A Different Way to Think

It’s that time of year again.  The time where black churches and communities all over America are still missing the point.  I’m talking about black history month.  That time of the year where we tell America that we still aren’t over the past and we want to get you to hear about it too.

    Don’t get me wrong, black people have done great things, and have faced some trying times but so have Mexicans, Asians, Muslims, gays, Jews, and just about any other group of people in history.  What we do is the grown up version of an argument between a husband and a wife that leads to divorce.  You know, man cheats on wife and gets caught.  Wife continues to bring it up and never trust him.  Man and wife divorce.  In order to realize Dr. King’s dream and be accepted as normal (not African) Americans, we have to look past the past and towards the future.  

    One thing that we’ve gotten used to is segregating ourselves and trying to tout our achievements as rare events that should be honored.  We look at the world through chocolate colored glasses and don’t realize that things happen because of special people.  Not special black people, or racist white people.  The stop light was invented by a black man, but it could have been invented by a white man.  These are all the effect of people working harder and achieving special things.  

    Case in point, people in our community overwhelmingly went out to support our president.  Even people who have never even finished high school, went out and made a grown up decision not because they knew the real issues and policies, but because they saw brown skin.  They heard change and hope, and now believe that because a black man (somewhat) is president, they can do anything, even become president.  News Flash!!! If you were smoking pot and pushing boxes for $8 an hour before the election, you’re going to be doing the same thing afterwords.  The only thing that’s changed is the name, not the game.  

    Change is a fun word to use to lure the uneducated into voting for you, but our government works the way it does for a reason.  We have opposing parties that SHOULDN’T agree with each other so they can prevent an unchecked leader gaining total control of the government.  We have rich people getting favors, bonuses and support from Washington, because they control how the economy works.  They spend money, create jobs and pay 1/3rd of what they’ve worked hard for to Uncle Sam.  They deserve favors and to be left alone by the government.

    But back on topic.  We as Americans need to be concerned about American history, and not so concerned about dividing it up by heritage.  That’s the true way to equality.  We have to understand that people are remembered for special achievements based on hard work and big thinking.  Some of them happen to be white, some happen to be white, and the proportion should be getting better since there hasn’t been segregation of schools for a long time now.  In the grand scheme of things, we just have to recognize people and not races.  A whole month about history from a black perspective is just a month of thinking about races, which is racist.  Everyone would be much better off if they spent that 28 days reading, trying new things, experiencing different cultures, and learning something new.  Education, hard work, and Ambition are the keys to the future.  You can’t drive anywhere if you’re always looking through the rear view mirror..