar of Political Correctness for the race-baiters…it will never be enough. My severed head on a silver platter would not placate the sense of racial inequality, aggrieved victimization and indignant persecution Eric Holder and his ilk envision has been perpetrated against him and his constituency by myself and millions like me – people who just want to treat everyone fairly and get along.
Our former leader, President George W. Bush, in one of his more articulate moments, exhorted us to “…challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
But you, Mr. Holder, and those who share your views, are the ones who perpetrate racism in America – by never shutting up about it! Yes, we Americans are proud of our ‘melting pot’ – we are proud of our national motto, E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one”. We are proud of the idea of America, the most brilliant and good and moral proposition ever submitted to the human race: That all people can assemble in this one nation, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, creed…all men and women can come here and be free. We can pursue our dreams to the utmost and are free to enjoy the fruits of our efforts and talent and determination, unimpeded by coercion or kings. We’re not white Americans, or black Americans, or Hispanic Americans…
We’re Americans.
So… if Mr. Holder is calling me a racist and a coward…isn’t he’s calling Dr. Martin Luther King one, as well?
At least I’m in good company.