Small Town Iowa?
I don’t believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that this is an issue with the majority of residents in small towns. I don’t even think it’s an issue with the majority the people in mine - but a conversation with a high school upperclassmen last night was pretty disheartening and really showed me how racism and ignorance are still prominent.
Yesterday I was at a friend’s bonfire and after hearing the word “nigger” thrown around several times and hearing my friends talk about the Nazi mini-flags they had bought at a gunshow, I wasn’t really phased-I knew the people engaged in the conversation and I didn’t really think they meant half of the stuff they were talking about, regardless of the fact that it did bother me. I have black family and close family-friends.
Then the conversation came about how some Aryan supremacy organization had written a statement indicating they would assassinate Obama should he win the Presidency. I mentioned that I had full intentions of voting for Obama and asked how they felt about that.
This is when racial ignorance turned into complete stupidity. I got every response I’d expect - from a seventy year old neo-con.
Didn’t I realize Obama supports terrorists?’
Didn’t I know Barack’s middle name is Hussein? He’s basically a terrorist himself!
He’s a Muslim! All Muslims are the extremist types that blow up buildings!
Far be it for me to try and educate anyone spewing the slander.
Far be it for me to question whether they understood that a name is just a name, and in fact a pretty common Kenyan name he received from his Kenyan father.
Far be it for me to say he isn’t Muslim, but actually Christian, attending the United Church of Christ - not that there’s anything wrong with being Muslim-because if you’re not living in a bubble you understand that extremist religious organizations exist across a wider spectrum of faiths.
They even tried to tell me that he was sworn in to some political office by the Quran. Again - nothing wrong with that, but it’s a blatant lie and trying to use it as evidence of some great injustice is like trying to karate chop a tree down.
They were trying to tie in all these religious and political issues, but the real issue was that Barack Obama has dark skin.
Now I don’t want to make this article pro-any candidate, but I did want to shine some light on an issue I have with society that’s been around for a long time. While racism maybe be less rampant than it used to be in the United States, it still exists. Even in Iowa, where Obama won over the state at caucus.
And, unlike my initial observation, I realize that it’s not just elderly white farmers in the middle of nowhere with the ignorance. It runs through the young and old, generations passing down misinformation to it’s youth.
Last night’s discussion made me sick to my stomach. It’s the same feeling I got when I heard my uncle make similar claims in February, but I had made excuses for him. No longer can I excuse hate speech. Why should some of my family have to shield their children from this world?
They shouldn’t, and they also shouldn’t have to shield them from their own blood.
I’m actively looking for your thoughts. Please comment on this article.
About The Author - Lucas is a 20 yr. old college student from the Midwest. He is the contributing editor of Postblink Read more from this author
It is very sad to realize that in a country such as ours, a country that makes the claim to be one of the most advanced countries in the world can still espouse one of the ugliest of human traits–hate towards our fellow neighbors (man, person, etc). I was fortunate that at three months of age, my family moved to another country (due to my father’s career)where I learned the value of a person was based on what was in their mind, heart and soul rather than the color of their skin. Upon retuning to the U.S. as a near adult, I was horrified at the manner in which some people treat other people based on their racial or ethnic background–how some people can comfortably dismiss the existence of an entire group of people simply because they don’t look like them. This is a part of America I am ashamed of, and hope that in my life time, this country will learn that all people are created in the image of God, and therefore, should be treated with dignity and respect.
“It is very sad to realize that in a country such as ours, a country that makes the claim to be one of the most advanced countries in the world can still espouse one of the ugliest of human traits–hate towards our fellow neighbors (man, person, etc).”
Unfortunately, because the national philosophy maintains that there is no absolute morality, it’s not the government’s job to tell people that racism or anything else is wrong any more. Because nothing is wrong if it’s right to the individual. Things can only be legal or illegal, from the government’s perspective. And you really can’t legislate things like hate and love.
She made no claims of government enforced actions or morality.
A nation is not always it’s government. Just because Bush is in power doesn’t mean I agree with him - and thank god the rest of the world realizes that the American people are not their government, for the most part.
As a nation, we are racially divided still. Not as bad as parts of Africa, of course, but far worse than the majority of Canada/Europe.
It’s not for the government to legislate, regardless of whether they could or could not. It’s up to the people to learn to be open, accepting, and to realize we’re all the same.
Regardless of by what you define a ‘nation’, the rampant philosophy is that there is no absolute morality. That’s why matters of respect, character, and morality are slowly being syphoned out of schools (as the application of the principle more closely approaches the theory of the principle).
My issue is that if parents are the only people allowed to pass their morality onto their children, there will be no one to weed out racism unless every individual would work it out on their own (and if that were a simple task, I would think racism wouldn’t be as big a problem as it is). And that would take many many more generations than necessary.
Maybe in confronting racism we should start by recognizing that there IS absolute morality… that hate and discrimination are wrong. For everyone.
Unfortunately the “typical conservative” doesn’t want racism abolished, and the “typical liberal” doesn’t want people telling them that they should adhere to a moral standard. Of course, typifying people as neo-con or liberal or black or white is all wrong as those labels can only tell you about their political stances and skin colors and not about their moral integrity and values. To be honest, assuming otherwise makes you as prejudicial as any racist.
For whatever reason, one of your comments was held for moderation.
I was wondering about that. I could have sworn I submitted it… I just thought maybe I didn’t push submit or something, so I typed the later, shorter comment.