Paleface Speaks

OK the title was a little rude. But I want to go back to an area where people of my skin tone are not acceptable speakers to some. I hate racism. I grew up around the casual invasive racism that was common in the forties. Back then just about every race or religion had a derogatory nickname that no one seemed to be embarrassed to use in casual conversation.

For some unknown reason these words grated on me even as a child. I will guarantee that the reason wasn't good training by my family. I grew up in lily white areas. I never knew a person of color to speak to until high school. I was a prime candidate to be a bigot. I never was.

Before Dr. King's speech, I learned to judge people as I found them. Ethnicity or religion made no difference to me. When I got to college, my horizons expanded greatly. I got along with everyone. I learned to judge people by their character, not their color.

Racism, in my opinion, is neither institutionalized nor endemic in the United States. Does it exist? Certainly. But it exists within the individual bigot. Barring some life changing event, that will not change. No speech by those in high places, no diatribe by the professional race baiters, is going to change that.

What the diatribes, riots, looting, and violence does, is convince the bigots that they are right. The only thing the confrontations do is hand a weapon over to the race baiters. The Al Sharptons of the world want all of this. It makes money for them. They use it as a hammer to threaten businesses with mobs pounding on their doors if they don't support the race baiter's personal foundations with large sums of money. 

If Al Sharpton, and those like him, really cared they would encourage education, family, and hard work. He would encourage those that listen to him to not act like thugs. To not be teen age moms with multiple babies and no husband. To run the drug dealers off the block. To shun the gangs. But that won't happen. There's no money in it.