A Learned Behavior That Divides

I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. I doubt there is another region in the United States of America that has been more cursed by racial hatred and violence than right here in my hometown. Ironically, Birmingham, Alabama can also be described as the most religious of all cities in the United States. Almost every street corner has a place of worship from smaller homes remodeled into a church building to the most splendid cathedrals and temples, most of those ironically are Southern Baptist in denomination in the black and the white communities as well as the rich and the poor. How incredible that people living in the same city in neighborhoods so closely situated together and the same God worshiped along the same lines of belief and yet only the color of their skin so deeply divided them. How incredibly ignorant this is yet it fueled the flames of hatred until its boiling point erupted into violence of historic proportions. Prejudices deeply rooted in both white and black cultures passed down from generation to generation touching each in its own way. Some more prejudice than others depending on the learned behavior from each home or church family channeled the poisonous hatred into each new generation. I remember the prejudice behavior that I learned at home mostly through slurs that were used more often than any true discussion about race or differing cultures. I learned even more prejudice behavior from peers in grade school. Believe it or not I heard slurs from the pulpit of church. A much more mild form, but slurs nevertheless. Now that I am older I understand that most prejudices are learned behaviors of ignorance in each culture and that this ignorance left little room for interest in seeking understanding of the others hardships or pain of injustice let alone seeking resolution and unity. As I grew up I struggled as I’m sure many who can relate did with the conflict of Christianity and a prejudice upbringing. Although my learned prejudice behavior was very mild it was still in conflict with the Christian belief and indoctrination of my same upbringing. These two obviously opposed each other and do not belong together but as I mentioned before each culture was very similar in the belief of Christianity. I remember also the jokes and falsehoods I heard at school from other peers in school about Martin Luther King Jr. I also remember the history lessons taught in school that honored him although I had very little interest at the time. It was not until my late teens that my love for reading introduced me to some of King’s speeches. At first skeptical and on guard for my own race being criticized I found his speeches to be non offensive and even inclusive. Later in life from letters I have read and speeches from old television news reels I discovered that Martin Luther King gave instruction to both the white and black races to live in harmony, peace and friendship. I opened my eyes to what this man had dared to do in order for his own dream and vision to be realized. I admired the tremendous amount of courage this man possessed to face white America and hold them accountable to their very own historical documents of equality while being grossly outnumbered by angry throngs of people still blinded with the learned behavior of prejudice in their culture. Dr. King was relentless in his mission to see black America become equal to white America in Citizenship as the founding fathers wrote in the constitution but failed to produce in reality. Not unlike David and Goliath, Dr. King stood his ground at risk of the great peril he would eventually receive and achieved one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of mankind, and achieved his goal of America legislating their equal Citizenship. But he did this at the cost of his life. What a man to be honored. Tonight I reread Dr. King’s speech; “I Have a Dream” and I wonder if the message of the man was remembered by both White and Black America as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Is the learned behavior of ignorance of both races still stronger than the desire to follow King’s instructions to truly realize his dream of both races living in peace and harmony? What learned behaviors will each of us pass down to our children? We are all guilty at times of allowing that learned behavior to pop its ugly head out. But can we plant good seeds that can eventually smother out the weeds that grow between us?

Only Democrats Get Accident Forgiveness

Again, here we are with our latest freedom of speech issue which is inevitably lost in heated debate of race, culture and skin color further tangled by the unwritten yet very powerful law of political correctness which must be adhered to. That is of course, if you do not fall within the protected class of race or belong to the Democratic Party. The hypocrisy is as obvious as it is endless yet the Democratic Party members never suffer the consequences of violating their own guiding morals which is firmly rooted in the Marxist ideology from which political correctness was born. Moral standards of truth and principle take the backseat of political convenience whenever their own double standard is brought to the center stage by the violation of offense towards members of minorities when their own exercising of freedom of speech is in direct conflict with the sacred code of conduct political correctness demands. The rules are made as the game is played and the Democrat party referees all games. They are their own merciful Judges who consistently show no mercy to those who belong to an opposing Party violate offensive speech towards any minority member regardless of whether the truth is spoken or not. Senator Harry (The Hypocrite) Reid has become the latest perfect example of this tiresome double standard we regular Americans must live by or otherwise face immediate character assassination and loss of employment and income as a result of a candid opinion. In this instance, I stand above all else in support of our freedom of speech which is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. What Harry Reid said was certainly a poor choice of words to describe his approval of then Senator Barrack Obama. This no doubt caused offense to the African American community from which he would risk being held accountable for his opinion by the African Americans who belong in his constituency. But what he said was no crime and certainly should not be required by those outside of his district to lose his elected position over his right to freely express his opinion. Our constitution does not restrict ones choice to offend another even when the offensive words spoken are not beneficial to others or even to the speaker. Senator Harry Reid has the right to his own free will to form an opinion of others and express that opinion. That is why freedom of speech was included in our Bill of Rights. Otherwise we allow the government or other authorities to police our very own thoughts by their choice of virtue and standard. This is the paradox of those who feel they believe they possess the authority and right to dictate what others are allowed to believe or express through speech based on their self imposed principles. In this blunder Senator Harry Reid finds himself caught in the very web he has cast for his own prey. In the normal realm of regular people the biblical principles of reaping what has been sowed would naturally be the standard of consequence, but not if yet again you belong to and rule as a member of the Democratic Party and practice its mandated religion of political correctness. In this case it becomes similar to the All-State insurance commercials we all see on TV. Accident Forgiveness is their exclusive insurance policy. This is a benefit available only to the members of the club. We all know what the fate of a non-democratic political figure would otherwise be if they’re speech violated political correctness or was offensive to a protected class member. So the apologists play their word games to defend the senator when previously they played a role in the witch hunt against a political foe. In the end this argument will only result in further damage to race relations as the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party continues unabated.