Be careful! I caution you not to approach this torrid subject if your pole is less than 10 feet long! Racism is the most dangerously divisive antipathy that whites and blacks in America have had to contend with since the Emancipation Proclamation, nearly 150 years ago. Forgive me if parts of what you are about to read, appear to cross the line?
"Discovered" by Europeans, mainland America, though already inhabited by native Indians, was settled by white people. As their settlements grew, they found it expedient to use African blacks to do their heavy agriculture and menial labor. But how those blacks were torn from their homelands and then sub-humanly managed, will forever remain a shameful blot in the history of humanity.
Yet the institution of slavery has been with us for millennia. It was commonly practiced in Egypt, Greece and Rome. But because in those regions slaves and their owners were of similar background, slavery was nearly always comfortably tolerated. Emancipated slaves tended not to be contentious and post liberation stains and blame created no discernible dissonance. What has happened (and continues to occur) here in America is in unspeakbly sharp contrast.
For many reasons, the black community in America is admittedly not at the same economic, social and educational levels as its white counterparts. And this gap is perversely exploited by its black "leaders" who facilely use victim-hood to keep their followers inflamed. But is our racism really a matter of "complexion" or is it a consuming dissatisfaction with their "inner" selves that fuels black rage? Can any amount of white compassion or even a formula for post-facto compensation ever change this morbid equation? Not likely!
Not too many years after America began to be colonized, peoples of all colors and backgrounds eagerly began to migrate here. In most cases, they quickly found their places. But our blacks, notwithstanding that they were emancipated from slavery during our Civil War, remain unsettled and explosively enraged. In all candor, if they cannot ameliorate their status, they will continue to inhabit the darkest interstices of our country. For long delayed starters, it would really help if blacks begin to diligently seek and find truly inspired and non-exploitative leadership.
And this might be the time to point out that there was an indisputably positive side to American slavery. Although blacks were brought here as slaves and treated unmercifully, they have undeniably reaped the intangible benefits of an accelerated evolution. It should be possible for them to draw some mitigating satisfaction from the fact that despite their hardships and suffering, they are now eons ahead of some of their backward brethren in Africa, who remain stuck in the Stone Age.
Antithetically, Jews have always looked with great reverence and understanding at their protracted years of bondage and their mass exodus from Egypt. For their ultimate deliverance, they remain gratefully beholden to Moses, that Egyptian Icon, who while he led his adopted peoples, he also infused them with an identity that to this day enigmatically reflects the monotheistic and transcendent teachings of that great visionary, Pharaoh Akhenaton.
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Dad ~ You get better with age. I flew for 10 years at Bristol Myers with Ray Duncan, an outstanding black pilot. He was senior to me, so I was his co-pilot. Invariably, ground crews would come to me first for direction and I always enjoyed saying "You had better ask the Captain." His father was an instructor with the Tuskegee Airman, a group of black pilots who flew with great distinction during WW II. The T.A. has been in the news lately in a negative way because of Rev. Wright's mendacious distortions. Ray's dad was a perseverer and he raised one hell of a great son. I miss his presence and friendship. ~ CDR Fred (Your No. 2 son)
Dom ~ I am so glad to see that you are back in the saddle with your wit and compassion regarding the world's problems. I love the way that you focus in and simplify how we should look at a situation ~ Stan Zeller
