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.

If you’re going to forum together for a cause, why not this bogus war? The retarded president? Why not choose an issue like civil rights? Why is it that groups fighting for stem cell research and gay rights have less than 1% of the members of a group on Facebook trying to change the front page layout?

Conservatism – 1

Society – 0