Dear Readers,
Oops. Its happened again, and this time the results are catastrophic. What do I mean? let me just say that people’s private opinions are reshaping our interaction in society. Yes, we have a right to our views, but what happens when a person’s private thoughts go public and their sentiments is meant to gravely offended another person due to race.
Roseanne Barr’s racist comments about Obama’s former adviser Valerie Janet likening her to a cross between the Muslim brotherhood and a “planet of the apes’ characters.”
In her defense Barr claimed that her statement wasn’t intentional it was a side effect from taking the sleep aid Ambien. She continued to say that, “I have made a mistake …I wish I hadn’t ….” Supporters of Barr claims that she had a right to “Freedom of Speech” I’m not questioning whether she had the right to speak freely, the question is when the insult is directed towards a person of color, why is public opinion quick to plead the First Amendment?
We are supposed to be a progressive society advocating for the equity of all people. People of color have tirelessly marched, protested and given up their lives all in the name of change. We have struggled through the degrading institution of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow, lynching’s, burnings, rape, brutal beatings and being murdered in cold blood. We have never claimed to be victims of these circumstances. We have spoken out against these injustices due to the color barrier. Why in this day should people of color continue to be treated as the lesser or the other.
Why should people of color endure behavior that was theoretical ended decades ago. People are either turning a blinds eye or just plain ignorant if they truly can look at themselves in the mirror and say that racism is a practice of the past.
What do people hope to accomplish by lashing out with racist remarks. We are a society that has moved from hope and compassion to anger and hate. The bitterness between the races remains as a dividing line. We have become a society that seems to embrace moving backwards indulging in racism and sexism. I understood that when I decided to blog about this issue that this post might be met with silence, and I am willing to life with that. But what I am not willing to do is to keep silent about issues that can have a negative impact on the minds of younger generations. We must not allow them to think that this type behavior is the norm.
What Say You?
dragthepen 