Systemic Racism
Kudos to Jeffry Blau of Clarks Summit, PA, for his letter regarding one more systemic racist problem in America. In reference to the lawsuit filed against the NFL by the former Miami Dolphins coach with regard to discrimination What a shame to have to resort to lawsuits when this is an issue about human equality and justice. Too many people are living in denial of such discriminatory practices and bigotry. It takes people like Mr. Blau to continue to hit at these things through various forms of media such as this letter. Other modes of communicating human equality and human justice issues are blogs, online forums, and so forth.
It was informative to learn from Mr. Blau about how the brain injury issue in football has been treated in a distasteful and disdainful way against black folks. It is bizarre to think that black folks are not being as well treated as white folks when it comes to the treatment for brain injury due to the lower “cognitive nature” of black folks. How absurd to consider such a thing. I wa a professor and educator for some 40 years in colleges in very multi-racial environments. We are all human beings. Some have better cognitive abilities than others. Some have various reasons for cognitive skills, good or bad, as well as visual, auditory, or physical handicaps. There is NOTHING which indicates white is better than black. In fact, there are times when a black student is better than a white; vice versa. But as an educator, such qualities of color were never part of my consideration. The black student who came to me to show me the A+ he received on each Advanced Calculus test. That does not mean there were no white students who could achieve the same score. It is a human consideration, not a racial consideration.
What a shame, too, that there are such stupid fools in America who work to block the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. What foolish SOBs who do this. Human equality in voting, too, damn it. Stop the crap from those with money who block such equality. Stop the crap in many states in Dixie who are doing gerrymandering and voter suppression so as to put white supremacists in office. Shameful, shameful America which allows this to happen without the people of America getting up in arms. To repeat. We need to appreciate what peopl like Mr. Blau say and the virtual “microphone” given to him to let this be known so we do it far and wide in America.
Mr. Blau mentions a comparison to Big Tobacco living in denial over the impact of smoking and likens those events in big corporations which lack and morality and ethics for human equality and justice. In that case, too, much was solved to hold Big Tobacco accountable for the costs of healthcare for Americans who succumb to lung cancer. Who and what political group was responsible for that? Anybody realize? That too, came from Florida. Before the Republican one-party dictatorship was established in Florida (about 1998 when Jebbie Bush became governor), it was DEMOCRATIC PARTY GOVERNOR LAWTON CHILES. Chiles played a major role in the lawsuit filed. Sad that he mysteriously died in 1998 and never got a chance to run for president. There is too much complaining about Democrats by using false statements. This statement about Lawton Chiles is not in error. You don’t believe me, then do the research to find out.
Finally, Mr. Blau was right on point as he mentioned Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate, Dave White, as White “promises in campaign ads to block public school curriculums that expose students to America’s history of racism.” Such candidates are in denial and do make “America’s largest plantation, also known as the NFL.” Together with other types of plantation owners, this nation is full of systemic racism and that needs to be stopped. If not, then when the day comes and white folks are no longer the majority, they will not be very unhappy. That is, unless they wish to carry rifles, as plantation owners did to execute black folks; or like the Jim Crow, white vigilante groups carrying ropes for lynching. The true reason for being against gun control and safety and the NRA has nothing to do with the U.S. Constitution, but about systemic racism and the fear that one day white folks will no longer be the majority population. Thus, such white folks are scared and frightened right now so as to fake things about government or validating gerrymandering only if Republicans do it for their benefit, and all the other stuff perpetuated by such white folks.
The Veil of Conservatism Used to Hide True Expressions Bigotry
When I speak with folks, I have come to recognize the ability to speak gloom and doom about America and try to connect with the “conservative” movement in America. I am learning. The veil covers over true bigotry due to racism, anti-Semitism, sexual identity issues, and so forth.
For instance, the other day, The man spoke as if he was a “conservative” patriot when he said, “I don’t like watching football on TV any more. Such games and all of America has gone to hell all over the place. I don’t like them not standing and saluting the flag at the beginning of the game.
WHAT? WHO IS “they?”WHAT is the veil covering over the TRUE reasons?
I mentioned how I really no longer like to watch college or NFL football games, as I did in my younger years. I did not give a reason why. I just my playing football in my younger years, enjoyed playing football, and also did the enjoyment of watching football games, especially when purchasing tickets with “on demand” capabilities, entering a stadium, and not paying for the myriad of collective games with most of them being games I never watch.
The man was talking about his dislike of black people. Period. It was an example of systemic racist bigotry in America today, hidden under the veil of “conservatism.” During Jim Crow, that veil of “conservatism” was up there, loud and clear, but I thought we had moved on beyond that.
People will defend this anti-human reaction as just being patriotic. If I had said anything, my reply would have been to mention that saluting the flag, for some people, involves a dislike of words like, “bombs bursting in air” and putting guns and violence first. White folks do it and validate this with the 2nd Amendment. That is supposed to be patriotic? It was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who really endorsed the use of non-violence, in spite of the words in the national anthem. It took a lot of guts to even consider, after white folks hidden in white robes were lynching black people. Still. Non violence being pushed by black folks.
Furthermore, how many times do white folks salute the flag while saying the ledge of allegiance? White racist bigots who are nothing but hypocrites. When the words “…liberty and justice for all,” I see no white person even flinch a muscle as they are thinking to themselves, “I really don’t want liberty and justice for all.” That’s not true for ALL white folks. But there are still many who are hypocrites who repeat those words. And then they work to put down black folks who express their own “freedom of expression and speech” by kneeling rather than standing during the national anthem. Systemic racism is about hiding true feelings and saying, “yes’r, no sir” with a smile while repeating and participating in the patriotism which evidently is only allowed for white folks. The true feelings of bigotry and racism, I would wager, were behind what that man said, as he felt “America is going to hell.” He did not say it. But that “hell” is the equality earned by black folks which they did not have in the “good old days” which some white folk are longing to achieve. Considering this aspect, it embarrasses me to think about being white myself and having to experience such vicious attitudes hidden under the veil of “conservatism” and some who are patriotic proclaiming they go along with the objections to kneeling, just to go along with a crowd they consider patriotic. It truly is disgusting to consider living in such a nation with white people who don’t want to progress past the lack of coexistence between colored and white, gay and straight, and Jews, Gentiles, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. To be patriotic is to say, “he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother,” even when someone kneels in expressing one’s own feelings for being a people which has been treated bad and now voter suppression and other means of putting people down are being used in Dixie again in order to “return to the good old days” of the environment like the poll tax and lynching. Black folks who kneel are not taking the freedoms gained for granted and wish to be recognized in their expressions of protest. I cannot blame them, especially being a gay man who won’t take for granted the freedoms gained by the LGBTQ+
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Commentary, systemic racism
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