? JUSTIFICATION

Listen up white America!  According to one of our esteemed Presidential candidates, “white Americans” just don’t listen to our African-American brothers and sisters.  I find myself wondering just how this over-generalization helps solve the real problems involved in the racial issue. 

As responsible members of our society, there is no justification in using blanket covering blame and accusations of any group.  Rather than dig down and face the actual cause of distrust, anger and outright hatred, the rhetoric is instead aimed at opposing groups of our population.  Even use of the term “some” would be a giant step in the right direction.  It is in fact never about “all”.  We have “some” nationally prominent people who use any opportunity to twist bad news into hype that seems to enforce and back up their point of view.  Sometimes they justify bad behavior.  There are some who use these highly emotional issues for impact and to gain the support of one group or another.  These folks use appearance and perception rather than fact and logical truth which is a very common form of discussion. 

Our society is involved in what can be called a set of interconnected discussions about: guns, racism, police, war, terrorism, crime and our neighbors in general.  All of these subjects are so emotionally charged that rational discussion and topical, honest discussion is rarely shown on our TV sets and internet.  Bad action should not be justified regardless of who the perpetrator is, but yet in the case of the murdering of police in our country, it is being justified.  The injection of racism and gun control may be part of the discussion but in no way do those topics justify the use of violence against those who serve and protect us. The use of blanket blame to make the citizenry come to the voting booth is an act of political harlotry.  The sooner we look past to the actual truth, the better off we will be.  This is one instance where the use of the word all is justified.

There are those who use public megaphone, use that access, along with our country’s contract allowing for freedom of speech, to create havoc and hatred than to counteract the sickness.  They use their voice and the power of anarchy to fuel further mistrust and over generalized blame.  How is it possible to use a small spark of angst caused by one person’s miss-acting to brand and judge one complete segment of our society as being bad actors.  Today’s socially charged topic is that of improper use of force by police personnel.  This has been extrapolated by some as an indictment of the entire nation’s police departments; the municipality’s governing bodies and the “white” segment of our population as being a racist bunch of bigots.  Some have accused their opponents of turning a deaf ear to anyone of minority status.  No one likes to be ignored, no one likes to be falsely accused and no one likes to be misquoted or lied about.

 I am a Caucasian American and when I bleed my blood it is the same color as anyone else.  When my DNA is taken it will find it much the same as any other in our country.  My short term heritage going back some 200 years would contain Anglo, African and Native American components.  Personally, I have never enslaved an African American. I have not considered them to be an inferior species. I have never thought of having them eradicated from our nation or world. I have never thought of them all as being criminals.  If that is and has been the case for the last 75 years how is it that I am held responsible for what took place during the 1800s, during the early and mid- twentieth century.  I have never been a member of the KKK or any white supremacy group. Why is it that I am included in the racist group?  Why is it, when I am in an area filled with anti-white African-American youths, do I feel threatened.  What gives any vote buying politician the right to say that I don’t listen and I can’t understand what it’s like to face bigotry and racism? 

What gives the Black Lives Matter movement the right to accuse anyone or any other group racist when they are promoting the very definition of the word racism and bigotry?  I’m not saying or even thinking that they don’t have the right to force the conversation, but it needs to be an honest and open conversation.  Using the cover of political correctness and 200 year old enslavement does not give them the right to convict any other group of our society.  There is an old Native American (we used to use the word Indian) adage “walk in his moccasins”. Good advice way back when and still good today.

There is racism in our country but it is not limited to just one segment of society.  We are all products of our own specific yesterday and that includes the emotions and beliefs of those who connect to us.  Family members, teachers, peers all affect who we are, who we trust and who we fear.  Not all of us are of any one heritage, one complete belief system or identical to any other being on this entire planet. If there is to be any real future it’s time for us to pluck our head out of blindness and have open constructive searches for a cure.  Without being honest, about actual situations and cause, all of this rabble-rousing serves no good purpose.

Thank God for the USA and pray for our country.