Yesterday the pastor in Florida decided not to burn the Koran on September 11 in regards to a meeting that "may" or "may not" have happened in regards to relocating the Mosque that will be built new "Ground Zero" Rachel Maddow every other word about the pastor was "wacko", "crackpot", "crazy". As I heard these words I began looking at how conservatives and liberals mark one another when it comes their causes.
I understand Rachel's view...to a point. Yes, I clearly understand what she was saying that the pastor would not have received as much air time if the so-called "sane" congressman and congresswomen on the Right would not have fanned the flame. She hit the nail on the head when you have people from Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin constantly saying, "We're at war with Islam" and not pin-pointing "The terrorist and fanatic Muslim groups". But this has always been the way of the Right. Always painting a broad brush when it comes to people of a different culture or different race. In the Republicans mind Blacks are criminals, Hispanics are all illegal immigrants, and people from the Middle East are terrorists and all the while many of them on The Right use them for cheap labor (lets not forget Asians and people of India and how Corporate America exploits them to no end.)
To me, this is why we from different races can't get along because when you constantly hear how Blacks are a bunch of lazy/good for nothing/always looking for a hand out/gun-toting thugs day in and day out, heck if I saw this image and hear this rhetoric over and over again I would be nervous too if I were of a different race. As of right now The Right Party has painted President Obama as a person who is 'trying to get back at the "White Man" and that he hates "White People" (It just hit me that Glenn Beck is the White Kanye West...but without talent).What about the fact that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama did it the right way: getting good grades, working with the under privilege, both set of parents taught them how to get ahead by 'working" and not looking for a hand out, about treating people the way you wish to be treated. And how about the fact that Obama's grandparents and that his mother was White?
The Right is like a magician with making you not focus on what other cultures bring to the table on in a good way but focus on one bad incident and blow it up to the the 10th power. At first I was going to say the Republicans are "cheap magicians" but they are not because if that was the case people in the U.S. would treat people the way they would want to be treated but instead they pass judgment first then ask questions later.
Then I look at the pastor's point of view. Me being a follower of Christ I was watching the local news and how a Muslim leader could not believe how he could burn a "sacred book". For me being a Christian, we see how Muslims burn the American Flags, how they kill people for practicing Christianity (Americans and they fellow Middle-Eastern town-folk) and by me being Black I encounter people people from the Middle-East and how they look at us as if we are scum of the earth day and day out. I encounter how people from India get the disgusting look at me and my wife when we shop at well known stores and when we drive nice cars are live in nice neighborhoods. They get this look like, "what are YOU people doing in these parts!?!"
What the heck!?!
We as Blacks fought in every major war in these country, OUR country, the United States. We helped build this nation even years and years of not being able to vote or constantly being intimidated by the country we are born in, grew up in and would die for because although the Right Wing establishment paints Blacks as "Takers" we have been "Givers" to this United States of America for centuries. Again, people from the Middle-East wish to be judge by their character but at the same time do not practice this when it comes to my people. I will never forget living in Florida where I was at convenient store and as I was about to hand the young lady the money she tapped the counter to put the money there. I politely walked out of that store never to return.
Funny how people from the Middle-East come to America and try and dictate their ways upon this country but do not try and compromise and try to open up a line of understanding. Funny how they open businesses in the poor areas in Black neighborhoods and yet think they can treat or talk to Blacks as if they are dirt and not realizing that The Right Party looks at them the same way they look at Blacks.
As I get older I realize that when you take the time to listen and try and get to know a person many have great things to bring to the table. Some people are extreme and you have to deal with them with a ten-foot pole but many want the same thing: a decent wage, a safe, nice environment to live. Some may think the pastor may be "nuts" but as for me being a Christian and Black I can relate to both sides of to this situation that has unfolded.
