You Don't Have a Daughter

All this talk of Black History month has made a few things come to mind. The first thing that comes to everyones mind (particularly the other authors of this blog) is the fact that I am white. I am not racist. I am to a point mind you, as everyone in the world is a little bit racist towards someone, and if you say oh no not me, you're lying. You're lying like Burton (see first blog) when he talks about one of his many adventures that may or may not be loosely based off of popular early adventure serials "Flash Gordon". Of course of late the stigma is in fact that white people are the only racist race one's as good ole Shifto pointed out. I know this is a good joke but it go me thinking.

I have a story for all of you. Two Christmas's ago during a weekend Army Reserve drill we were having our annual Christmas gathering and gift swapping event. We each had pulled a name of someone else randomly out of a hat. I pulled the name of a female and asked around as to what this person would probably like. I ended up purchasing some lotions from Bath and Bodyworks. I thought I did a good and tasteful job of picking a gift for someone that I didn't know. The person who randomly picked me on the other hand did not do so good of a job. She purchased me a black triple extra large shirt from Hot Topic of a god awful band with pictures of skulls and generally ugly things. Needless to say, I would never ever wear unless I was in dire need of warmth in Antarctica (which I don't really get cold as I am white) and had no other clothing. The other item that was in the Hot Topic bag was a belt. Not just any belt though, it was a black pleather belt with a giant skull and crossbones as the belt buckle. This sort of thing would be fine if I was a pirate or one of those Goth kids but Jesus Christ, I am not. In the two years that I had known this person never did I dress in such a way or do anything that would lead anyone to believe that these items were me. Though I smiled and shook my head approvingly and held up my plunder for all to see, secretly inside I was dreaming of shooting myself in the face as I said thankyou for this thoughtless rubble. When I got back to my table, the people that did know me laughed in understanding, black and white folk alike.

Okay, so what is my point? Why am I whining about these pirate treasures (looking back it's hilarious and I never took any real offense to any of this mind you)? The person who got me these gifts was black. Her intentions were good, she genuinely thought I would like these objects. I asked one of my black friends at the table who had talked to her why she had chosen these specific items and his reply was simple. She said it's because "You're white and you play guitar." Wow, bravo. Good job. This was your reason for the gift. This is racist. I'm not allowed to take offense to this though and I don't. But if I did take offense to this it would be considered racist.
So on the other hand hypothetically speaking, if I were to buy her a gift certificate to KFC it would be the same sort of assumption and be a definate offense to her and I would be hailed as the most racist person in the world for assuming that she wants fried chicken. (Although, who doesn't love some fuckin fried chicken, don't hesitate to get me a gift certificate for some damned chicken).

My family (both mothers and father's side) came over to our country directly post World War II and wasn't around during the times of slavery. They started from the bottom rung just like the hundreds of thousands of other non-racist immigrants and built a life for themselves. These are the people who have populated most of the country from there on after. I'm pissed off because I feel this reverse racism often. White people are scared to speak their mind honestly for fear of being misconstrued as a racist. Black people can be racist too though, and it happens more and more often. It is racist to assume a white person is racist. It is racist to assume anything of anyone due to their color or religion or nationality, but we all do it. I'm no angel.

But shit guys. I need you to give us good whitey's a break. I hate what happened to your ancestor's. I'm disgusted by the people who are still ignorantly preaching their ultra racism. Thing's are getting better though. This is the new generation. Don't assume that every time Jessi Jackson is on the news that you should start picketing and jump on a nationwide bandwagon against whatever allegation there is, because nowadays guys it doesn't matter what the skin color is you have to read both sides of the story. I'm not saying he's always wrong, but I'm uncomfortable with the massive kill whitey movement every time he gets involved in an issue. Don't assume that because of what stupid white people did back in the day that we are all racist(The ancestor's of people whom owned slaves probably make up less then 25% of the people in this country nowadays, of course this is just speculation).

The old ignorant racists are dying out and the new young ones become fewer and fewer generation by generation. I understand some things are off limits, I would never use the "N" word. That is yours, I understand that. It's meaning and power are not mine to use. Dave
Chappelle can fling around as many jokes about all the races including mine as he wants and no matter how terrible the joke is I laugh, even about my race. If a white comedian were to do the same thing, he'd be stripped and fed to the wolves.