Lost Legacy: Black, White, and Blue

My lovely, and very conservative, friend Anon E. Mouse, also known as F1, is back. I thought one of my shots from the left had scared her away, but fortunately that's not the case. 

One of the things most likely to get me "hopping mad" (as Dad used to say; RIP) is racism, most especially the domestic American sort, since I was largely raised within that culture. One of Mouse's friends alluded to it during one of our debates, then backpedaled (and I did too, after calling him on it), but I didn't think she'd subscribe to such a narrow-minded notion herself. I was disappointed to receive the following email from her this morning. 

First, though, let me apologize sincerely for some of the words and terms used by the original author, and (sadly) tacitly endorsed by my friend, an intelligent woman who should know much better. I apologize as well for dirtying this site with the author's assertion and notions; I most certainly do not share them. (I've reformatted just a bit, and minimally touched up some of the punctuation – as usual, hate literature betrays its adherents' lack of sound education.): 

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 9:23 AM
Subject: FW: Fw: Proud To Be White 

Proud To Be White 

[image: painting of a rugged, older, gun-carrying cowboy] 

Someone finally said it. 

How many are actually paying attention to this? 

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, etc. 

And then there are just Americans. 

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. 

You Call me "White boy," "Cracker," "Honkey," "Whitey," "Caveman"... 

And that's OK. 

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink... 

You call me a racist.

Also added is Nappy Headed HO's

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live? 

You have the United Negro College Fund. 

You have Martin Luther King Day. 

You have Black History Month. 

You have Cesar Chavez Day. 

You Have Yom Hashoah 

You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi 

You have the NAACP. 

You have BET. 

If we had WET (White Entertainment Television)... 

We'd be racists. 

If we had a White Pride Day... 

You would call us racists. 

If we had White History Month 

We'd be racists. 

If we had any organization for only whites to "advance" OUR lives... 

We'd be racists. 

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, 

And then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. 

Wonder who pays for that? 

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... 

You know we'd be racists. 

There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US, 

Yet if there were "White colleges"… 

THAT would be a racist college. 

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. 

If we marched for our race and rights, 

You would call us racists. 

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. 

But when we announce our white pride... 

You call us racists. 

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. 

But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society... 

You call him a racist. 

I am proud. 

But, you call me a racist. 

Why is it that only whites can be racists? 

There is nothing improper about this e-mail. 

Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on. 

[image: painting of cowboy father and son, riding horses] 

I was livid. I stopped what I was doing (something time-critical for the Director), sent back my response. While it was aimed at all people who tout such a lowbrow life, my phrasing may have made it come across to Mouse as blasting specifically at her: 

Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 10:05 AM
Subject: RE: Fw: Proud To Be White 

Oh, please! You want a real bigotry test? How many of you Dixie-flag saluters would rather die than receive a blood transfusion from a man or woman of color? All of you? No surprise there. Me, I'd be honored. How about serve as a missionary, or doctor, or nurse, in Africa… or even Guadalajara? Or does your skin crawl when a black man gets in line behind you at McDonald's? 

"Whiteness" as such is strictly a matter of melanin; it's controlled by genetics. Groups banding together due to a melanin-rich genetic background (as mentioned by the unnamed, bedsheet-wearing coward of an author who wrote that execrable piece) have done so because power-wielding Caucasians oppressed them for generations; the legacy can be seen in those statistics alluded to. 

I want no part of "white pride". These narrow-minded hypocritical bigots have totally lost sight of the real "white pride" legacy: the whip-hand, the lynching, the cross-burnings, kidnapped Africans stacked like cordwood in leaking ships and dragged across the ocean to be sold like third-rate rotting produce, and other horrors that assure the "whites-only" folks will never be white-handed: generations of spilled blood do not wipe off through sanctimonious, ignorant, fantasy-based "pride". 

"White pride" can go to hell, and burn with every man and woman who'd rather spit on a non-Caucasian than feed him, or bind his wounds, or give him a job. You go ahead and form your lynch-mobs and hate-groups, and puff yourselves up arrogantly; me, "may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14)… the same cross you'd rather see burning than redeeming. Perhaps it's that page out of Galatians you're using first as tinder. 

Regards,

AgingChild 

Mouse responded very quickly: 

Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: RE: Fw: Proud To Be White 

AC, in all seriousness how come we're called racists yet I can't call them racists when they spout off about Black History month, Miss Black USA, etc. I'm tried of it all. Plus I'm tired off all the hoppla over African American, you're either an American or you're not! What, should I call myself a White American? 

I gave her my response in turn… calming down a bit a third of the way in: 

Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 10:51 AM
Subject: RE: Fw: Proud To Be White

Anyone is a racist who rejects a fellow human on the basis of their ethnicity, especially as manifested outwardly in the arguably insignificant difference of skin-pigmentation. So an African-American who says his daughter may not marry a Caucasian because he's a Caucasian is, yes, a racist. So is, say, a man behind the microphone – with millions of adherents – who from his public position mocks a group of people based on racially-identifiable features and patterns of speech. So is a German (or Iranian) who wants to burn all people of Jewish descent. 

People of all colors are equal in all ways by right of being children of God, and his children on this earth. But those who resent a subgroup of their nation because the nation's heritage has caused this subgroup to have greater needs that must be attended to… are not just racists, but also ignorant, undereducated, cultureless, overgrown infants who've forgotten history. 

More kindly: don't let the labels bother you. Here we are indeed all Americans. We are all God's creation. And in this country we desperately need to rectify generations of wrongs inflicted by our ancestors on fellow-citizens' ancestors. If we can do that with open hearts and souls and minds, there'll no longer be any need for NAACP, and no pseudo-justification for the Aryan Nation. 

White American, Caucasian-American… sure, why not? But most of these other groups consist of folks who – within your own lifetime and mine – could not get a seat at a lunch counter, let alone time under the spotlight to be told she's beautiful inside and out. Laws passed from the mid-1860s to the mid-1960s were enacted to give legal rights of equality to all our brothers and sisters in Christ, here in America. 

But you can't legislate people's hearts or impulses. This comes only through keeping the mind and eyes and heart open, the hands joined with them, and with your own in prayer. Resenting someone at the very least because s/he has greater needs describes the immature, and the bully. Spend a Sunday in a black church. Buy and watch "Roots" (and "Schindler's List" while you're at it). Borrow and read a copy of "Black Like Me" (I have one; have loaned it to an African-American friend.) Spend Saturday in a soup kitchen. 

We are called to compassion, mercy, love, understanding. Admittedly, racist attitudes make it hard for me to be compassionate. But remember what we were told about sheep and goats in Matthew 25; I can only hope to be told that "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me". Nowhere does Jesus speak of color. 

And I closed out the email with a beautiful image of what might be called a more African-blooded Jesus. She did not comment on the picture in her response… possibly he's unrecognizable out of her personal context: 

Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:10 AM
Subject: dialogue 

I agree that we should help those less fortunate but, let's just say we have perhaps a different background. I'm second generation American. Both grandparents on both sides came over from Europe with only 1 suitcase and the determination to make a life for themselves and with grateful heart to have the opportunity to come to America. They disembarked at Liberty Island w/o knowing anyone here. Where they lived I don't know, but they had the grit and determination to find work, whatever that was offered for pennies, slept wherever a place was offered. 

They didn't have organizations that taught them English or helped them out with free food, free housing, they learned it from listening to those around them speak, by listening to the radio and by WANTING to learn the language. They also learned to save a few pennies at a time, and eventually my one grandfather opened his own bakery, and the other from ground up learned how to build homes. 

My one grandmother was a seamstress and she cleaned homes. I'm not an eloquent writer as you are AC, nor can I quote from the Bible or other material with ease. But what I do know is that my grandparents weren't looking for handouts, or someone to help them, they were glad to be in America and they took pride in themselves. They also survived the Depression and being grateful for the liberties that this land offered to them. All 6 sons served in the military and were proud to do so. 

I'm tried of these ungrateful masses that want us to bend over backwards to help them, where we have to have their language on signs and in printed material, because they don't want to learn OUR language yet want to reap the benefits MY family bleed for to keep this nation free. I'm tired of extending a helping hand and keeping quiet when they trash the values and liberties my family worked and bleed for. 

Having blown off most of my steam (and accepted the foolishness of my friend), I sent one more email: 

Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 1:01 PM
Subject: RE: dialogue 

Mouse, my friend, I do agree with you on these latest points you make. You have every reason to be deeply proud of your grandparents, and your heritage. (Please keep in sight, though, that your grandparents were successes owing to hard, dedicated work and focus, and not to the color of their skin.) And I'm genuinely impressed with how they achieved their goals, becoming very much part of America, and the American dream (which is far from dead). 

And both our families have seen difficulties in melding into a new country and culture; my father survived the brutal and senseless carpet-bombing of his home-city in northern Germany ("senseless" because I don't understand how a beautiful cathedral – and tens of thousands of my dad's neighbors – were justifiable military targets), and the several years of horrific starvation afterward. His mother was strafed at by a low-flying British plane just for fun; his father spent years in prison after the war for the crime of commanding a ship that was defending his homeland; none of the family wanted anything to do with the gang of brutal racist ideologues who had taken over their land, and butchered their neighbors. 

I have no more patience for parasites than you do, Mouse. They leech off the hard work of your grandparents and my (maternal) grandparents. I don't care how much or how little pigmentation a parasite's skin carries; they have to contribute to society if they are able – and by "able" I give a broad definition, since we've both seen the commendable skill exhibited by our disabled (deaf, blind, wheelchair-bound, etc.) friends and colleagues. Laziness is not an excuse, nor is a shaky education. And if they are in this country illegally, they must face the consequences: deportation… but encouragement to come back legally, or face jail next time, and then deportation again. 

But this isn't the same issue as descendants of slaves associating together in civic organizations to counter the currents of oppression, denial, and racism that continue to exist in our country and society. The vast majority of these folks are not welfare-sucking fast-food-junkie mamas lining up to appear on Jerry Springer, or basketball-playing gangsters, or Nation-of-Islam fist-wavers still looking to take down The Man, or drug-dealers endangering the darkened street-corners. (The only crack addict I've ever known was a young white woman.) 

Those parasites are in all colors, all ethnicities, all heritages. But to lump all our African-American brothers and sisters in with them en masse because of color, and some bad apples… does our dignity, and our country, and our Christianity (or Judaism or Islam) a great disservice. 

I talked about this very issue with one of my black friends earlier today; he answered simply and beautifully, "It's all about the blood, man." (He's a single father whose wife died of cancer just a couple years ago; he's in the Navy and has served this country honorably for over a decade.) And indeed it is. Too much of it spilled, too much of it boiling for trivial reasons, too much of it ignored or forgotten… and plenty of it still dripping from the cross, poured forth for all people. 

"A hand up…not a handout." 

Regards,

AgingChild 

PS: Please don't let the areas where you and I differ politically, and other arenas, drive a wedge in here. I cherish your friendship, I admire your skills and dedication, and remain amazed at things you've endured and survived and moved beyond. This country – our very human species – thrives on dialog… and I appreciate that there's a patch of earth in the middle where we can meet: as dialoging humans, as friends, as fellow Christians on our knees together. 

PPS: I'm no Bible whiz, believe me! I might know a piece of a verse, but I have to look it up online through several searches and links to find the one I had in mind. I know I learn a lot in the process; I only hope it sinks in beyond this thick skull. 

This says most of where I stand on these issues. I'm sure I'll need to say it again at some point. Father Corapi points out that God placed limitations on human intelligence, but none on our stupidity. Amen.