In a new poll, Middle Tennessee State University finds that "nearly one in six Tennesseans has told a joke about Barack Obama's race, and three-fourths say they've heard or read at least one." The same poll found, however, that "only 15 percent of Tennesseans say they would find such a joke funny." The New Republic's Michelle Cottle, who is from Tennessee, writes that "you have to assume that the actual number of people who have told-or cackled at-a racist joke about POTUS is higher than the number who will admit to doing so."
Here we are, smack in the midst of the 21st century...and there still a large number of troglodytes in this country for whom the color of one's skin is still Exhibit A when it comes to assessing the worthiness of a human being. The shock isn't exactly that this sort of crap would reside in Tennessee. Or Utah. Or West Virgina. Or idaho...etc, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. No, an educated, optimistic person (such as myself) would be guilty of thinking that perhaps we'd evolved enough as a people so that we wouldn't still be judging a person's worthiness as a human being by the color of their skin.
Yeah, right. Damn, I can be so naive.....
Sadly, this sort of hatred isn't uniquely American; it's part of the human condition. That said, we Americans seem to take the "right" to hate someone for who and what they are as our birthright. Et tu, California?? After all, it's what Jesus would do...and didn't God his own self appoint heterosexual White Christian men as the Lords of the Universe? Ask enough of the ignorant and the hateful, and they'll all but tell you that it says so right there in their Bible. Hey, if God had meant for an individual to be blessed with a full set of human rights, that individual would have been born heterosexual, White, male...and Christian. It's called a food chain for a reason, no?
Until (and unless) the ignorant and the hateful among us can somehow learn to see people for WHO THEY ARE instead of defining fellow humans by THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, we have little hope of truly reaching our potential. We may continue to delude ourselves into believing that America is the greatest, most powerful, and most successful country in the world, but the reality will continue to be that we're living in a dream world. Until we can learn to look out for one another and to value the unique humanity that all of us possess, we'll continue to be defined by the enemies we choose...and those enemies are ourselves.
WE DESERVE BETTER. Sadly, it's our own ignorance, fear, and prejudice that will continue to prevent us from achieving that which we deserve. And it's our own damn fault.
