Happy Black History Month! Or should I say "Happy Everybody's History Month" for how can the history made by blacks in America not have affected all Americans. So yes, it is all our history and the fact we have to segregate history by race, is a problem all by itself. Is America ready?No doubt Martin Luther King would be surprised by today's presidential race. I mean who isn't? A black man or perhaps even a woman with chances of actually becoming the next Commander and Chief of the United States of America. Now let me preface this blog by saying this, I am not writing this blog to endorse any candidate because (1) most endorsements are not given for free and last time I checked, Hillary nor Barack sent me any money and (2) I feel that there is a bigger issue here. And thus I ask the question is America ready? And as I type this blog, I am listening to the words of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech...it is quite a speech. Take some time to listen, I mean really LISTEN, to it in its entirety and not just the "FREE AT LAST" part. And after you do, ask yourself, is America ready? (NOTE: I have posted the speech to my blog for your listening pleasure.)
Some people look at this race and say YES, America is ready. And why wouldn't we believe it? Look at the support Hillary is getting and look at the record numbers that turn out for Obama. One could take a step back and say, looks like things are moving in the right direction. However, when you get past the political promises and eloquent speeches and dig real deep, I say we are progressing but we still have a long way to go. Because for any real change, there has to be a change in the heart.
If you don't believe me, just go on the internet and read some of the comments that folks, our American people write. I have a habit of reading the comments posted by people to various articles. It doesn't matter what the subject of the article, negative comments about race or politics are going to come up. The article could be about puppies and if two puppies in the picture are white and one is black, somebody will write, "why did they even put the black puppy in the article, he is probably a bad puppy like all black puppies?", or "why is there only one black puppy when there are two white ones, why couldn't there be two black ones and two white ones?" Are you following me?
Seriously, my point is every American has some unresolved racist issues. If you don't then God bless your soul because you are truly walking with Jesus. Anyway, I have a couple things to say and then I'll take my seat (that is what the preachers say). I think White America has to acknowledge the past and the past mistakes in order to move ahead. American ain't always beautiful. I know that sometimes the whole "race card" is played so much that it loses some validity. But if one looks past the frequency it is played to the reason it is played in the first place, one would discover that the wounds are deep and people of color have good reasons to be defensive. Wounds have to heal but they won't if the scab is continually aggitated. More importantly, serious wounds leave serious scars. Of course if one has never experienced discrimmination then one cannot relate. Is White America ready?
My second thought is this, I think Black America needs to realize that making everything about race is not productive. For instance, should Barack get the Democratic nomination, the attacks against him are going to kick it up a notch. Why? Cause he's black or because that is the nature of the political beast? I mean seriously, one has to realize that negativety is part of politics. Barack is no fool, he knew this when he decided to run. So one should not get excited everytime he or she hears or reads people say bad things about him and say it is because he's black. This may or may not be true. Battles have to be picked very carefully when one wants his or her arguments to be considered credible. In fact, if Obama got bent everytime people talked about him, he certainly isn't tough enough to run this country. Is Black America ready?
Well blog readers, as promised, I had my say and now I am going to take my virtual seat. Again, Happy Everybody's History Month! Now go and show some love to somebody of a different race!
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Jeremy