My Sunday Thought for 10022016: Racism - Not My Monkey

I will be spreading this new saying as I think it simplifies the entire point of keeping other people's stress out of your own life and off of your path. With everything going on in the world today that is of so much more importance than the trivial bullshit involved in the circus we visit upon ourselves, maybe we should all recognize, early on, there is nothing entertaining here and learn to leave the "big top" when we see the monkey has set the tent ablaze.

-- "Not My Circus, Not My Monkey" (August 8, 2015)

I will be upfront and honest with my readers, as I always try to be.  Tonight I have some help from Mr. Evan Williams, working hard to keep me on the narrow, if not necessarily straight.  This has been one of those posts which I have labored over, written and rewritten, and will probably continue to rewrite days after I post it.  Like abortion and child abuse, this is a topic which hurts my heart, my faith, and my patriotism.  America is everything to me.  Those that know me also know I have no compunction dying for her, or killing to protect her.

There comes a time when you have to make a choice of whether to be a patriot or not.  Whether, as a soldier, to die protecting a President which you have little or no respect for, simply because you took an oath to protect them, or to commit treason to your country, your oath, and your self-respect by letting the poor sap drown in a pool of their own blood.  Fortunately for our Presidents, an oath is only a guideline for fair-weather patriots.  True patriots don't have the luxury of sticking our finger in the air to gauge the political weather every five minutes - that's the job of Congress.  Patriots care about the Constitution and the people of these United States.  Patriots assume those people elected by the ignorant rabble are also law abiding patriots worthy of our protection, and that the orders they give us are morally, ethically, and legally worthy of bringing to fruition; anything else is simply anarchy.  We live with the knowledge that, if things go awry, we will leave no man behind.  Or, at least we used to believe this.  It would seem better advice nowadays, when the chips are down, to bend over and kiss your brave patriotic ass goodbye.  There will be no expectation of rescue; no cavalry charging over the hill to rescue Americans in harm's way.

True patriots also don't look for an excuse to milk the system.  We are the citizens that would think thrice about a lawsuit, unemployment, and certainly not welfare.  Hey, shit happens, get over it, pick yourself up, and move forward.  Just because you can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that you must do that thing.  Patriots don't buy into the bullshit.  We are what we are, what we have always been, first to fight, first to die.  Coming back in pieces is what we volunteer to do and hope we don't.  We don't see color in our band of brothers because we're too busy watching each other's backs.  On the field of battle, one becomes acutely aware all blood is red.  Any other color is not a player for the patriot, so show a little respect.  Those "patriots" who don't believe this maybe should learn to speak Farsi and prepare to reap their reward.

Racism in America?  I'll be the first to admit, I probably don't see it because I don't look for it.  I don't look for it because I wasn't brought up with it.  In the U.S. Air Force it wasn't tolerated.  It isn't a monkey I want digging its claws in my ass and climbing up my back, limiting the friendship pool.  I don't hold with it, I do not practice it.  I have always supported productive laws, programs and other recourse to defeat it, and I think the minorities that feel offended should make use of those legal tools to mitigate any perceived wrongdoing.  Having said all this, however, Americans are still being inundated by the media fomenting racial divisiveness in our country even though we have elected a black President.  Our Congress has a Black Congressional Caucus, which seems a bit racist as there is no Congressional White Caucus, and isn't Congress supposed to represent all Americans in the first place?  I guess that would presuppose Congress actually does their job.  The fact they don't would seem to evidence that, regardless of color or political tilt, all of Congress is corrupt.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) would seem to exist for the express purpose of stirring the racial pot instead of serving up healthy portions of brotherly love, and solving the inner city plight which has gotten worse since the creation of the NAACP back in 1909.  Perhaps I'm confused, but I assumed they were created for the advancement of all colored people, not just a chosen few.  Peace, brotherly love and equality, don't fill the NAACP coffers, however.  If the success of the NAACP, or any governmental programs, is evidenced by all the constant rioting in the North where everyone wants to equate their issues of joblessness, welfare, and lack of education, with Mississippi and a reason for violence, I'd say they have been a dismal failure.

Mississippi's problems stem from the North thinking that we're racists, which is the excuse the North uses for telling everyone not to do business in this state.  The north is so good at this propaganda they actually convince intelligent people to buy into their new history.  Hey, the victors write the lies of history and dictate survival to the losers, especially in today's liberal education system.  No shit?  Burning cities to the ground has always been a battle tactic of the North (re: Atlanta), so why should it surprise them when neighborhoods are torched?  Most hard working, God fearing, Mississippians would probably like to tell the North to clean their own house before throwing stones at theirs.  Seen any rioting down in Mississippi that equates to the North?  Pick up a real history book, for once, and see when the last one was, and good luck.  If you can pull your collective heads out of your ass long enough to smell the bullshit you're being spoon-fed.

The North will, sooner or later, probably succeed in re-infecting the South with the newest iteration of racist violence, perpetrated by blacks instead of whites, but until that happens, if you want to escape the Northern violence,  ya'll come visit.  

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

My mother is Mississippi born and bred.  She left until they cleaned up their racially divisive act, and raised me so I would not have to experience the evil of it.  She has returned to her home state and, to all outward appearances, it seems to have made a 180 degree turn.  Does racism exist in America?  Unfortunately, yes.  I see it every time I watch the news concerning the rioting up north.  I see it each time a cowardly assassin shoots a policeman in the back... up north.  I see it every time I go to a friend's Facebook page to read the racist comments left by the majority of their black "friends" which are tempered only by the minority of loving Christians of color in the group.  The fact that my friend is also black has bearing on this only in that, what racism I've encountered in Mississippi, the "in my face" racism, has been perpetrated upon me by a minority of black Mississippians.  I'm sure there are also whites in the same evil boat since evil is one trait which does not discriminate.

While what little, obvious, racism I have experienced was while cruising Facebook, one has to realize sites like Facebook offer a platform for cowards to say what they might not say to your face.  What concerns me most is when I discover friends I thought I knew, seemingly buying into the bullshit spouted by their own friends and readers by condoning the racist behavior instead of stepping up for more of a Christian attitude.  How very sad, for all of us, if this is true of my friends, and how very sad for Christianity when it becomes so clearly evident we have failed the sons and daughters of God.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, I mentioned the only "in my face" racism I've encountered, but there is plenty of unspoken racism behind the looks one gets.  Equally as sad, for me at least, are these looks of veiled dislike I get from some people of color, as though being white is an immediate reason to hate me.  You can see it in their eyes and hear it in the forced greeting, if a greeting is even returned.  It's the look that says, "You're white."  It is the look which helps you identify with the victims of racism, because you are immediately a victim.  I experience it when I enter a hospital room to minister and realize my Christianity is the wrong color; there is a silent politeness which says, "Get out."  It would seem that Christian bigotry is color blind since Christians of both races practice it.  Christians, or hypocrites? 

Violence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

--Martin Luther King, Jr.

For the country as a whole this hatred seems to be, unfortunately, summed up in three words today - Black Lives Matter.  No other lives matter, only black lives.  We hear interviews with folks, black and white, saying this President has set equality in the United States back fifty years.  I would offer that he was only a catalyst to inflame rioters and protesters, those people perpetually offended, and those disenchanted with a government which has done little to better the circumstances of these communities.  The fact that the people in these communities may have done little or nothing to better their own circumstances seems moot.  These are the northern violent protestors, rioters, criminals and race baiters that have set the country's sense of equality back fifty years.  The current administration has done nothing but condone this behavior, by silence or by excuse.

One would hope Southern sensibilities would rise above buying into such bullshit, but it would seem ignorance and hatred are cruel taskmasters that have been given the uncontrolled platform of social media from which to spew the anarchy of racial divisiveness throughout our country and the world. 

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

To most Americans, I think these violent rioters and protesters have done their cause no favor by listening to, and acting on, liberal hate speak.  Everyone loves to throw out the "Dr. Martin Luther King card" as a reason for protesting injustice, and well they should.  But you cannot use Dr. King as an excuse to prove how stupid you are for rioting and destroying property; for burning down your house around your ears.  This is not what Dr. King was about, and one would think black leadership in America would be aware of this and have spent their time hammering this point home, which they haven't.   

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace...  Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bigotry in America?  It is an unfortunate reality for all of humanity.  Equality in this country is still being learned.  It is not something that can be dictated by government.  Race, gender, and religion will enflame our emotions for some years to come as we work our way through the emotional, political, and media magnified bullshit, in order to find a real sense of family.  We must also wait for old memories to die or, at least, fade into history.

But, history will always be an excuse, a reason for some perceived wrong in the present, an excuse for violent retribution against the innocent.  What we must not do is fall into the trap set by those who would have us rewrite our history.  History is how we learn from the past.  We must not allow politicians and the media to continue using all of us as a tool for accomplishing a political party's agenda of governmental control in our society.  The only way we as a people can accomplish our goal of equality is to show a personal tolerance, understanding, and eventual acceptance of each other.  We must have a personal respect for rules of law, and we must agree to allow those rules to function with juries of our peers and to respect the final judgment of those juries - right or wrong.  

We need police forces and governments peopled with a percentage of minorities equal to the communities which they serve.  We need to stand shoulder to shoulder in fellowship, not spouting the divisive hatred we hear from rabble rousers in our midst.  We need to be intelligent enough to look beyond these self-serving hate mongers and see something better for our future.  We need to step up and take responsibility for the future of all of us, not just the perpetually offended few who will never be satisfied with any strides we take forward as a country; those for whom nothing will ever be enough. 

A riot is the language of the unheard...  The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

I will most certainly pay for this post, as usual, with derisive comments I will receive from this League of the Perpetually Offended.  It will come, if history is any indicator, mostly from "Caucasian" readers, younger than myself, who have never read the writings of Dr. King or, if they did, have not understood a thing they read.  It is as if they feel guilt for crimes they did not commit.  They have allowed the perpetually offended to let this monkey loose on their back and, like ignorant cowards to afraid to stand up for themselves, they accept the guilt without questioning the source or validity of the accusations.

As a person devoid of color, I have no point of reference.  Because of this, I'm honest enough to admit I have probably missed much of Dr. King's sweet, tolerant reasonableness despite all his people have endured, simply because I did not endure it.  By the same token, I think many of younger blacks in our country suffer from this same ignorance of his philosophy.  You can read the evidence of this ignorance all over Facebook in their unforgiving comments about killing and hatred of all whites, a payback for slavery which they never endured, and slavery most whites, of this era, never condoned.  These people are all, generally, good people, white and black, good people of faith, caught up in the damning emotions, comments, and actions of someone else's stupidity and politically motivated agendas.  They find themselves acting against all better judgment, no better than the fools who govern them these political agendas instead of the Constitution.  They forget to be Americans, patriots, and people of faith, and their faith forgets, as usual, what it professes to believe - that we are all brothers and sisters, the children of God.

I will pay for this post with a vehemence which would make one think I was personally responsible for their hatred.  I have grown a thick skin, however, especially when it comes from an onslaught of ignorance.

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial... Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. 

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is not my circus, it most certainly is not my monkey, and it saddens me that we have learned nothing from watching the circus, year after year, as it burns when it comes to town.  We keep paying more and more for a ticket and the entertainment value continues to fall flat when the monkey torches the big top and we're left to toast marshmallows over the flames of misspent emotions.  I vote we stop inviting this offensive circus to town and spend our hard earned money on a planned cookout instead.  We can all sit around in fellowship and sing, "Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya; come by here, my Lord, come by here," and hope our effort doesn't fall on deaf ears.

This is not my circus?  It's time for all of us to step up and own the "big top" as the circus of our own making.  Maybe it's time we castrate that damned, racist, monkey and burn it on the pyre of intelligence, the flame of God's love for all mankind.  Maybe it's time for a family cookout.

I'll have a thigh, red beans and rice, and a cold beer.  Don't forget a hearty helping of greens and pot liquor.  Let us hope the monkey is fat and slow roasted.  They're known to be a bit tough and stringy, but... I understand they taste like chicken.  

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, and instructor. He is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path," which offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination.