Listen up! We have a Black president now, and while that doesn't mean that racism is dead, it DOES mean that we can stop assuming racism as a motivating factor for every action. We should definitely be prepared to confront it when it rears its ugly head, but it's not under every rock, around every corner or at the base of every conflict.
In the latest grasp at racist straws, supporters of Roland Burris have intimated that racism motivates those who would deny Mr. Burris the opportunity to be appointed as a U.S. Senator, the only BLACK U.S. Senator, they hasten to point out. Really?
So the problem is that he is Black? Not that he was appointed by someone who is under cloud of indictment for trying to profit from such an appointment? Those who are opposed to Roland Burris are no more racist than those who are opposed to Carolyn Kennedy are sexist.
We, as a people, are really going to have to let go of the past and realize that sometimes, you just don't get what you want in life and that doesn't mean that those who deny you are (necessarily) racist or prejudiced against you because of your race/religion/sex/sexual orientation.
In the latest grasp at racist straws, supporters of Roland Burris have intimated that racism motivates those who would deny Mr. Burris the opportunity to be appointed as a U.S. Senator, the only BLACK U.S. Senator, they hasten to point out. Really?
So the problem is that he is Black? Not that he was appointed by someone who is under cloud of indictment for trying to profit from such an appointment? Those who are opposed to Roland Burris are no more racist than those who are opposed to Carolyn Kennedy are sexist.
We, as a people, are really going to have to let go of the past and realize that sometimes, you just don't get what you want in life and that doesn't mean that those who deny you are (necessarily) racist or prejudiced against you because of your race/religion/sex/sexual orientation.
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