[T]ime for the awful racist slobs of Lexington, Kentucky to put on their best “warding off the coloreds and the Muslins” finery in honor of Jesus, Hitler and Thomas Jefferson…. This is how serious the birth control situation is in Kentucky, because broken condoms result in tragedies like this man, selling apparel to people who want to honor America’s founding dressed like hobo Klansmen.
You might celebrate Independence Day by going to a parade, watching fireworks, or perhaps even setting off your own fireworks. You might consume mass quantities of hot dogs, hamburgers, and apple pie. I suspect you probably won’t be advertising the fact that you’re an unreconstructed racist who hates any and all things Islam beyond reason. And you probably won’t be acting as if 9.11 happened yesterday and we owe it to America to view every brown, swarthy Muslim as a terrorist time bomb just looking for a time and a place to detonate and kill innocent Americans.
Then again, you probably don’t live in Kentucky, where exposing your ignorance and bigotry and wearing your hatred publicly is not only not frowned upon, but in some cases actively encouraged. You may consider yourself a member of the Tea Party, but you (hopefully) have enough of a grip on reality to not wallow in hatred and misplaced recrimination. And you certainly don’t sell t-shirts emblazoned with “Yup, I’m a racist.”
As if hatred and bigotry are things you can justifiably be proud of.
I don’t know how you can square calling yourself a Christian with virulent hatred of those who happen to worship a different flavor of the same God you profess to revere. I can’t begin to understand how “Everything I need to know about Islam I learned on 9.11” can be seen as anything but evidence of virulent hatred, racism, and astonishing, world-class ignorance. That said, I’m not certain I really want to understand. In my world, America is still a land of diversity. It’s still a place that welcomes all races, creeds, and religions. I’m not about to allow a collection of cretins in Lexington, KY, define what America is. They’re certainly free to believe as they see fit; I’m pretty confident that the vast majority of good and decent Americans will reject a vision of their homeland as a place where hatred and racism rule.
America is not a White homeland; it’s not the property of White Americans. It’s the property of Americans. On this Independence Day, even as divided as America can be these days, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the diversity that makes America the country the rest of the world still sees as a beacon of freedom…and a place that rejects hatred and racism.
Celebrate responsibly, y’all….
