Racism

Once again, I've encountered a word with such a reputation as a scourge upon mankind that my 65 year old dictionary has failed me in being able to put forth a reference. So, never faltering in my search for clairity, I was forced to enlist a merely 20 year old tome of etymology to authenticate it's infamy.

Rac-ism noun. 1. Racial discrimination or prejudice. 2. The belief that some races are inherently better than others. From the root word race, meaning a group of people united by common nationality, tradition, or history, and, often, but not always, distinguished by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.

It's hard to know exactly where to begin to tackle such a diabolical concept. So, logic dictates trying the beginning. Not the beginning of racism, we don't have ten thousand years of historical discussion space here, and, most people know the basic history anyway. We'll start with my first encounters with the despicable subject. Caution: There is a twist........ I will be writing this from the perspective of a person not yet classified as a "minority". Those of you inclined to scream "heresy" and hide your head under the blankets because of participation in either side of an artificial guilt complex better stop right here.

One of the corollaries that I've found unimpeachable is that a baby is born absolutely innocent, there are no such things as proclivities toward anything, good, bad, or, indifferent, inherent in a child's behavior. Everything in a young person's character is the result of what he learns from others. In the town of my childhood, there were, at that time, no people of African descent, the classic victims of racism in other parts of the country. I saw the first ones on television, and, my father's first encounter with a black person was after he had enlisted in the Marine Corps and was spirited off to boot camp. I later learned all about the black people's plight, but, I had no inclinations one way or another from growing up in a predominantly white community. Unfortunately, some of my first impressions of black people were the televised reports of the Watts riots and the activities of the Black Panthers. But that was counterbalanced over time with the comedy of Bill Cosby, and, the music of Charlie Pride (which I'm currently enjoying as I write this). I really didn't have any reason to judge blacks as a whole, one way or another.

The idea that I should differentiate because of a certain physical characteristic never entered my mind. For that matter, I had caucasian classmates with birth defects that would have made it easy to single them out, but, a logical reason to do so could not seem to present its self. It should be noted that my home town was settled by immigrants from Greece, Japan, Germany, The Balkans, and, the British Isles. Later, Mexicans also came to take railroad and mining jobs, Basque people hearded sheep, and, there was even a small Chinese commuity. All of that with an active Shoshone Indian reservation near by. Point there is that you never get completely away from interaction with different races, or, people with other differences, no matter where in these United States you land.

The next point to be explored is that discrimination, the symbionic host of racism, is not necessarily confined to having race as a basis. In this forementioned small community lived a pretty common, garden variety grade school boy who happened to be treated differently for what he was. He had a marked difficulty with schooling, never getting his assignments done, always being held after class for not keeping up with the other children, constantly being sent to couselors to determine what the malfunction was, frustrating administrators, eventually being written off by the system for what was later assumed to be Attention Deficit Disorder decades before that diagnosis, or the pharmaceutical companies' involvement in it, became popular. He had an odd name that was easy to make fun of, was never admitted to the student's social circles, was the constant victim of bullies (sustaining an injury to this day that was a result of one encounter), and became shy and withdrawn because of other children's cruelty. He had to deal with unwarranted discrimination all the way through high school, untill he ultimately left his birthplace for good. All of this for the fact that he was mentally well ahead of the school system, and, he was bored with it. He eventually on his own made the Honor Roll for good grades in his Sophomore year. But, the mold was cast. His classmates never accepted him. The reasons for discrimination in most cases are this stupid.

That child went on to help others wherever he could, to champion causes that benefitted the communities he lived in, to help preserve his adopted community's citizens' property rights, and, to lead a non-profit historic preservation group, among other things. That child became me.

I can just see the lightning strike and hear the thunder. "How dare you assert that that story even remotely compares to the discrimination blacks faced in this country untill the Civil Rights Movement!" you shriek. I don't. It does, however, illustrate that an infinitely varying range of discrimination, from avoiding a person with bad breath, to The Holocaust, has existed, and, in some places, still does. And, it can happen anytime, anywhere, for any reason, to anyone. No single group is the sole authority on victimhood. Discrimination its self doesn't differentiate. It's equal opportunity.

Racism historically was never really based on differences. "Balderdash!," you exclaim. "What else could it possibly be based on?" Stick with me here. While differences were the easiest thing to use as a scapegoat for the horrific treatment of different classes of people, the logic, or, motivation, to discriminate based soley on differences, isn't there. Taking all emotion (which, by the way, is one of the basic contributors to racism) out of the situation, why on earth should one be inclined to disparage a person of say, a different skin color, or, for that matter, any other characteristic; brown eyes, black hair, Roman noses, or the like. Does varying amounts of skin pigment give any indication of a person's work productiveness? Apparently not, one would think, or, early slave owners would not have resorted to other means to decide value, as historically, slaves have been many different colors and many races. Does a nose indicate an inclination to liquor store robberies? Does eye color give any indication of even visual accuity, let alone of social acceptance? Is there anything in personal character that is inherent in a particular physical attribute? Can you logically conclude that a person with black hair and an olive complexion is either going to like rice wine and sushi or Fettuchini Alfredo? I've heard it said that the black bitch that lives with me is clingy, maternalistic, looks mean, and smells bad because she's.........a Rottweiler. Not attributes that apply exclusively to any particular human race or creed. Frankly, a crack addiction will take maternalism out of any human anyway.

"Then, what?" you demand. Simple. Discrimination's roots, and, therefore, racisim's roots, are in power. One people's power over another. One class's power over another. Racism is a blood brother of class warfare, another scourge of mankind. Prejudice is another. And, they in turn have as their parents the most base of human flaws - sloth, the father, and self aggrandizement, the mother. For example, slave owners used power over their servants to reap the benefits of the subservients' labor, therefore easing the effort on their own behalfs to maintain the lifestyle that the results of volumnious labor provides. In return, the slaves recieved basic necessities, but, nothing else. The remainder of the fruits of their labor was stolen, or, taxed, whichever you prefer, by the "owner," and, redistributed to himself and his family members. In other words, socialism. (Okay, you all thought that socialism was about spreading the "load" throughout society for everyone's benefit, but, as I've said before, it only benefits those in control, and, then, only temporarily before the inevitable collapse. It never differs, except in name, and, it's never about the true benefit of the whole "society".) Discrimination was simply a tool to maintain the power structure. It kept the victims isolated from people that, had they not been indoctrinated, would otherwise help break down the barriers around them. Those who were not indoctrinated by discrimination, for example, ran the famous Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape their bondage. Racism is merely an attempt at justifying discrimination to distract from it's true basis - control. Prejudice is instilled in a population to facilitate racism by using fear as a control and perpetuation device. Discrimination is about nothing but acquiring power. Class warfare is about nothing but redistributing wealth through the application of acquired power. These are the basic reasons why capitalism and it's participants must and do reject both class warfare and discrimination. Capitalism places the highest value on what free individuals can accomplish unfettered on their own for themselves. Capitalism is truly one of the greatest equalizers. But it cannot function under the restrictions of of concentrated social power. And it cannot condone racisim.

So, why does racism enjoy such noteriety in this day and age? Why is it not only alive and well, but, well after slavery was ended in this country, and, the successes of the civil rights movements, is it a weekly, if not often daily, topic of the national news reports? The answer may surprise some, but, was previously explained to the astute reader. It's nothing different than it has always been. Power. To acquire, or, redistribute wealth. "But," say you, "With all those evil slave owners dead, and, all of the civil rights legislation and affirmative action programs in place making, in some cases, discrimination punishable by prison sentence, who on earth would still practice such a thing, and why?" Let's return to my own experiences for a while.

Because there were many less people "of color" in my area of the country, there was practically no strife related to discrimination, and, such was the case in most areas of the Northern and Western United States. There were no race riots in Boise, Idaho, no civil rights marches in Salt Lake City, Utah, and, Martin Luther King never addressed a crowd in Elko, Nevada. Now, while I am aware of the shamefull treatment Sammy Davis Jr. recieved in his earlier career days in Las Vegas (he wasn't allowed to stay in the hotel rooms of some of the casinos he performed in) I would point out that the casino industry at that time was largely operated by people from other states, namely, Eastern crime syndicates. By the mid Seventies, that was cleaned up by the State of Nevada, and, Sammy went on to be a good friend of white gaming pioneer and tycoon, William F. "Bill" Harrah. Elsewhere, we all just accepted anyone of different race and got on with life. True to Dr. King's dream, character was all that mattered to anyone I knew. We had a bigger problem with alcoholism than racism. Come to think of it, I find it ironic that the former produces jackasses, and, the latter is practiced by jackasses. If I were the Democratic Party, I'd pick another symbol tomorrow morning.

Things started changing everywhere by the mid Seventies. The media was busy indoctrinating the minorities of the country with the horrible injustices that were, by then, thoroughly minimalized, if not entirely vanquished, Archie Bunker was out giving a lot of good people a bad name by insinuated association, and, a new type of racism was beginning to sprout and spread like mold spores in areas new to, and previously unblemished by it. Because of the actions of some bad actors well separated from me by both time and circumstance, a new generation of Americans were participating in the power process of discrimination. And, I was again the victim.

Imagine my surprise when riding my bicycle down a street during my fifth grade year in a town which knew no more of "hate crimes" than it did of Starbucks or Facebook when I come upon a small group of Shoshone children who had learned from "All In The Family" that I was a "honkie" and a "cracker", and were shouting it at me at the top of their voice. Didn't matter that my family's income taxes helped pay for their brand new Federally subsidized houses. Or, that they were never slaves. Or, that my family came from Europe in the early 1900's and never owned slaves, or, fought in any Indian battles. Didn't even matter that my lineage contains Cherokee on Mom's side and Blackfoot on Dad's. It just mattered that "Minority good, White Man bad. "

Affirmative Action and de-segregation were not required in our county, so, those one-solution-fits-all government missteps had little effect on us at the time. Or, so we thought. Already, taxes to pay for those programs were spiraling, and we all were soon in line for Jimmy Carter's newest social program: Malaise. In other communities around the nation, however, the citizens were subjected to involuntary demonstrations of how badly the government can mismanage anything without exception, that no matter how much diesel fuel you waste in a bus, you cannot use it to instill in a child motivation to succeed in a foreign environment, and, that statistical quotas are not better than personal character or achievement in filling jobs. As a matter of fact, Affirmative Action became the embodiement of a new type of racism that pervades society to this very day......and, in another twist of irony, it's referred to by its victims as "reverse discrimination." It's not completely correct, though. Reverse discrimination would technically mean that the discrimination was literally "reversed", or, eliminated. Any discrimination under any circumstance against any group is just plain discrimination, as it doesn't differentiate in it's terrible effects.

Now, as I stated earlier, discrimination only exists to facilitate control. In this case, again, economic control. The discrimination here was perpetrated by the designers of Affirmative Action to redistribute economic advancement opportunities to people who were happy to use their own race as a crutch for not trying to advance themselves by putting forth more effort. The really dispicable factor in this insanity is that those using the crutch to gain advantage over people who were willing to use their God given freedom and motivation to improve their, and, everyone else's lot, were being facilitated at the expense of the very freedom that allowed the creation of the opportunities they were handed. Nothing is ever "free." But, hell, if you can game the "system" on the basis of lineage instead of competing for higher rewards based on effort, who cares? If you can live above your means at the expense of other people whose collective effort made your opportunity to do so possible, why not go for it? Let those college educated crackers go pick cotton! They owe you this job! Funny, sounds like a future slave owner talking to me. And,if you think that this is all "trash talk," a case involving exactly this very concept embodied in the form of some firefighters (not all white, by the way) working towards promotions found it's way to the Supreme Court. I'll leave it up to you to research the outcome. Hint: Government sanctioned discrimination lost one.

By the way, what freedom did the "crutch users" loose? The freedom to live outside the the control structure of discrimination, as well as the ability to deny racism more victims. And, who still practices this discrimination? The statists in government who benefit from the support of the "minorities" to whom they are handing the tools to acquire benefits and jobs. And, the muckrakers, who have no honest way to make a living, so, they take advantage of purposely misguided emotions and opinions of target groups to extort money or attention from whomever they can tar with the racism brush, the legitimacy of which is entirely optional. (The Tawana Brawley case comes to mind.)

That brings me to the position I find myself in today. Hated by milions who lust after my percieved inborn priveledge, even though I never got a damn thing because of my color. Maligned by stereotypes that bear no more credibility in the real world than an actor in blackface. Harrassed by a black beggar on Pensylvainia Avenue, blocks from the White House, because he assumed that according to my skin color, I should be able to make a contribution to him, then being called a "nigger" by him when I could not comply. Placed "at the back of the line" in favor of anyone of any other race, through such things as rules that give preference to minorities in competition for government contracts and educational quotas, even though I never did anything to force disadvantage upon any of them. Being labeled "racist" because I don't agree with the political agendas of groups that base their membership and goals on race. Expected to not be offended by things that no other race would tolerate. Discouraged from speaking out on the hippocracy. Being treated as a second class citizen because of the things that someone who, by accident, shared a pigment distribution similar to mine, did from fifty to two hundred years ago. And, being expected to graciously and generously pay for the every want and demand of racism's percieved "victims," even though many of them are recent imports from other countries. None of which is anything less than perpetuation of racism. Only this time, to control me. The abuse I can endure for merely pointing out the facts is a manifestation of this control, and, my doing so qualifies me in some eyes, by daring to expose the game of special interests, as a racist.

By the way, there is no Constitutional right to not be offended. It's stunning the value that race baiters have gotten out of that double standard. Dare ye not say as much as a word that may offend a minority, lest ye be publicly whipped! Meanwhile, the belittlement of the "majority" is constantly in season. Well, joke's on the race baiters. Dream up whatever epithet you can contrive and apply it to me, it means nothing. While the famous "n" word can cause a riot at a Detroit social event, you cannot get more than a chuckle out of me by calling me "honkie." It, and it's basis, is meaningless to me. Just shows ignorance on the part of the bomb-thrower. I'm still too proud of my life to be offended by racist comments. So should everyone else be, unless there's good reason not to. Don't call me a liar or a cheat. Attacking my personal integrity WILL get a reaction, as it should from anyone of any race with high moral standards. But, using my race as an instigator of reaction from me is hopeless. My emotions, and, therefore, I, cannot be controlled that way.

Which brings me back to another bankable stalwart of the libreral socialist agenda, upon which not only is racisim operated, but are myriad other societal cancers such as climate change doctrine and radical environmentalism. And, one I have previously addressed. Hippocracy. In Arizona, which was forced to defend itself where Congress will not, a state law was passed supporting the Federal laws concerning illegal immigration. Lawbreakers' support groups were protesting while hiding behind a phony shield of racism because it's their most effective tool to pry more of their self serving agenda out of my tax bill. Rather than do what our Founding Fathers did to fix their own countries' governments, they want a free ticket to resources provided by me, in a country made better than the one they left by people like me, and they want me to hand over to them the keys to my community and lifestyle, for which I've worked very hard, under a cloud of shame because of the sole fact that I happen to be white. One day, they're hoisting the Mexican flag over Old Glory at a Southern California high school, and, the next, they're being "good Americans" and protesting the racism they accuse the State of Arizona of causing, saying that America wouldn't stand for it. Well, they're right there. If the racism were legitimate. That which they're perpetuating by insinuation is not. The real irony there is that if they'd just give up on the lazy way of bullying their way into this land of plenty, stop being the pawns of the true racists, and, work in good faith and earnest for legitimate citizenship, no opportunity would ever be denyed them under true conservative capitalism. The millionaires in the pro basketball and baseball franchises bear that out.

I get to wonder at the otherwise obvious incongruities, like everyone hanging on the words of the Congressional Black Caucus, or hailing the United Negro College Fund, while a counterpart similarly named would invoke cries of the invasion of the Ku-Klux-Klan. Like the "n" word only being taboo if you are not black, otherwise, it can be freely lyricized and broadcast on cable. Like fawning press coverage of the "first black, Hispanic, female, you-name-it" to accomplish something someone else has already accomplished, as though that first effort wasn't worth noting because a white guy did it, and, despite cries from many in those groups that there is no difference between anyone's ability as regards to race or gender. Like laws that provide harsher punishment for crimes against certain minorities than the same crime committed against me. Like minorities even adjusting their identification to further their prospects. Native American, African American, Mexican American, Asian American...... all promote the idea that they're one thing first, and Americans second, (and often, only when convenient) instead 0f Americans first, and, nothing else matters. You can't be a fighter of racism if you're going to insist on being identified with, and segragated by it. And, you sure as hell don't have a legitimate claim on the benefits this country provides if you won't swear allegiance to it first. By the way, does it really matter that the Wright Brothers or Neil Armstrong are white? Apparently it didn't at the time of their accomplishments, because, it wasn't noted in the news reports.

My best kindergarten friend was the son of one of one of my mother's dearest friends, last name of Martinez. My immediate supervisor early in one of my longest lasting jobs was a wonderful man who just happened to be black. My list of favorite Americans includes not only Mssrs. Cosby and Pride, but Clarence Thomas, Walter Williams, Morgan Freeman, and Condoleezza Rice. I never learned to hate anyone based on race. It's pointless. But, I will profess a very strong dislike for anyone of any race who acts in such a way as to consistently bring shame upon their fellow people by doing things that perpetuate stereotypes. Racism is exclusively practiced in, and, perpetuated by, selfish persuits, and, people who organize groups by race to take advantage of their collective emotions for gain against any other group are no different than those early slave owners, be they pseudo community activists or government officials. Groups of illegal immigrants trying to mute their criminality and the effects of their actions by declaring racism, government officials turning a blind eye to racism practiced by whichever is the currently favored minority to effect an illigitimate "payback" for long past transgressions, people of mixed race who pander to that part of their heritage that, because of racism, benefits them most, these, among others, are people who are preserving racism for no other reasons than to acquire access to my tax dollar, or, to control me by reserving from me opportunities that normally would be equally distributed indiscriminately by achievement. They have converted racism from a social stigma to a cashbox key. They use it at an unfair advantage, as, because of my color, I am exempt from access to it. Further, they condemn themselves and their followers to living by racism rather than elevating them above it.

So, if you really wonder why in this day and age racism is not dead, just look to the objectives that socialists like to demonize the most when they result from capitalism and hard work. Money, power, and control. It's just an easier way for them to access, and partake of, all three.