Racism Was Almost Dead?

My Facebook feed is constantly filled with post stating, “Racism was almost dead until (Fill in the blank).”  Unfortunately, I disagree with this statement.  Racism wasn’t dead; it was dormant and not on the front page of the newspapers.  It is true that while groups like the Ku Klux Klan have been made insignificant by most Americans, there are still hate groups operating in the United States, groups like the Neo-Nazi Movement, New Black Panther Party, Black Lives Matter, and the Nation of Islam.  Most of these groups are racial hate groups calling for the eradication or enslavement of other races or ethnicities that are different from them in skin color or religion.   The only requirements for membership are that you are the same race or religion, you hate the other race or religion, and are willing to kill or cause devastation to those different from themselves when called upon.

The only reason those groups are allowed to operate is because they have not been scrutinized by the press, and have been given a voice by the previousl administration.  Black Lives Matter was legitimized and given a voice by the previous President and invited to the White House.  Other groups like the New Black Panther Party and the Neo-Nazi Movement should be investigated by the FBI for inciting racially motivated hate crimes and should be shut down.  I believe the leaders should be arrested because they are inspiring many to commit acts of violence on their behalf.  No one wants to say it, but it is almost as dangerous as the Charles Manson cult of the 60s!

The only way to end racism once and for all is to confront it for what it is…a waste of time and effort.  It does not produce anything except violence.  Look at your kids on the playground — they are playing together not caring what race, ethnicity or gender a person is.  There is no racism in young children.  It is taught and does not come naturally.  We need to rise above this nonsense and remember that there is only one race, the human race.  We need to stop teaching and inciting racism.  We need to remember Dr. Martin Luther King’s words of judging someone by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.  Once we remember that and take those words to heart we can remove ourselves from the racism that exist and become a united society, and in turn can overcome anything that comes our way.

In unity, many obstacles can be overcome.  Hate groups fail to see the benefits of other people, hinder the ability to overcome their own prejudices, and fail to see the opportunities of the synergy we can have when we collaborate with others to overcome any problems we may encounter.  There are benefits to seeing past our prejudices.  As we learn to work together, we can overcome many problems that plague our planet like world hunger, energy substitutes, and education.  How many of those people have wasted their time hating each other, when we could have people working to become the next Neil Degrasse Tyson, the next Albert Einstein, or the next Walt Disney?

Let’s overcome our racial ethnic bias, come together and be one human race.  Let’s start solving the world’s problems instead of adding to them.  And let us all start becoming one nation instead of several factions living in a fractured nation.

Great America: What makes America Great!

GREAT AMERICA

 

What makes America Great? Is it the Freedoms we enjoy? Is it that we are a melting pot of different cultures- free to express their identity and our culture?

How about all the above!

America has grown from our infancy over 240 years ago. We were the original Brexiters, leaving a country that was taxing us to the breaking point, and still demanding more. We rose up, drove out the British Government and created a system of government that has lasted throughout that time.

The best example of our nations greatness is demonstrated by our nation is the peaceful transfer of power from one leader to the next. We don’t have bloody revolutions when the time comes for a President to leave office. Every four years we can agree or disagree with the direction of our nation. And when we disagree with their direction of our nation, we can vote out of office the President in a civilized way, thru the power of the vote.

What makes America great? We have a system of representation where the people are represented at all levels of the government –local, state, and federal. The Representatives are supposed to be representing each state equally. The two houses in the legislature represent the citizens in unique ways. One represents citizens by population – 700,000 people per Representative in the House of Representatives. The other has two representatives per state – The Senate. This way, no one state has control of everything.   I think this was pretty ingenious of our Founding Fathers.

We have a President elected every four or eight years by the population. The President shapes the direction of our nation, and enforces the nations laws. The Presidents legacy can continue past their administration with the appointment of judges, including those to the Supreme Court, whose influence can last past a lifetime.

We are a nation of laws. Every person is afforded a fair trial, trial by their peers, representation by an attorney, the right to not self incriminate, and a speedy trial. Is the system perfect? No, but as time continues, the system is corrected and less innocent people are convicted of crimes they did not commit. There are no other nations that provide these rights to the accused.

We are a nation of doers. We continue to move forward no matter what obstacle we face. Tragedies do not stop us. We band together and move forward to accomplish the task at hand. When the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, we did not stop and surrender! We did not say this enemy is greater than us and we can’t win. The United States saw there was an evil aggression in the world and we met that evil, defeated the evil, and became a stronger nation. We fought with courage, tenacity, and honor. We defeated the Nazi’s in Europe, and then defeated the Japanese in the Pacific. We banded together to defeat our enemies, defended our allies, and brought a nation together.

America will always be a great nation as long as we remember we are great! We need to remember where we came from, where we are, and where we need to go. We also need to remember the big picture: We are a nation that is admired by some, despised by other, but still the best to live and work. There are nations and factions that would love to see America fail. There are those who want to destroy our nation. And we need to guard against those who would want to harm our nation. We are a great nation with Patriots in every corner of our nation who love our nation, and would defend our nation from harm. And that is what makes America Great!