Monday, August 9, 2010

Why Is It Being Kept Alive?

On December 6th, 1865 the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified, on September 9th, 1868 the 14th Amendment granting civil rights was ratified and on February 3rd, 1870 the 15th Amendment ending black suffrage was ratified; who then has kept racism alive and kicking for so long? I’ll step back for a moment and give a little history lesson. There are 2 methods available to add an Amendment to the Constitution. The first way is for two-thirds of the legislatures in both houses of Congress to deem an Amendment as necessary. Once proposed the Amendment must be passed (ratified) by three-fourths of the States. The second method is for two-thirds of the States to call for a Constitutional Convention in which Amendments may be proposed; once again it takes three-fourths of the States to ratify the proposed Amendments. To date all Amendments have been proposed by Congress, not by a Constitutional Convention called by the States. In either case the President does not sign the Amendment; this is one of the powers enumerated to the States. With that in mind consider that it took 66% of Congress to agree that we needed to abolish slavery (13th), ensure that the blacks that had been brought here as slaves or born into slavery would be citizens of the United States (14th) and that all citizens, regardless of race, color or previous condition of servitude would have equal rights (15th). It then took 75% of the States to sign off on this and make it a permanent part of our Constitution. When do we ever hear of 66% of Congress and 75% of the States agree to anything? I know that just signing a piece of paper is not a magical bullet that will change everything, but 75% of the States thought this was a good idea and believed in it, so that would mean a small sector, 25% or less (I didn’t look up the exact numbers for the ratification of each) did not agree. That is a small number to keep the battle of the races going for as long as it has.

I don’t believe anyone can honestly state that some day racism will be abolished, we are people, we think for ourselves, there will always be racists. The blame game though has gone on for far too long. Gaining equality is a two way street, the majority has to swallow their racist attitudes and provide opportunities to the minorities, the minorities on the other hand have to swallow their racist attitudes and prove themselves as equals. Yes, I went there. I wasn’t a great student of history but from everything I read about the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the black race in particular was full of people that were trying to do just that, people with great pride and great minds. Sure there were groups such as the KKK that wanted nothing more then to keep blacks in servitude, but as evidenced by the proposing and ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments there were many more that wanted to give equality for all a go, isn’t that what America is really about? I’m not taking any of the blame for keeping racism alive off of the backs of whites, if whites were blameless there would have been no need for the Civil Rights movement (1954 to 1968), a movement that I might add had many white supporters and activists. It has now been another 40 years from that and we still see racism raising it’s ugly head all across the country. What is keeping it alive and why?

In America today you are considered a racist if you say or do anything that is anti-color, even if it is something that is pro-person regardless of color, case in point is the promotion of the white firefighters in Connecticut over the black firefighters based on test scores, not race. I would personally think that any person would rather be judged on their ability then on their color, isn’t that equality? What has happened to the pride that the black community used to have and claims they still have? How is everything being provided for you equal? How can you be proud of yourself when you are being taken care of by the Government? How can you expect to be respected when you are the second, third or even fourth generation living off welfare and believing it is owed to you? I have heard the argument that the whites are suppressing us for so long I could scream. I fail to see how anyone is being suppressed by their race, unless of course you are talking about whites having to watch what they say, or whites being denied jobs because of affirmative action, regardless of qualifications. Who is the real racist?

Instead of being angry at whites for a practice that was at the time world wide and has now been abolished, blacks should be angry at the very people they are going to when they cry wolf. Organizations like the NAACP are not living up to their name, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. If you want to advance people you help them to get out from under Government care, you put people on display that have become successful, you teach people how to respect themselves and others, you teach them how to assimilate into the society they live in. You don’t attack everything that would provide equality, you don’t allow hate groups like the New Black Panthers to be in the news spreading their racist ideals without speaking out against them. You don’t support groups that strong arm companies to hire unqualified blacks like the Rainbow Coalition has been known to do in the past. We no longer have segregated schools; all children have the same opportunity at a basic education today. What they do with that opportunity is on their backs and their parents backs, not on some other race. Higher education is not a function of race either; it’s a function of money. There are more programs available to blacks then there are to whites for getting funding for higher education, mainly because any program open to whites has to be open to blacks in order to not be called racist, not true for programs set up strictly for minorities. The question then must be not only who is keeping racism alive but why, who benefits from keeping it alive? It’s not the black race that’s benefiting.

For the most part the whole issue of racism seems to be strongest in the welfare community, those that are multiple generations of welfare families. I honestly believe that is not the majority of the black race or any other minority any more, but it is the loudest. Organizations like the NAACP and the Rainbow Coalition would not be necessary if racism was laid to rest for once and all. If all people regardless of color were to become one race, the American race, then they to would go into the shadows of racism to join the KKK. They will always be there but they will not be representative of the American majority. What benefit is there to the people of color to keep racism alive? The only one I can think of is getting their 15 minutes of fame with the media when they cry racism. The cons are great though. The more racism is in the news the higher the racial tension gets, the more you look at anyone of a different color then you and wonder if they are racist. Keeping it alive promotes the “you owe me” attitude which defeats any personal responsibility and keeps a race in a welfare state. Welfare is not good for anyone, it is a scam that makes you believe you are getting your just rewards when it is a system designed to keep people in check, to keep control over people one step above slavery. Didn’t we abolish slavery? The special interest groups and the Federal Government does not want anyone to break free of the welfare scam or to stop believing in racism, they want to maintain control over us in order to continue to promote their programs, pass more laws and line their pockets, they don’t care about equality or people, only power and money. When was the last time any race based special interest group told their race to quit complaining and stand on their own two feet, they don’t, they are constantly repeating the same old garbage that you are not equal but they will protest, get laws passed and take money to make you equal. Special interest groups are always bringing up the ratio of people in prison, stating that its racism causing the higher ratio on criminals in one race then another; please explain to me how this works. It’s racism that caused someone to rob a liquor store or to be involved in a drive by shooting? When did the personal responsibility get taken out of committing a crime? The Government wants to keep racial tension high so they can pass laws that will keep them in power and to further tax the American people, they are not interested in equality, especially since they believe themselves to be above all of us. If all programs singling out one race above another were abolished the special interest groups would no longer be needed.

Maybe I’m a bit of an idealist on this but I would like to believe that Americans can become one race of many colors that stands on our own abilities and merits or lack thereof. We will succeed or fail on our own, not on the back of others or to the benefit of some politician or special interest group. Here’s an idea for you, someone needs to start the NAAAP, the National Association for the Advancement of American People. An organization that would promote true equality, an organization that while promoting the different races to honor their heritage would encourage dropping any hyphens and all becoming Americans; one that would step into poor neighborhoods to provide assistance to people to get them on their feet by giving direction, not by demanding money; one that would step in to help schools that are not providing adequate education. An organization that would encourage people of all races to accept each other for who they are, not what color they are; one that would stand for the laws of the land; one that promoted an attitude of taking responsibility for your actions.

America has problems and keeping racism alive is one of them. There will always be racists of every color, there is nothing we can do about that, but that should not be one of the things that finally tears this country apart. We, being all Americans, are allowing our Government to grow into a monster that we will never be able to stop, racism is one of the issues they are using to ensure this growth; it is also one that is keeping us from coming together and stopping the monster. As long as the Government keeps the racial tension high the American people will not be able to come together in large enough groups to put the Government back on the right track.

Steve Avery
August 9, 2010

No comments:

Post a Comment