I haven’t posted in a while and I have a perfectly good reason for that.
I was busy.
Anyway, since I last posted we were all witnesses to history. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with Obama or not (God knows there are plenty of areas where I disagree with him). The mere fact that we elected a black man into the presidency is a testament to our country (or at least the VAST MAJORITY OF IT) having moved on from racism and bigotry. However, there is a very big problem in our country. There are people in America, the land of the free, who still hearken back to a period in our history where a couple of back country redneck farmers had slaves. After all, the white man had slaves and is the scum of the Earth (I should be saying white Americans, because obviously we’re the only country who ever owned slaves… waiting for the sarcasm to sink in).
Well to that, I say, with all due respect… Shut the fuck up. Just because I have the same skin color as a group of people who once had slaves doesn’t mean I, in any way, condone the practice or the people who took part in it. Similarly, just because you have the same skin color as a people who were once held as slaves doesn’t mean you have the right to say anything to me about your “terrible past.” Nothing makes me more mad then to see people all around me decide that that’s a good enough reason to not achieve everything that’s in their power to achieve. I’ve seen people sit around and complain about the evil deeds of the white man, how the white man keeps them down. Only you are keeping yourself down.
I will not try to say that racism doesn’t exist. Of course there will be a couple quacks who think it’s the right worldview to have. All I am saying is that ‘racism’ is no longer a legitimate reason to not do anything that you want to do. It’s simply no longer acceptable to hide behind your skin color and claim ‘racism’ when something doesn’t go your way. We’ve seen it already people. We have a black president now. You know what that means? THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF AMERICA DID NOT JUDGE HIM BASED ON THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN.
I am sick of people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who travel the country looking for something they can claim to be a racial injustice (sometimes they’re right… most of the time they’re full of shit), so they can pull their pulpits out and start preaching about the racist white people. I am sick of constantly getting the feeling that the only good white person is a white person who feels guilty for being white. It’s not going to happen. I’m proud of my heritage (as slave-free as it is), just as much as I am proud that our country stepped up to the plate and took a huge leap forward into what will hopefully be a bigotry free future. While I don’t necessarily agree with President Obama on a number of issues the fact remains that he’s our president, and as such I will proudly stand behind him and support him while he is president. Hopefully he doesn’t choke on a pretzel.
Going into this, he had an approval rating in the 80%’s, but no presidential nominee or candidate has ever sustained such a high approval rating. He is human and it is inevitable that he will fuck up probably more than one time. As soon as he does people will start turning on him. In all likelihood, the mainstream media will be among the first. I go toward the next 4 or 8 years with a sense of cautious optimism. I don’t want to hold him on as high of a pedestal as most of the country is seeming to do because in the end, he will never live up to peoples expectations.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life it’s to keep expectations low, that way you’re never disappointed. The obvious exception to that being Bush. I gave him all the chances I could but the lower I dropped the bar, he always managed to dip right under it.
P.S. I want people to understand that I referred to “African Americans” as “Black” in this post for two reasons.
- It’s a lot easier to write “Black” than “African American” especially for a lazy college student who could probably use some sleep.
- I don’t in any way find the term “Black” to be racially charged or offensive… it’s the thought that counts.
Filed under: Current Events, Rant | Tagged: Barack Obama, bigotry, president, racism
Thank you!
Also I’ve had a few people who are black get angry when called African American because they’re not from Africa (one guy was from another country, accent and everything…I think he even got angry at a professor for using the term).
Just curious…. if race doesn’t matter then why is everyone making such a big deal over a black man getting elected? I’d add more queries but I would probably get yelled at, and don’t want to turn your blog into a battleground ^_^
seriously, no one reads this. i’m only making a big deal about race because other people are making it a big deal and I’m sick of it. i’m not racist or anything but there are several members of the vocal black community that i believe do more harm than good
And I’m agreeing with you….
i never said u were not agreeing with me… i just think sometimes things need some clarification.
To be fair, the majority wasn’t actually all too vast. The fact that it came in handy for me in this particular election aside, I really despise the electoral college.