Prejudice

I grew up in the 40's and 50's when the term "politically correct' hadn't been coined yet. Ten years later it was a period of great class and racial upheaval in many parts of our county. Where I was raised, however, the subject didn't come up much. It was a problem of the South, or the industrial North, but not us, nestled in the suburbs of Seattle, on acreage. There was a black family or two at the end of the street. We were polite to them and they to us. We didn't mix, primarily, I think back then, because we didn't have many common interests. Possibly at that age, I was naive, but that is how I remember it.

Comes the 60's with the Viet Nam War, social and racial upheaval, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Among many black preachers, he made more sense than some of the more shrill of the lot. From those days of protests, marches and social upheaval, many good things started to happen, but not over night. It took 40 more years to bring us to where we are now, if anyone can define where that is.

The subject has occurred over and over this last month, as I watched election returns. Those same commentators that occupationally lynch those that step out of line with an unfortunate comment that may or may not be racist, are calmly breaking down the male vs female and the black versus white votes and interpreting them. That seems to me, but then I realize that rules are made by zealots, not the main stream, as blatant racism in and of itself. If any of you see this as an exception, or don't see the situation for what it is, are then Zealots heading 180 degrees the other direction, picking and choosing how equality should be interpreted.

I'll never forget that on Monday Night Football, Howard Cossell lost a brilliant career, by referring to a small Black runner, in the excitement of breaking off a great run, when he yelled,"look at that little Monkey run." Immediately, the PC Police jumped on that as proof that he was a racist. Never mind he was the ultimate ringside announcer for boxing, or that one of his best Buddies was Mohammed Ali. No, that one taken out of context ruined him and many others since.

Perhaps we should go back to the stuff what brung us, like allowing our elected officials make the rules, instead of self-appointed PC police. It is obvious that they lack a sense of consistency that defies any logic I've been able to discern. Equality is color blind, or economically blind, or ethnically blind. To use race or ethnicity when it suits the user, is of course what I will call Racist.