BUD BREWER
One Man's Opinion
I Guess I am a Racist
There are some people whom I admire a lot. Upon reflection as to why I feel this way, I find that they all seem to have some characteristics in common. Raised in Christian family bludgeoned daily about doing the right thing according to standards that make more sense to me today perhaps than they did when I was a kid, I find camaraderie with people who have the same values. If someone says that they believe that each individual has certain rights and those rights are in line with my beliefs, I tend to feel good about them and want to help them in almost any endeavor they try. When an individual expresses opinions and views that I agree with when speaking to local, national or international controversy, I feel good about them and want to help them in any way they are in want. When a group of people or an organization of any kind appears to represent my beliefs and expresses them in words that I tend to use to express my own feelings, I feel comfortable becoming a participant in and supporter of their mission. I don’t question their ethnicity, religion, schooling, number of marriages they have, or where they came from. I tend to just feel comfortable with what they say or do.
Now when I examine some of my feelings about those with whom I have differences I find myself concluding that the problem is that they have a different, at least in my opinion, perhaps less ethical standard by which they are living. When I examine who is embracing those different standards, principals or ethics, I must admit I see religious or racial groups not individuals. As a result I can be having a conversation with a black person whom I admire and find myself making derogatory or generalistic remarks about black people. I do believe that a very large majority of black people just think and behave differently than I do or those with whom I organize do. I am guilty of group discrimination if the majority of the members of that group have different values than I do. Therefore when I hear the words Black Caucus or African American or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, I generate an attitude that is far different than when I have lunch with a friend who is black or when I sit in admiration of the work ethics and success of a Tiger Woods. I cringe when a low rider car passes on the road with speakers blasting rap music, yet have a lifetime love of some of the songs sung by Nat King Cole or Sammy Davis Junior, Ella Fitgerald and their likes.
No matter what a Society mandates for its people, there are bound to be individual differences among its members. Some of those differences are repugnant to me. Others are almost invisibly pleasant. But when people are judged intolerant because of their reaction to behavior that is inconsistent with the standards embraced by the whole, they are often thought to be racists. This is as if experiencing a feeling or displeasure with an act or trait of another is something unnatural.
If I voice objection to the political philosophy of Barack Obama or the illiterate rantings of a Maxine Waters, I am called a racist. If I comment on the way Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton exploit their religion based tax exempt schemes to control black constituencies, I am called a racist. If I am offended by the way black musicians use vulgar words in their performances and can’t seem to be able to speak a complete sentence without including ten superfluous words such as “like’, “you know”, etc. , I am called a racist.
Well folks, if having individual or distinctive views or reactions to that which is occurring around us or promulgated by an ethnic group is racism, then……….