More feedback...

IN RESPONSE TO AN ANONYMOUS COMMENT ON MY FACEBOOK NOTE ABOUT RACE, ABORTION, AND BARRACK OBAMA...

Dear Jane Doe,

You are not out of line and I appreciate the input.

I've gone down the opposite path as you, it seems. I went from championing minority causes in highschool, believing the white man was the source of all evil, to silence in college, and now that I've experienced 20 years worth of the race issue I'm finally coming out of this particular closet. I don't think that capitulation on the part of white people TODAY will do any good. It certainly would have a century ago, but ignorance takes time to disappear. What is needed is responsibility from both sides, and we're just not seeing much from the African American community.

The very fact that a comment about Kwanza decorations in the White House makes you ill bothers me. I think it says something of how we've been conditioned by the media and liberal scholastics to believe that such comements somehow represent racism or lack of taste. Jokes were made when Bush moved into the White House about how he was going to turn it into a red-neck, Texas ranch paradise of sorts with shooting ranges and rodeos and animal heads everywhere and such. No one cared. No one was offended. These were untrue characterizations about our then president. I thought they were kinda funny. Why should characterizations about Obama be any different? Is it because they were African-American themed??? Why then should that be different?

One reason I was so blunt in that note is to prove a point that white people can no longer speak truthfully about their feelings on such issues. Your new-found, East Coast sensibilites may be easily unhinged by such comments, but you should know that for every person like myself who will be open about this issue, there are hundreds upon hundreds more who sit in silent agreement, too afraid to speak out lest they be branded racists and bigots.

I was talking to my friend about this subject today. We were talking about how people will probably react to what I wrote I'm actually not a racist person at all, and I can't stand TRUE racism. I've gotten into fights in gas stations before when illegal immigrants were being berated by stupid red necks behind the service counter. I've been thrown out of a Chevron, of all places, because I felt it necessary to make an issue of defending those poor Mexicans. When I was young, one of my best friends in our apartment complex was Anthony, a black kid. My parents - ignorant, southern rednecks by New Jersey standards - taught me early on that we should treat all people the same no matter what their skin color. One time some kids in our apartment complex started picking on Anthony, calling him the N word. I rushed to his defense at my own expense that day, and I'll never forget being consoled by my parents and having to understand the cold, hard reality of what true ignorance really is. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, but I will NOT be called a racist, directly or indirectly, by you or anyone else.

For the black community, I would say the people of this nation aren't doing enough to lift them up and promote their well being. I think the worst treatment they receive is from their own leaders who want more hand outs and more special favors for their people than they want real change. It will mean the men of that commnity pulling themselves together and getting to work, figuratively and literally. We'll see what Obama does with this. If he can pull something intelligent and responsible together, I just might get on board because I want to be a part of the change too. Maybe I'll go teach in a inner-city Chicago school when I get home. I was looking at some really cool programs they have there.

As for representing Christ, you're probably right. I always come up short in this department. I'm currently of the opinion, from what I read of Him in Scripture, that he wasn't as sugar-coated as we have made Him out to be. I'll bet he was a pretty tough guy, yet full of grace and truth..... I should probably lean more towards the grace side of things than I do, but sometimes all smiles and handshakes doesn't accomplish much. Hard issues require hard stances, and I'm really worked up about this one.

Was what I said hurtful and alienating? I'm sure it was, because these are hurtful and alienating topics. It's NOT OK for African Americans to get a free pass because of their race. Their behavior during this election has been SOOOO irresponsible it makes me ill. In interviews and through personal interraction I've had with them, they can't really articulate why he'd be a better president or for what they are casting their vote. It's really just because he's a black man. One of my friends was talking to a black coworker who said, "He grew up poor just like us and knows where we come from!" That is a LOAD OF GARBAGE! He grew up more affluent than me and most of the people in my circle of influence. Private schools, Harvard.... His madrasa education in Indonesia wasn't cheap! Poor blacks on the streets in Harlem can't even relate, and they're gonna act like their blood-brother has arisen from firery trials of poverty and racial oppression.... Give me a break.

People need to think, really begin to think about these issues and stop vomiting back Oprah's and Katie Courrick's and Bernard Shaw's latest garbage, because all they're doing is moving the nation's perception of things according to their own, left-wing persuasions.
Anyway, try not to be so sensitive. It's not going to help anyone; it's not proactive enough to make a difference. It only permits the unfairness to continue. What we need is the honesty and fortitude to confront these issues head on. If you disagree with me, feel free to let me have it. I don't mind. That's what makes this country great.


Grace and peace,

Bryant