Cowards Part 1
I may be many things. But I am not a coward.
I will gladly discuss race with the new Attorney General Eric Holder or anybody else for that matter. I will also gladly discuss the history of America and how we got from where we were to where we are now. Unlike some, I actually feel pride and not shame when looking at the accomplishments in overcoming the inequities of this country and unlike some have the ability to put those inequities of the past into historical context without comparing them to today’s standards and sentiments. There are certainly things that by today’s morality seem unconscionable but you cannot judge previously held mentalities by today’s standards. When put into the context and mentality of the time in which they occurred it becomes less an issue of race and more an issue of mentality. Not desirable, not fair or reasonable but understandable.
I will gladly point out to Mr. Holder that a nation of racial cowards would not have elected a black man to be President of the United States. A nation of cowards would have made excuses for not voting for him simply because of his color rather than ignoring both his color and his qualifications and voting for the rhetoric of a remarkably gifted campaigner. I wonder if Martin Luther King would view the progress made in the relatively short time since his historic speech on the steps in Washington DC as being the acts of a nation of cowards.
Mr. Holder stated that it is understandable why we don’t want to talk about the history of this country. I will gladly discuss our history with Mr. Holder. While I have not been anointed as the spokesman for white people, I can say that at our last white people meeting we voted almost unanimously that we are against slavery. I do not feel any personal shame for slavery in America because historically slavery was a standard practice all over the world. In the blessed home land of “African Americans” slavery was completely acceptable for thousands of years and in some African cultures is still in vogue. In the majority of cases the slaves brought to America were from vanquished tribes. The African tribal victors sold or traded the defeated tribes to the white slave traders or anybody else that had something of value with which to trade. White men did not have to go into the jungles of the Dark Continent and steal slaves in the dead of night. They went to the trading posts and bought them from other Africans. It is neither an excuse nor justification, simply a historic fact.
Slaves brought to America were viewed and treated like livestock. They suffered a horrid life of hard labor and abuse. But it was no different than how slaves were viewed and treated throughout history. In Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East slavery was the rule not the exception. This practice lasted thousands of years, not the 60 or 70 years it was practiced in America. And just as a side note, it was whites that put an end to slavery in this country.
There is no question that this country has a history of segregation and prejudice. Outrageous acts of cruelty and murder were committed by whites on blacks simply because of the color of their skin. But that is not the standard today and it was not a nation of cowards that changed it. The greatest threat to a black today is from another black. I would ask Mr. Holder if he was alone walking down the street at night in his custom tailored suit would he rather it be in a white neighborhood or a black neighborhood.
We are not a nation of cowards but there certainly are cowards amongst us. That is actually to Mr. Holder’s and his new bosses benefit rather than to their detriment. The cowards are those who are so afraid of being called racist that they abandon reality and common sense and look for things to be offended about or ways they can claim victimization, either for themselves or as a means to claim tacit support for others.
George Bush could not say good morning without the Washington press corps claiming he had offended the good and pure nature of somebody or something. “How could he say good when he knows Americans are suffering and morning when he knows that for some it is already afternoon. He is such a thoughtless separatist.” But yet the press remains almost completely mum regarding the outrageously offensive and racist comments made by Mr. Holder to the staff serving under him at the Department of Justice. Had a white man made reference to blacks being cowards he would have been burned at the media stake.
We are not a nation of cowards, Mr. Holder. But you have spent so much time in the sheltered halls of Washington DC, where so many true cowards reside, that you do not have a clue what kind of nation we really are.
More tomorrow.
