Republicans and Ethnic Cleansing

You know, it's hard to be a Black person in America and, frankly, everywhere else for that matter. We are the contrast to the right wing vision of how life is supposed to be and as such we are at the other end of the Doppler shift. Being that far away from what they believe should be "normal" seems to paint us into a position of de facto abnormality.

We cannot afford to be color-blind no matter how much you want us to believe that it is in our best interest. As long as you insist on redlining us out of the opportunity to prosper from the unkept promise of America, then you have apartheided us into our own corner of America where the bars are meant to kept us in. We must comply with rules that are inherently against the dreaded diversity that you fear will make you marginal and an afterthought.

As a registered Republican (not for much longer), I have to cringe when I hear those on the furthest limbs of the conservative tree with a polished glibness savage anyone who simply has a difference of opinion as some sub-human life form that deserves deletion from their capitalistic and political hard drive.

You cannot stand to hear people hyphenate themselves but you are not prepared to remove all of the things that apparently warrant such a label. You see, I personally am not an African-American. I am Black. But, if I wanted to be African-American as a way of providing just some semblance of ethnic pride, you sputter that I should be happy to be an American...an American like you.

You push out those who somehow believe in your twisted logic and who look like us as proof that the rest of us can somehow make it. You know, the Larry Elders of the world who do not believe that there are actually victims of what you do. Of course, we can do what ever we want--as long as you believe that we are trying to be made in your image. If not, then we must be cleansed.

Sirs and Madams, with all due respect, I cannot be any less Black than I am now as far as you're concerned so what is your point? You have already by your discomfit corralled me with the worst of my ethnic group--those made that way by your laissez-faire treatment of those you sought to colonize and cleanse of all self-pride to make them a better commodity for you.

I remind you that you hated your own color palette when you sought to minimize the Irish, the Italian, the Slav, or any other group that was not an original American -- in your eyes.

So, you sought the course of least resistance and turned us against each other by having sex with us, your livestock, giving us your surnames, and insisting that we look like you rather than ourselves. And, when we did all of that, we were still less than human to you.

I do not need to read a Willie Lynch letter to see for myself what you've done to my people. Even when you have someone who is successful, dedicated, and a Republican--like General Colin Powell--a man who ascended to the top playing by your rules, doing things your way, speaking your language and when he dares to differ with you, now he is no longer worthy of your company.

You eat your young.

You could care less about those who come here with nothing until they show they can be what you want them to be.

When you have a person like Judge Sotomayer who dares to be who she is, a Latina, eminently qualified but not quite there because she lives out her ethnic pride...you know, rising to the top...overcoming all obstacles...not taking any affirmative action handouts...but just not quite good enough because of it, you are the ones who need to question one's racist charges.

What is the difference between what you espouse and what you know that David Duke does? Honestly...answer me that. Why do you let convicted felons like Ollie North or G. Gordon Liddy be your mouthpieces?

So, you want to believe that anyone can make it in this country? But, only if they believe what you believe? Only if they can escape the ethnic cleansing that you practice?

You may not think it so but, from our point of view, it looks dramatically different.

But, then again, we ARE in Rome and when in Rome...

So, here's what I want you to do when it comes to Black and Brown people who are decent, hardworking, and honest people. People who are that part of the human equation that does not seek to be a criminal. People who are family-oriented. People who believe in their God. People who are talented beyond your suspicion that they are not.

I want you to shut up!

If you want to classify us in terms of our political belief system and differ with us, then by all means, you are free to do so. But, do NOT paint us as inherently inferior because of our hue which YOU believe makes us politically opposite of what is the right thing to do; because that is exactly what you do when you dare to label us as racists or sexists because it is logical to have racial pride (just like David Duke) and to believe that a woman can comprehend what it takes to be both a woman and racial -- not racist.

If you want to see America at its best, then you need to see what the melting pot has wrought in terms of all of the things from which you benefit today because we're here. I cannot nor do I wish to be anything other than who and what my father and mother produced. If you want to see the REAL America, just open your damned eyes and see what is really happening out here where capitalism is dirty and hard scrabble. Where WE try to overcome all odds on a daily basis just to be something other than just a "nigger."

But, as was so poignantly said in The Great Debaters, you need to decide by your actions what kind of Black person you want here. A talented one unfettered and free to be themselves, or an angry one who will be just pissed off enough to not appreciate your constantly pointed out how our differences make US inferior.

Your last President wanted to leave no child behind...how about not leaving ANYONE behind?