Dan Post #772

"I am black and you are white,
You are blind as a bat and I have sight,
Side by side, my amigo,...negro,
Let's not fiiiigggghhhhttt".
Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscapo
Saturday Night Live
So, it appears that the civil rights movement has been set back 20 years, at the very least.

And the dreaded blow came from, of all places, Wal-Mart.

It appears that some ne'er-do-well had gotten control of the paging system and uttered some racially charged and offensive remarks,...possibly,...about people of color.

I think the exact proclamation was,
"Attention Wal-Mart shoppers. All black people leave the store immediately".

(Pause)

(Sigh)

Then the cops moved in and took control of the situation. They set up a command post. They hunted this guy down and called him to the carpet.

(The way they got this guy, I haven't a clue,...no, wait,...I do. It is my conjecture that they scanned the security videos until they they got a visual on this jackanape,...then they followed the chap to the checkout stand where his mommy was paying for their purchases. They then pulled the receipts and found that their purchases were made with a credit card. They then garnered the address of this villain and tracked him to his domicile. Big Brother....Oh, Brother.)

Now, I guess my big beef about this whole thing is the reaction that people had to these "words of hate". People dropped what they were buying and made for the first exit. They were appalled at the acidic way they were treated and swore never to set foot in Wal-Mart again,...despite the managers immediate apology over same said intercom system.

How dare they treat us people of color in such a dastardly fashion.

Some didn't want to talk about it (understandably so,..considering it was such a harrowing experience). Some got in their cars and drove away, post haste. Some issued statements declaring that they were scarred for life.

I watched this with utter amusement.

I'm sorry. I'm not a person of color and don't know first hand about the power of prejudice, but I don't think that this debacle was nearly the end of the civil rights movement as people of color seem to think it is.

(Try sayin' that 5 times fast.)

When the police, through dogged work and gumshoeing, finally caught up with this young scofflaw, they arrested and charged him.

I, personally, was relieved that such filth was no longer on the streets.

What did they charge him with, you ask?

I thought it woulda been "unauthorized use of a public address system". I woulda thought that would have been the ONLY thing they coulda charged him with.
No. Not even close.

They charged him with "racial intimidation and bias".

Please.

It appears that the gumshoes were actually toyin' with the idea of tryin' to charge him with a hate crime.

Hate crime.

(If that's not the most over-used term in this new millennium, then I don't know what is.)

After every update on the Internet, the comment sections of these stories would come alive with the persecuted voicing their position that we still live in a racially charged world and white people just don't understand what it means to be black in this Neolithic day and age. We don't understand the power of prejudice because we have never experienced it. We don't understand what it means when "the man keeps us down".

Can I point out that we have a black president?

I mean, if there was this vast conspiracy, how could that have possibly happened?


If black people are still so oppressed, how does an incident like electing the first black president in American history, negate all the strides made in the areas of civil rights because of some jack ass on an intercom?

Can someone please explain to me why, in every Wal-Mart I have ever been in, the hip-hop artists are highlighted at the end of every aisle of the music section?

It's bias, alright.

Bias against me and Bruce Springsteen.

Can I point out that we didn't riot and tear the streets of Los Angeles apart when an all black jury acquitted a black man for killing his white wife?

What did we do?,....we rolled over and went back to sleep.

(Unlike what happened in the Rodney King beating trial in which white cops were acquitted in beating a black man on video tape,...a cop whose name was,...in the irony of ironies,...."Koon".)

When it comes to the area of race, it has become en-vogue for white people to shut their mouths and listen with empathy to the plight of the black man. We remain mute because, in years past, that was the only way that we could even begin to apologize about the injustices that our grand-dad's granddad inflicted upon people of the colored persuasion.

In the interest of racial harmony, I believe it is time to stop this.
I only say that because we seem to have reached an impasse in which our silence is detrimental to people of both races,...

(or is it colors?,....I know it's not creeds,...let's call it colors.)

Some dialogue was opened between a black co-worker and myself about this whole sordid episode.

(He started talkin' about it, not me....What? Are you kiddin'? I wouldn't open up that can of worms with a black man if my life depended on it. If I were to start the conversation, I would be branded as a hate filled Aryan....no, no,...I would never start a conversation such as this.)

In any event, he started talkin' about the whole Wal-Mart thing and said that he doesn't want to shop there anymore.

I offered forth the opinion that it wasn't Wal-Mart who held these rancid beliefs, but a kid who had nothin' better to do while his mother was shoppin' for Tupperware.

He conceded to that and agreed with me, if it really HAD been racially motivated, the word "black people" would have been replaced with the "N" word.

He then went on a tirade about how the black man was not organized and that the Puerto Ricans were way more organized than the blacks and they were the next people to watch,...because they are gonna take over our country next.

He pointed out that most telephone menus have some chick talkin' Puerto Rican,...and that was a clear sign that they were way more organized than Blacks.
As an empathetic white man, I sat and listened compassionately to his lament.

May I also point out that Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy can talk about killing white people in their stand-up comedy routines,...into public address microphones, no less....but some pimply faced white kid says the word, "black people" on an intercom and he is on deck to be charged with a hate crime.

I mean, both of these instances were for comedic effect.

Please point out to me exactly where the bias is.

Ludicrous.

America, in it's quest for world domination, has become a collective group of snivelling cry-babies who whine whenever there is some perceived slight.

May God help us.

That's what the flip of it is, man.

I'm just glad he didn't say,

"All drunken Irish junkies, please leave the store immediately".

(pause)

I might have to sue somebody,...

Anyway,....