HOUSTON -- Only a few weeks ago, race relations had reached such a low point in the troubled east Texas town of Paris that federal Justice Department mediators were called in to try to bring together black and white citizens, but the public meeting quickly dissolved into rancor. Now fresh racial tensions are erupting inside one of the town's biggest employers, the Turner Industries pipe fabrication plant, where black employees charge that hangman's nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti have been appearing throughout the workplace for months. One worker, Karl Mitchell, took pictures of the offensive symbols in early February and filed a formal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week. Other African-American employees assert that they've repeatedly complained about the racist symbols to their bosses, only to be ignored or told to keep quiet.
In this day and age, when we have a tendency to delude ourselves into thinking that we've come a long way, baby...well, guess what? Sometimes it takes crap like this to point out just how far we have left to go before equality of treatment and opportunity become anything close to reality in this country.
How you gonna keep 'em on the farm when they've seen Paris...Texas, that is? This isn't the sort of thing you seen in large cities in Texas...not normally...but racism isn't exactly dead in rural God's Country Texas. Spend much time in Vidor...or Tyler...or Orange...or just about anywhere else in deep east Texas, and you're not going to have to look hard or listen long to catch a glimpse of some not-so-latent racism. Here we are, well into the 21st century...and the color of one's skin is still the definition of human worthiness for far too may knuckle-dragging troglodytes. Then again, these are some of the same folks who, despite all evidence and logic to the contrary, have managed to convince themselves that President Barack Obama is not actually an American citizen. (Cue a rousing rendition of "Barack the Magic Negro" in 4...3...2....)
Yeah, sometimes fact can be SO inconvenient...especially when they conflict with the truth...or at least your version of the truth.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that the South in general, or Texas in particular, is the only part of the country where racism still exists. I can tell you that it's one of the few places where overt, aggressive, hateful racism still flourishes in fertile soil. It would seem that ignorance, hatred, and racism really are the gifts that just keep on giving. And giving. And giving....
