Making Race a Factor

I am totally upset at the methods being employed by the Republican Party to garner a win in this General Election. I am going to attempt to convey my thoughts without inciting a riot, a point that I believe is being represented in the latest antics from the McCain campaign.

I frequently ask those tending to demonstrate racial bigotry by their actions this question… why do you have to resort to that mentality to convey your thoughts? The racial bigotry in America is based entirely on fear and hate! I can even venture to say that racial bigotry from Whites is fear driven while racial bigotry from Blacks is hate driven. Why do we do it? Is it necessary? How can we get around it? These are questions that I have asked myself for all of my life; from the time that I realized that others were upset that I was different from them, and at sixty-four years of age I still don’t have the answers. I know that I want it to stop in my lifetime. I hope that I am not alone.

Humans can be so nasty when it comes to respecting the feeling of others. Inflicting pain on someone that you fear or hate is the first line of attack, not defense. Usually this type of pain is introduced by the use of derogatory words. I refuse to use any of them here, but I can convey my thoughts by asking you one question. I want you to grab a pencil and a sheet of paper and take a test – be honest, don’t cheat! You must write, in five minutes, all of the racial words and slurs that you can recall. It does not matter whether you habitually used these words, or not! What matters is whether you have ever heard, or been in a situation where you were exposed to these words. The more derogatory words that you can write, the more exposure you have had to these words. Be honest!

What I have found out about this test is that Whites are capable of writing down more derogatory words than any of the other racial groups. More derogatory words can be traced to origins within the White race. I then asked myself why?

Until most recently, generationally speaking, all of the actors in the movies and on television were White. The hero wore a White hat. The maiden in distress was White. Curly, Larry and Moe were – you guessed it, White! If Blacks appeared in any movie, or television they were depicted as ‘Ya sir boss’ folks with little, or no mental faculties. They did dumb stuff and their eyes bugged out when something startled them, or they said silly things like ‘feet don’t fail me now’! These were depictions of Blacks in the worst light. Who made the movies and television programs – yeah… the same guys!

All of the advertisements in newspapers and in magazines were made by Whites for whites with little regard for the perceptions that would be drawn from these depictions by the viewers of this product. The people used in these advertisements were tall, pleasing to look at, and seem to not have a care in the world. Psychologically, America built on its history of having never before treated others with respect. Even within the Caucasian race there were instances of racial bigotry – the Italians took the weight in those instances. We know what happened to the Japanese to end World War II. Why didn’t we ‘nuke’ Germany?

It would only seem natural that since Blacks were never respected – slaves, and what have you, the only conclusion one can draw from any association with Blacks was that they are shiftless, no-good, dumb guys that have no redeeming values, hence the promulgation of derogatory words was made justifiable. When you consider that Blacks are responsible for the following: air conditioning, the traffic light, blood transfusions, rotary engine, cotton gin, and more; how is it possible for anyone to have less than a total admiration for Blacks? The answer is simple, White America has never read about the accomplishments of Blacks and they never will if those in a position to facilitate the enlightenment of America refuse to give credence to Black inventors - Black people!

Is Senator McCain a personification of racial bigotry in America? I hope not, but he has habitually made racial comments in every venue that presented an opportunity for him to do so with impunity. He has admitted his propensity to degrade all peoples; he has even degraded his wife, let alone other women and people with different ideas about sexuality. The contradiction is noticed in his willingness to embrace those that kept him in captivity for the better part of six years, in fact; he has defended and spoke fondly of his captors. Yet, he has been known to call Asians ‘gooks’. It brings to immediate attention a person that is at odds with himself regarding his respect for others. Are we looking at a person that is a clinical example of multiple personality disorder?

McCain has said that he would go to any length to defeat his opponent in the political arena. Does that mean that it is alright to put forth lies that only misinform, as well as, incite the behavior of his followers to shout words that bring terror to most Blacks, words that conjure memories of a period in American history that is indeed most shameful and extremely painful to recall. It is unconscionable that Senator McCain or anyone else should freely and without forethought create and promote this type of atmosphere in America today.

If America is ever going to survive the real issues that face ‘us’ we cannot allow this type of behavior to permeate the election of a candidate to the highest office of the land. We cannot allow the leader of the most powerful government in the free world to be represented in the person of John Sidney McCain. Would you want a person that has disgraced, through verbal indiscretions, a significant majority of the populace of the United States – of the free world?

Of course there will be those that see nothing wrong with this type of behavior, and to these people, I direct this opinion in hopes that you will look deeply into the mirror and reassess your values of humanity – please do this?

The Republicans are playing the 'B' Card

So, Bailout 1 never got a chance and I am so glad for that. The Republicans are playing the 'Blame' card. Why should you or I have to pay for what some bozos on Wall Street and the man down there at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are responsible for having put in play? I am not interested in helping anybody that did not have my best interest at heart from the beginning. Show me where Wall Street ever did anything for the man on the street. Show me where all of the middle class jobs went and I will show you where ‘they’ need to go to get the help that ‘they’ need. I am using the word ‘‘they’’ liberally because it is a way of expressing just how far away these people are from me and reality. This situation is 'their' reality check. You can't scare me anymore because I don't believe you anymore.

Here is the cool skinner on how the Bailout went south in the Devil’s hand basket. Bear in mind that the Republican Party in the guise of Phil Graham set all of this up when ‘they’ changed the Commodity Futures Market Act in 2000. That set in motion all of the speculation that sent Enron, WorldCom, and the Electrical Utilities market in a tailspin. The futures market was manipulated and it was apparent to the people on Wall Street and ‘they’ took advantage of it. Everybody made money, bought fancy cars, and big houses in gated communities.

In addition, big business saw that ‘they’ could out-source jobs to wherever. We noticed it as a person that spoke English with a serious accent reading from a script answering the phone and fielding our questions with no idea as to what we wanted. Advanced technology took more people off of the assembly line, further reducing the middle class. With a fine chisel and a never tiring hand big business advanced its assault on our Unions, reducing them to ineffective street crowds. We loss every job that had a value-added tag and Wall Street smiled and said… “This is good”.

Wall Street and Big Business did everything ‘they’ could to strip every dollar from the hands of the very people that were needed to support the American economy. Without money in savings accounts, without people spending money, buying stuff and using stuff, cash flow ceases to exist. What did ‘they’ expect? Didn’t anybody think that this would happen? Drunk with the unbelievable influx of cash, Wall Street and Big Business could care less.

The next area of attack was the housing market. ‘‘they’’ applied the same philosophy to the housing market, giving over-appraised houses to people that wanted to live the American dream, but had no real money to buy into the dream. Mortgage lenders followed the game plan that Wall Street had polished into a money-maker and the boom was on. Everybody that could drag himself into the door was given a fat boy loan.

I say no to the bailout. Let all of those that raked in the big bucks return the favor. Give the money back. Straighten out those loans that you fraudulently put together. Stop the felonious practices that took all of our jobs and sent them overseas.

In response to those that blamed the Democratic Party for the failure of the Bailout to be a reality, let me tell you exactly what happened. The Democrats have enough votes in both the House and Senate to have passed this bill with no problem. The Democrats, and I, believe that since the Republicans are responsible for this mess, ‘they’ should share in whatever method of recovery that was devised. The Republicans would love to see the measure pass, but want no part of the blame if the measure should fail. So, the Democrats had a plan, we will allow so many of our votes to be recorded, but if the Republicans don’t match the vote count, thus insuring bi-partisan support, than we will instruct the rest of the Democratic vote to record a negative vote.

I don’t blame Pelosi for doing what she did. She is nobody’s fool. The Republicans and the ‘lame duck’ down the street had better come up with a plan for saving the economy, or history will not be too kind to ‘them’. The President should stop begging and demand a positive response from his Party!