A Racial Divide? Really?

I'm out of the mainstream. I don't understand the racial divide mantra being shoved down our throats by the media, Black Lives Matter and the rest of the social justice warriors in the world.

I spent my life teaching and coaching ethnics of all kinds. I once had students named Lopez and Portillio. At the end of the school year one of the teachers brought up the number of minorities in the school and I thought, "Yeah, I guess these girls were Hispanic". I'd never thought about it.
At one time I taught a class in ethnic studies. I'm sure today they would have brought in a minority but back in 1982 I was okay. One of my students was Black. In front of the class she said she thought I was a racist. "Why", I asked. Her answer was, "It's the way you pronouce Black. She may have perceived I was saying, 'Buhlaaaack'. I always thought I pronounced the word the same way I do when referring to a Crayola crayon.

On the subject of systemic racism: In the schools from high school through the university systems every school has any number of diversity classes. If a kid says the wrong word they're out on their ear. The same goes for any business in this country. If you don't get fired then the offender has to go through diversity training. We have gone out of our way in the United States to be as inclusive as possible and not only toward Blacks but woman as well.

It's good I'm not teaching anymore. I'd be gone before the kids sat down in their seat at the start of the day. It's not because I'd committed a faux pas. It's that some of these people* might have thought I did.

Bill Belechick, the coach of the New England Patriots was chastized over the racial situation this week. The reason being he hasn't made a statement. Kirk Ferentz, the dean of Big Ten football coaches came under fire yesterday for not controlling the racial situation at the Univ. of Iowa. He was forced to put his strength coach on administrative leave. The reason? Five or six of his former players were made to feel like they didn't belong as team members. There were no specifics of a player being called the N word or other examples but that they(the Blacks) didn't belong. It was about feelings. They'll make good liberals. Yesterday the Univ. of Utah suspended a football coach for texting a racial slur in 2013. Okay all you Pharisees out there. How many of you have never uttered, texted, emailed, sent in a letter or spoken anything you'd like to take back? The only item that comes to mind considering half the population gets divorced is, "Will you marry me?"


I read a news article this morning on an event that has taken place at Texas Southern Univ. in Texas. It's an all Black college and tax payer funded. It has been revealed that 8,2000 students were admitted to the school whose SAT scores were so low they shouldn't have been able to get into a pre-school. On top of that their average scholarship grants were $30K. Is #WhiteLivesMatter going to take to the streets? When pigs fly.

It appears to me there's much going on here that needs an explanation in greater detail. Take George Floyd. I would think the protesters could have come up with someone of better character to be their hero, Floyd had a criminal record longer than Route 66. He was once arrested for holding a gun to the stomach of a pregnant woman; wanted money for drugs. Maybe the BLM guys and Antifa needed a quick example. If so, they found one.

If we wanted to blame someone for his death why not the guy who called the cops for trying to pass a twenty dollar bill? This occurs every day. The dude should have told him to leave the store and forget the entire situation. In my mind the police weren't out to get a Black man. They were doing their duty even though it got out of hand. Think about it. Does anyone think they woke up in the morning and told their wives, "I'm going to me a Black guy today?" Does anyone really believe a cop would say, "Hey, this is my lucky day. I've got a Black guy and I'm going to put my knee on his neck until he's dead?" Many would say yes.

I'm sick to my stomach over this ordeal. I now know how a newly pregnant woman feels.  I usually go with the flow. Not now. When friends or acquaintances die I dont' wail and scream. I say a prayer and move on. With what's going on in this country my attitude has changed. I've been known to have head ticks. Now my head moves around like I'm a bobblehead doll. My hands shake. I have difficulty putting a golf ball on a tee and having it stay there.

There is only one way, in my mind, to counteract the situation. Like alcohol the news is addicting. It's going to be of the utmost importance to avoid the news, on television and in print. I hope I can do it for my own sanity.

That's it. If you appreciate this piece I'm happy. If you don't, being the curmudgeon I am, screw you.

*This past week the mayor of Omaha came under fire afer a meeting with Black leaders in the City. During his talk he referred to them as 'you people'. Gimme a break. I remember being in high school and colleges and many of my instructors at one time or another said, "You people". I'm a praciticing Roman Catholic. Were they saying I'm scum and should be burned at the stake?