Dissing President Obama
I believe that because our president is a man of color there are people who take this fact and use it to justify advanced, unusual, crude and uncalled for insults. It is the first time people accused a president of being a terrorist and questioning his religious beliefs, even his name. Although it has been appalling to me as a man of color I know that there are many people in our country, one that claims we are a "melting pot", that are bigots and racists who spend a lot of their energy directly and indirectly putting us down. If I were to count the times I have been disrespected and my culture minimized and made fun of I would have spent too much time on ignorant, idiotic and sick people.
It is not only a waste of time, it is not useful or productive for us as people to entertain people who will likely die as ignorant as they live on a daily basis, ones who plot against us inside the closet that gay people jumped out of. As many people that I know have heard me say: "the gays came out of the closet and the racists got in". The only difference today is that much of the hatred towards people of color is secretive, although we also know that there are recent incidents of overt racism especially on the part of law enforcement. My latest observation was when I went to traffic court for not having my proof of insurance in my car. and witnessing the high percentage of people of color in that room. It was evidence to me of racial profiling and the fact that we are targets simply because we are a different skin color. It is sad but true that we are still living in a society where whites are more likely to be dismissed for making a mistake and get the top jobs in the US over others who are non-white.
We must step up and face the fact that there is a lot of work to be done. As people of color and others who support us and love us, we must identify the people who are out there behaving in ways that disrespect and hate us. Exposing racists people and making sure they are not in positions of power without others knowing who they really are is key to demonstrating to them that we will not be overcome. In fact "we shall overcome". As men and woman of color it is our job to teach our children about their culture, to speak their language and to honor themselves as they are. We must teach our children that there are people out there that behave poorly and will try to make things difficult for them. As parents and mentors of children it is up to us to instill the pride that children should have about who they are whether they are Black, Indian, Hispanic or something other than "white". On the other hand we must also teach our children to embrace every culture and to respect others including "whites". We must instill in them that they not do what is done to them and not to adopt that hatred and racist attitudes.
As you journey through your life as a person of color understand that what you represent is a history of surviving and a history of people who have fought long and hard to be seen and treated fairly. We are responsible to ensure that others treat us with respect by setting our boundaries and not accepting less than what we deserve of others. Living our lives with pride in ourselves rejects any other kind of behaviors that do not align with respect. It is time for all people of color to acknowledge the problem of racism towards us and to apply understanding, knowledge, compassion and respect to it. In this way we will attain the goals as a people because there is power in numbers and power in education and financial achievement. Say it loud: "I am __________and I'm proud"!
It is not only a waste of time, it is not useful or productive for us as people to entertain people who will likely die as ignorant as they live on a daily basis, ones who plot against us inside the closet that gay people jumped out of. As many people that I know have heard me say: "the gays came out of the closet and the racists got in". The only difference today is that much of the hatred towards people of color is secretive, although we also know that there are recent incidents of overt racism especially on the part of law enforcement. My latest observation was when I went to traffic court for not having my proof of insurance in my car. and witnessing the high percentage of people of color in that room. It was evidence to me of racial profiling and the fact that we are targets simply because we are a different skin color. It is sad but true that we are still living in a society where whites are more likely to be dismissed for making a mistake and get the top jobs in the US over others who are non-white.
We must step up and face the fact that there is a lot of work to be done. As people of color and others who support us and love us, we must identify the people who are out there behaving in ways that disrespect and hate us. Exposing racists people and making sure they are not in positions of power without others knowing who they really are is key to demonstrating to them that we will not be overcome. In fact "we shall overcome". As men and woman of color it is our job to teach our children about their culture, to speak their language and to honor themselves as they are. We must teach our children that there are people out there that behave poorly and will try to make things difficult for them. As parents and mentors of children it is up to us to instill the pride that children should have about who they are whether they are Black, Indian, Hispanic or something other than "white". On the other hand we must also teach our children to embrace every culture and to respect others including "whites". We must instill in them that they not do what is done to them and not to adopt that hatred and racist attitudes.
As you journey through your life as a person of color understand that what you represent is a history of surviving and a history of people who have fought long and hard to be seen and treated fairly. We are responsible to ensure that others treat us with respect by setting our boundaries and not accepting less than what we deserve of others. Living our lives with pride in ourselves rejects any other kind of behaviors that do not align with respect. It is time for all people of color to acknowledge the problem of racism towards us and to apply understanding, knowledge, compassion and respect to it. In this way we will attain the goals as a people because there is power in numbers and power in education and financial achievement. Say it loud: "I am __________and I'm proud"!
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