The new racism

For too long, I’ve been cowed into submission.  I’ve been afraid to speak my mind for fear of being called a racist.

As a “white” male who’s basically spent my entire life in the Deep South, it’s more or less assumed I’m racist if I say anything that can possibly be construed as negative about a black person. If I oppose Barack Obama for re-election, I’ll be called a racist.  Will it matter if I support Lt. Colonel Allen West or Herman Cain instead?

For the record, I would vote for either of them in a heartbeat.  How can you not love West’s straight talk?  And Cain looks serious about running for president.

If both men run, I’m really going to have a tough time making a decision.

Over the years, it’s been my experience to meet some of the nicest people I’ve known, and their skin color is considerably darker than mine.  I used to go so far to refer to these friends as “black”, but soon discovered that to many people, the term is politically incorrect.  Too lazy and stubborn to say “African American”, I often find myself in a quandary on how to describe my friends who naturally exhibit a darker hue.

I’ve sort of gotten away from using any sort of descriptor.

I’ve come to decide there is no “us” and “them”.   Black and white differentiation is largely irrelevant.  We are the same species, no different physiologically.

Our blood is interchangeable. During a transfusion, one doesn’t get blood sorted by skin color but blood type.  It really is time to move past this hangup about skin color.

That’s why several recent events involving public officials and one politically correct movement to edit classic literature all struck me as politically correct madness.  The first incident that caught my attention originated in my hometown of Savannah, Georgia.

The black mayor of Savannah, Otis Johnson, was publicly quoted to have said “It’s our turn now” by white council members when reports were leaked that interim city manager Rochelle Small-Toney could not obtain a required bond.  When offered the opportunity to refute the charge, the mayor responded:

Well I may have said it. I can’t remember everything that I say. I may have said it, but so what.

Alice Massimi of WSAV followed Johnson’s quote by saying, “An attitude (like) that can either unite this city or continue to divide it.”

Her rather vacuous observation would have been humorous if Johnson’s remark weren’t so disturbing.

With all due respect, that kind of comment won’t ever unite anybody.

Regarding Ms. Small-Toney’s qualifications for city manager, they are twofold — first is the question whether a more qualified candidate was denied a chance because of the color of his skin.  My second concern is the fact her pay exceeds what the governor receives by quite a bit.

Seriously…is the CEO of a city with a population of around 250,000 people worth fifty thousand dollars more than the governor of the entire state?

More recently, Eric Holder — the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder — has been reported by Politico to have described criticism of his handling of the Black Panther voter intimidation case as demeaning to “his people.”

I’m sorry, but the U.S. Attorney General needs to represent not “his” people versus “my” people, but THE people.  What the hell is happening in this country?

Finally, this nugget on the Internet suggests editing Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to replace all the references of the “n” word with “robot”.  So instead of being a person with dark skin color being treated inhumanly…as a possession and not a person, these idiots want to make Jim a real possession and completely dehumanize him.  It would alter Twain’s whole moral lesson about a boy torn between betraying his friend or society, rendering it lost forever in translation.

Don’t get me wrong.  If it would permanently repair race relations in this country, I’d be all for banning the “n” word forever.

But if we’re going to edit a classic to eradicate the word, let’s really get rid of it.

Chris Rock will have to completely rewrite his skit “N— versus black people” or stop performing it completely.

All copies of Richard Pryor’s classic album That N—‘s Crazy must be destroyed.  That’s too bad.

Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece Pulp Fiction will need every fourth word bleeped.

Are the “modern” works of art exempt?

Is it because Pulp Fiction is cool and The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin most often assigned homework that the book generates a demand for “whitewash” of the “n” word and the film completely ignored?

Why is this politically correct nonsense is even suggested?

In the immortal words of Martin Luther King, Jr….it is the content of one’s character, not the color of their skin that determines the worth of a person.

Maybe some of us need thicker skin.