How White Thou Art

The following was an article in our local newspaper. I’ve removed identifying information.

A woman was arrested Sunday after police from multiple agencies were called to a disturbance.

Around 2:40 p.m. Sunday (March 6, 2022), officers with the Police Department, County Sheriff’s Office and Tribal Police responded after it was reported that a woman was outside her residence, unclothed, screaming and shooting a firearm.

Officers on scene attempted to make contact with the woman when she pointed a pistol at them (my emphasis), then shot the pistol several times into the air. 

According to police, the woman was able to get to her vehicle and leave when she was stopped at a roadblock.

The woman complied with commands and was taken into custody without further incident.

By all indications, this woman was white. Need I say more? 

The Color of Black

Several news reports have included snippets about the girl who recently won the National Spelling Bee contest. As one source put it: In 96 years of the competition, she’s the first African American to win.

As I read this comment, the question that immediately came to my mind was … WHY must it be pointed out that the winner was African American?

Of course, I knew the answer.

It’s because this country is full of bigots.

From the earliest days of this nation’s history, black people have been viewed as “sub-human.” They have been judged not by their talents … their wisdom … their intelligence. No, they have been judged entirely by the COLOR of their skin!

I recognize this discriminatory judgment has been passed on from generation to generation – and that many who harbor this “anti-black” attitude are simply following in the footsteps of previous family members (particularly those who live in the South). In fact, one could almost say it’s “genetic.” (I suppose I was fortunate in that skin color was never an issue when I was growing up.)

Nevertheless, as I read the news blurb about this young girl, I asked myself … Why did the headline writer feel it necessary to include the words “1st African American”? Why couldn’t the person have simply focused on the fact the winner was a 14-year old girl who is also the holder of 3 basketball world records (quite an accomplishment in itself!). Instead, for whatever reason (HA!), the girl’s heredity was included.

Regrettably, this discriminatory attitude is not going away. In fact, from recent actions within certain states the biased and bigoted mentality is becoming even more predominant.

By the way, let me add that I’m aware that prejudice towards skin color is not limited to the U.S. Nevertheless, this is the country I live in … and such intolerance grieves me.

OK. I’ve said my piece. As always, you are welcome to add your own thoughts. 

Abortion, Restaurant Shooting, No. Korea, LBGT

Sometimes there are so many things going on in the world, it’s difficult to focus on just one. So I’ve decided to temporarily abandon my usual singular subject post and cover a multitude of topics.

Repeal of Abortion Ban in Ireland

The women are celebrating … the Christians are complaining.

I’ve written before on this very touchy subject so I won’t go into a long, drawn-out commentary except to say I’m thrilled the vote went the way it did. It’s way past time to overturn antiquated laws that deny women’s rights. Go women of Ireland!

Shooting in Oklahoma Restaurant 

The NRA folks are just giddy that “good guys” with guns stepped in at an Oklahoma restaurant shooting. Yippee! Hooray! Justification for not only owning a gun, but running to get it out of the car and shooting the bad guy. Yet they have little to say when someone walks into a school with an assault rifle in their immediate possession and kills innocent children and young people!

There’s something else that’s disturbing about this story. One news source reported the incident as follows: “A man who believed he had been under demonic attacks drove to an Oklahoma restaurant and indiscriminately fired at a crowd.” Did you notice the most important words in this sentence? What do those words tell you about the attacker?

Meeting with No. Korea

There’s not much to say about this except that I truly hope it doesn’t take place. As many of you recognize, our president is NOT the Great Negotiator he thinks he is. Further, his primary goal is not to reach any kind of peace agreement with Kim Jong-un, but to enhance his own ego for (finally) accomplishing something notable as POTUS. (Side note: Several in his administration disagree with his decision to go forward, but of course tRumpsky knows best!)

Supreme Court Decision on Discrimination

It seems a decision is forthcoming on the “wedding cake” fiasco. The matter of general discrimination against LGBT people is still being discussed.  The latter is the all-important one as it determines whether businesses can avoid complying with anti-discrimination measures in serving customers, hiring and firing employees, providing health care, and placing children with foster or adoptive parents simply based on religious objections.

To those of us who have strong feelings related to the imposition of religion into the general population, it’s simply unfathomable that human beings (of which we all are) can be denied certain things simply because they don’t fit the parameters of the Christian faith.

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OK — I’ve said my piece. The floor is open.

Ku Klux Klan

Definition from Wikipedia:

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), or simply “the Klan“, is the name of three distinct past and present movements in the United States that have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, (emphasis mine) historically expressed through terrorism aimed at groups or individuals whom they opposed.

The byline on the KKK.com website:

Bringing a Message of Hope and Deliverance to White Christian America! (emphasis mine) A Message of Love NOT Hate!

From the Q&A page of the KKK.bz website:

Q. Why do you think you are so superior to everyone else?

A. We don’t care who is superior and who isn’t. God made us all. We simply believe that the United States of America was founded as a white Christian nation. (emphasis mine) We base this belief on the many writings of our founding fathers as well as the Declaration of Independence. We believe there are those who hate the concepts of Western civilization – Christianity – and wish to turn the United States into a different type of nation than what was originally intended by our ancestors. (emphasis mine) We think it would be terrible if white Christians ceased to exist and we are working to preserve and promote their interests. We feel the concepts of Christianity benefit all people regardless of color. The fact is we have a right to love our children and our heritage. Even if the white race was but mere cavemen and cavewomen, we still have a right to protect and advance our people.

I’m posting this because of an article I read  in which “Anonymous” is revealing the heretofore unknown names of those belonging to this hate group. Many are prominent mayors and U.S. Senators.

The essential truth is this: We are all human beings. We all require food, we all require water, we all need to eliminate waste. We all have blood flowing through our veins, we all have glands and organs that operate within us to keep us alive. The color of our skin has absolutely no bearing on the core functions of you, me, or any other human.

If it were up to me, the word racism would be eliminated from our vocabulary.