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HEY, WHERE'S THE RACE? - By Jim H., 01-24-09

Let's just wait and see.

One of my friends called me a racist, based on my previous post (below, attached).

I disagree with this one-word assessment of me, based on what I wrote.

[Perhaps I could have written 10 pages about my 3-hour trip, but I didn't. I cooked it down to a few sentences, leaving the essence of my experience.]

To the quick: I am not a “racist.” I am a realist. Yeah, I’m white, but I never got anywhere because of it. I don’t see race as an issue in my daily life. I don’t see why anyone should, especially in the US. What I mean is… I was hoping my generation would be the first to simply move on, move forward, and deal with each other based on our merits. But folks just want to play the race card at any time they can. Good god, that game is OVER. People want to drag skeletons out of the closet that had been dealt with. Then again, that’s how I feel. Some folks just want to hold onto their pain. Well, healing will never happen if you don’t just let some things go.

Obama might do a good job (might - remains to be seen how many of his promises he will backtrack on), but a fair portion of his followers are off the deep end. Instead of unity, I am still seeing divisiveness… non-inclusiveness… but from an unexpected direction.

A lot of people voted for him for all of the wrong reasons. He’s young, he can read a prepared speech very well (but can’t wing it worth a damn), he promises “change”, and he’s not white. All of these things appealed to a large portion of the potential voters, which actually got a lot more to vote than ever before. Of course, I wonder how many people really, truly understand the issues facing our country, many of which are the result of - gasp! - Clinton.

I’m not saying people should not have voted for Obama - far from it. But if you voted for him out of a knee-jerk reaction, well, that’s just dumb.

Why is that all of a sudden people are pulling together, supporting each other, being nice to each other (at least, that’s the chrome on the plastic of reality now)? Where was all this positive energy the last… 16 years? You do remember the hoopla back in 1992, don’t you? Don’t you? Oh…. short attention spans. Got it.

If you CHOOSE to be miserable you will BE miserable. I think people made stupid financial decisions, fell into the trap of religion, and generally were self-serving pricks for the longest time, then found someone to blame. Now, there’s a new sherrif in town to clean it all up. Good. Now is the positivity going to last? Nope. People will fall into their old patterns, screw up their own lives, and want someone to make things all better - all without looking in the damn mirror.

For the past year and a half, people on the street were asked who they were going to vote for. It was disturbing that in a lot of cases, the person responded by saying something along the lines of, “Look at me. Look at my skin tone. Who do you think I’m going to vote for? What a dumb question.”

Well, that really, really cheapens Dr. King, Jr.’s ideals, if you ask me. A lot of civil rights heroes did not fight - and die - so that the pendulum would swing so far the other way for no reason other than Obama is black. Do I feel ashamed to be white and from a dysfunctional lower-middle class white family, as if I had any choice in the matter? Do I feel remorse for the crimes of whites (and blacks - never forget what the slave trade really entailed) who lived hundreds of years before me?

H E L L N O

How can I be sorry for something I didn’t do, and I certainly would not have accepted? I can only worry about my life, and moving forward. I try to be positive about the present and future, only looking back to the past to know what not to do now and in the future. I can’t mope about what was done then - I can only worry about what I’m going to do now. Reparations? How about sending a bill to Denver’s Latino community so that I can get compensated for the bike that was stolen out from under me by a punk 10 years older than me, way back in 1983? Sounds fair to me.

I am who I am. I was the only white kid in my neighborhood in Denver, so if you think I have no idea what it’s like being a minority, you can kiss my ass. It sucks, yes, but there are opportunities if you choose to seek them out and take advantage of them. And I did.

I was the first person in my immediate family (mom, aunts, uncles, grandpa, grandma, cousins) to earn a degree. That was in 1996. As of this moment, only one other person has a degree, and that’s my mom. I chose to go to school. It was not easy, but it was necessary.

I got through college by taking out student loans available to just about anyone who is able to get into college in the first place. I did not qualify for most grants (free money, a bit better than loans) becuase of my ethnic background. That kind of stung, knowing I was part of the “elite”, and yet never, EVER tasted the fruits of this so called upper crust.

Long story short, Bush isn’t responsible for every single ill this country is currently enduring. Some, but not all. There is a lot of inertia in government, and the President only has so much power. He’s a figurehead most of the time, but as an individual he is a lightning rod for criticism that should be directed at the idiots in Congress. Yeah, he got us into Iraq - not the smartest move - but there is a big picture going on here. Wow… that’s a subject for another post. Move along.

I have seen that whites are still singled out as the “evil” that has caused so much misery in this nation. Well guess what - I’ve lived my life knowing I’m a small part of a great nation, and that our nation can draw strength from its diversity IF WE CHOOSE TO.

Oops, I think this post meandered all over the place. I’m not necessarily the best communicator, especially when the ideas and concerns rolling around in my head don’t translate to a blog very well.

Then again, you didn’t have to read it. Freedom of choice, and all that.

***

ENOUGH ALREADY! By Jim H., 01-20-09

Barack Obama is going to be crowned President in a few hours.

Yay.

Get over it already.

Please.

This whole circus is waaaaaaaay out of hand. I hear cries of, “You didn’t vote for Obama? What are you? Racist?”

I took the Amtrak from Iselin, NJ to DC on Sunday afternoon, and boy, was it a borderline racism storm.

It all started when I took my seat and a crew member asked for my ticket.

I said, “How are you doing this afternoon?”

The reply: “Oh, lordy, I am just having an Obama day.”

Ummmmmmm….

WTF?!?

I let it slide, as she was part of a particular ethnic group (that shall remain nameless) that has been having Obamagasms ever since they first heard of the guy (sometime late in ‘06 or early ‘07, I think).

But wait, there’s more.

As we were pulling in to Union Station in DC, the conductor got on the PA system and said, “Thank you for riding Amtrak, and thank you for riding the Obama train! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The majority of passengers (but not all) around me were of the same ethnic background as the crew member I spoke with earlier, and boy, was everybody on board hoopin’ and hollerin’. It was like a big party on the stupid commuter train. Yay.

Again: WTF?!?

Amtrak is publicly funded through our taxes. Therefore, it is rather uncouth to use the PA on a commuter train to shout such… evangelical praises. Again, I let it slide, albeit with gritted teeth.

He is not our President YET.

He is not the “messiah” that everyone is making him out to be.

He is going to be our President. Later today. There’s this little thing called the Constitution…

I sincerely hope he is able to deliver on his promises, and to live up to the lofty expectations all those robo- I mean, conscientious voters - have heaped upon him.

I have no problem with his being elected. Actually, it sets quite the precedent that a non-WASP can get elected to the top office. Congratulations.

But jeez louise… tone it down a bit with the whole “racism” thing. It’s definitely a two-way street.