Social Disgraces of America: Racism

I wanted to do a test of the people and their views on the racist and irrefutable emails and bulletins that are passed on and on.

I will show you the emails and then comments that were given. These are your average educated people of society who write these comments, so let's put our judgments aside and leave that up to God. Take a moment and realize that we are in a war with ourselves and not each other.

Are We Racists?

You pass me on the street, and sneer in my direction. You call me "White boy, "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey","Gringo" and you think it's OK. But when I call you, nigger, Kike, Towelhead, Sand-nigger, Camel, Jockey, Beaner, Gook, Spec or Chink, you call me a racist. You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos and barrios the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You have Yom Hashoah, You have Mauled Al-Nabi, You have the NAACP, You have BET.

If we had WET (white entertainment television) we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day you would call us racists. If we had white history month, we'd be racists.

If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives, we'd be racists. If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships, you know we'd be racists.

There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US, yet if there were "White colleges" that would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists. You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud. But, you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists?
Forward, if you agree. "I Just DID"

This email is exactly the way I received it and that's how I sent it. Here is the second email that I put out there for people to comment on.

Good for him! Surprised CBS let him get away with this even though he's right. AMEN ANDY ROONEY!
Right on, Andy Rooney! Andy Rooney said on "60 Minutes" a few weeks back: I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens...Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door. Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game. I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE? I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion. I have the right "NOT" to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off. When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling, it is the Law of Probability. I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English!

As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English! My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours. I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word "freeze" or "stop" in English, see the above lines. I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business. We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich I don't pity the poor. I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them. I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building. It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say "NO!" I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries! I am sick of "Political Correctness." I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa so how can they be "African-Americans"? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else, And if you don't like my point of view, tough...

Here is the third email I posted.

Can Muslims Be Good Americans?

Here are some facts, for those who have studied Muslim History. Are the Muslims in the U.S., a hidden terrorist population just waiting to explode? Can Muslims Be Good Americans? Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and a loyal citizen?

Consider this: Theologically, no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon of Arabia. Scripturally, no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam & the Koran.
Geographically, no. Because his allegiance is to
Mecca, to which he turns in prayer 5 times per day.
Socially, no. Because his allegiance to Islam
forbids him to make friends w/Christians/Jews.

Politically, no. Because he must submit to the
Mullah, (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of
Israel & destruction of America, the great Satan.

Domestically, no, because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him. (Koran, 4:34)
Religiously, no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Koran, 2:256).
Intellectually, no, because he cannot accept the
American Constitution since it is based on Biblical
Principles & he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically, no, because Islam, Muhammad, and
the Koran does not allow freedom of religion & expression.
Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim
Government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually, no, because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is never referred to as our heavenly father nor is he ever called love in the Koran's 99 excellent names.
Therefore, after much study and deliberation.... in appears Muslims in this country cannot be both good Muslims and good Americans. Pass it on. This war is bigger than we know.

Here is the fourth email posted.

Read only if you have time for God. Please READ to the end.

God, when I received this e-mail, I thought...
I don't have time for this... And, this is really inappropriate during work or school. Then, I realized that this kind of thinking is... Exactly, what has caused a lot of the problems in our world today? We try to keep God in church on Sunday morning...Maybe, Sunday night...And, the unlikely event of a midweek service. We do like to have Him around during sickness...And, of course, at funerals.
However, we don't have time, or room, for Him during work or play...Because. That's the part of our lives we think... We can, and should, handle on our own. May God forgive me forever thinking...That... there is a time or place where. HE is not to be FIRST in my life. We should always have time to remember all HE has done for us.
If, You aren't ashamed to do this...Please follow the directions.
Jesus said, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father." Not ashamed?
Pass this on ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT!!
Yes, I do Love God. HE is my source of existence and Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I will be nothing. But, with Christ, HE strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)
This is the simplest test. If You Love God... And, are not ashamed of all the marvelous things HE has done for you...Send this to ten people and the person who sent it to you! Now do you have the time to pass it on? Make sure that you scroll through to the end.
Easy vs. Hard. Why is it so hard to tell the truth but yet so easy to tell a lie? Why are we so sleepy in church but Right when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up? Why is it so easy to delete a Godly e-mail, but yet we forward all of the nasty ones? Of all the free gifts we may receive, Prayer is the very best one. There are no costs, but wonderful rewards... GOD BLESS!
Notes: Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to trash God and Then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Isn't it funny how someone can say, "I believe in God" but still follow Satan (who, by the way, also "believes" in God)? Isn't it funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing? Isn't it funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Isn't it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me. I pray, for everyone who sends this to his or her entire address book, God will bless them in a way special for them. And send it back to the person who sent it, to let them know that indeed it was sent out to many more.

These are the responses that I received for the emails that you just read:

Ross Holden, age 29:

"Did you write that bulletin or just pass it? Who exactly is that for? You don't have any people of color as myspace friends, so whom are you talking to? When was the last time you were called 'honkey'? Did it really hurt your feelings? It can't even compare to how painful it is to be called a n***er. The whole BET and Black college thing is ridiculous. What if we had WET? Ha! Let's see: CBS, CNN, NBC, ABC, Lifetime, TNT, if their programming isn't for white people then I must be stupid. Colleges: the entire Ivy League! Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, and so on and so on. There certainly are racist people of color. There are more racist white people, but that is beside the point. Most people tend to fall into this us vs. them dynamic. It's not about black vs. white (that's what greedy rich people want you to think) or young vs. old. There are really only 2 kinds of people, and it is us vs. them. There are those that want to help and give, and there are those that want to hurt and take. No middle ground. If you only want to help yourself, your inaction is hurting some one else. I usually don't even check bulletins, but I have a passion for justice and truth now. I'm glad I got to rant, it's all love."
Ross' comment on the Muslim email:
"Wow, provocative. I don't know how many Muslims would agree though. There are radical Muslims, who manipulate fear and religion for political purposes. There are also moderate Muslims who believe in peace. I have not studied the Koran but I know as Christians we are called to love unconditionally. Rational Christians and Muslims have more in common than Christians and non-believers. We do worship the same God, Arabic speaking Christians in the Middle East call God, Allah, and it means the same thing. Rational Christians and Muslims value truth, discipline, morality and justice. There are dangerous militant factions in the Middle East who are trying to obtain nuclear weapons. This is a real problem, and makes the idea of pulling every soldier out of Iraq even more difficult. From the world's viewpoint, the Crusades, KKK, and any other group abusing the title have marred Christianity. The word Christian has been corrupted, how very sad. I think you need some authentic feedback here. I wonder if you could find some myspace groups for young progressive Muslims? It's possible. Godspeed."

Lisa Gross, age 46:

"Thank you! Yes, I tend to agree with all of the emails that you forwarded to me. I especially like the fact that you included the one about god. That is very important to me. Maybe if more people would think along those lines this world just might be a better place!!!"

Kelly's comment to that: This is exactly what I mean by people don't understand the meaning behind these things! They agree and see nothing wrong with the way they think and then they are agreeing with a religious email. Can you completely understand that?

LaVerne Conerly, age 64:

"AMEN !!! I agree with all of it!"

Brandy's Comment, age 31:

"I have to agree on the whole white issues. It's true! If we did have all those different companies, TV networks, etc. we would be considered racists. I never have understood that. We do however have white history, notice they don't mention very many historical figures that are not white, or if they do it's very briefly. At least when I was in school, I'm sure it's different now, being politically correct and all."

Comment by Ross on Brandy's: It's not different. You can't imagine how destructive this is for young people, all young people. People of color have great contributions buried so deep you literally have to do independent research to bring it out. I'm a High school History teacher, I know. I have to search for it, and most teachers won't.

Carole Rankin, age 33:
> _Are We Racists?

While I do believe somewhat that racism seems to be one-sided, I don't think you can say CBS, NBC, etc are our version of WET. These networks all have journalists of all colors and shows featuring all races; although, it has been slow in coming. As for universities, the Ivy League colleges all admit students from every ethnic and religious background. Anyone can pull up a million examples of how whites are racist or how blacks are racist. The truth is people are racist because people are sinful. All that these emails do is further divide "us" and "them."

> Andy Rooney said on "60 Minutes" a few weeks back....

This is untrue. Andy Rooney never made these comments. Check out the website listed for comments on that. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/andyrooneycommentary.htm. I can identify with some of the comments made, though.

> Can Muslims Be Good Americans?

We are afraid of what we do not understand. During and after WWII, people were racist against the Japanese because of fear. We fear Muslims because of what one sect has done to us. I do not know what being a good Muslim means. I do not know if the statements in that particular email are correct and don't have the time to research what the Koran says. I have heard many an authority say that the hatred toward America is from a small faction of Muslims who have distorted what the Koran really says. I do think that religious people from every religion tend to be alike - the religious part of their lives is separate from other parts of their lives. So maybe they can be good Americans and good Muslims. The war is not between Muslims and Americans. It's between a group of crazy fanatics and their idea of Americans.

> Read only if you have time for God.

This kind of email ticks me off. As if the only way I can prove my Christianity is to read some dumb email and if I don't then I'm not a Christian, I'm ashamed of God, and He will reject me. And then it goes further to say that I don't love God if I don't pass it along. I don't pass it along because it's a stupid email! Is the email correct - do I compartmentalize God? Well, of course I do and so does everyone else. We are all working on becoming more like Christ but will never get there so there will always be some area of our lives that needs improving that needs God first.

GaLaXy 9 ® 's Comment, age 28:

"I believe that all people need an enemy, or at least a target for ridicule. Even the most upstanding folks have a prejudice for some other group of people based on things such as color, religion, creed, opinion, appearance, etc.
Even religious leaders, the supposed "morality squad", express distaste for opposing faiths, claiming they will die and suffer for their insolence. People need a whipping boy to vent their innate need to hate and to self-justify. They also need a tangible evil and a scapegoat to seemingly lessen their own iniquities.
Someone's got to be the bad guy; it's not me..... It's them."

Comment by Ross: It is certainly not equal on any side. Why can't the schoolbooks give equal respect? This may seem like a big jagged pill to swallow to many but so is the current state of our society when you look at it as a whole and not just the segment you feel comfortable with. To be very frank, there is an entrenched racial/racist hierarchy (spelling). The people in control (old white men) care much more about money than race. If the lower and middle classes can be kept occupied quibbling and fighting about food choices and music, they will never have the political power to challenge a ruling class that is taking advantage of taxpayers. A lot of cultural history about people of color is contested. The entire afrocentrintric debate is largely devalued by one scholar (white women), Mary Leftkawitz. Granted, there are other flaws contributed to the theory by radicals. Unless historical contributions are validated by white authorities, which in doing so must relinquish perceived power, there are not deemed worthy to be entered in textbooks and taught in the schools. I'll give you just one example from this semester. I was doing a unit on the 1920's. One of the few units were we are talking about a black people in a positive light. Marcus Garvey was a black activist unique in that he taught self-esteem and racial pride to a people who didn't hear this message largely conveyed on a national level. The textbook gave him about 3-4 paragraphs. It said his movement ended in the midst of a fund raising campaign when he was arrested for fraud. That was it. That leads you to believe that he was dishonest and stealing money, reinforcing the false stereotype that many some about black people. The truth was, which I found through my own independent study, He was arrested for 'mail fraud'. He sent flyers through the mail with a picture that was not his own! Oh the horror! J. Edgar Hoover led the investigation and sentenced Garvey to 25 years Federal time. He didn't serve all 25 but his image and credibility were ruined. When white kids think about their history, most think of explorers, adventures and conquerors. For many young black students, the only history they know for themselves is slavery. It is inaccurate and damaging to all.

Comment by Kelly: I have to ask, What IS politically correct? People say that but I think that is an excuse. I know you aren't using it that way but it did raise that question for me. Thanks for your participation!

Comment to Galaxy9's by Kelly: I think that there is something with this. I have to agree that people need an enemy. Thanks for your comment.

Comment by Nikki, age 28:
These are all very important and interesting issues. Politically correct is an excuse we now use to not say what we are thinking. Now while I agree that there are some things that should be only discussed in private, I should be able to say whatever the f*** I want and however the f*** I want. Do I believe that blacks get more focus than whites? Yes but more so do illegal immigrants. I am more concerned with the focus on the immigration issues.

Why are these people getting better health coverage than I am and why do I pay for their health coverage? Don't get me wrong you want to come to my country and become a citizen and do it the right way pay taxes etc right on man. But don't come milk my government's generosity and then have the balls to tell me I am a racist. I am no racist I am a realist.

The God thing I think this is sad. I can't say merry Christmas without fear of reprisal and I cant send Jesus or Christian related emails without getting fired. Are those emails directly attacking their faith I don't think so. The basis of the majority of those emails are to send well wishes and blessings and those are things that any person of any faith can embrace does it really matter that it says Jesus or Moses or whatever? I could care less your faith as long as you wish me no ill.

Kelly's comment to that: These are good arguments and I say keep it coming and thank you for the comments. This is helping our people see through the eyes of everyday people who matter!

This was commented by Eric, age 33: On the religious email: May seem weird coming from me but I thank him several times a day and let him know that he is the reason for all good things.

Eric's comment on the Andy Rooney email: What an outspoken guy, that's tight.

My conclusion to these comments is that people of every origin aren't getting the big picture here. They have their opinions and they do not understand the motives behind them. Were they raised this way? Or did they come from their own experiences. People say that the war over seas is ripping this nation apart but I think it's the war within each other and ourselves that is truly dividing us as a nation.

So the next time you receive or send one of these emails to your friends or loved ones think about the message you are sending and understand the consequences that you are encouraging. People are like children in the sense that our minds are like sponges and we soak up the information around us whether it is good or bad.