racism |

0 Trump Is Not Black America’s Problem

Those who know me know I do not like Kanye West. Like realllly don’t like him. I have spent more energy than I should have professing why I think it’s stupid he has had so much success. I have almost broken up with someone over Kanye. I wish I was joking. So you can imagine what a pickle I was in when perhaps the famous person I hated the most started saying things I agreed with. Not so much the loving Trump stuff, but the free thinking stuff. Kanye didn’t drop any knowledge on me, nothing he said was anything I hadn’t heard before. But for many black people it probably was the first time they heard a person of color tell them they don’t have to be in lockstep with people just because they may look like them. But even more importantly, Kanye’s love of Trump helped illustrate 1) how narrow-minded the left is and 2) that the left doesn’t actually care about black people or really any minority they claim to protect for that matter. This post will focus on the latter point.

I was told by multiple persons that if Trump was elected all my rights as a minority woman would be taken away, including my right to vote. Two years later, the claim hasn’t aged well to say the least. To put it bluntly, black people are thriving under Trump. The black unemployment rate has hit an all-time low under Trump. Of course, the left can’t admit that fact to be a good thing. Now it’s “Well, the black unemployment rate is still higher than the white unemployment rate!” or “The black unemployment rate was declining under Obama anyway and has been for years!” or even “Black unemployment can be low and Trump can still be a racist!” All of these statements are true but allow the left to ignore a couple things; at the very least, Trump isn’t impeding on black success like they claimed he would. Furthermore, if Trump is racist, it’s not outwardly effecting his policy making. The left struggles to wrap their head around the idea that two things can be true at once. Blacks can be thriving under Trump and this progress has been in the works for a long time.

Even if the black unemployment rate was on a rapid decline that just happened to fall in Trump’s lap, that doesn’t explain the sharp increase in black entrepreneurship under Trump. It certainly doesn’t explain Trump’s aggressive pursuit of prison reform and his pardons/commutations of multiple black citizens. Pretty strange behavior for a supposed racist. If the man is racist, at this point I don’t care because his attempts to “cover for his racism” is resulting in good policy for minorities.

The real issue is that Trump’s approval ratings amongst blacks, though volatile, has approached 20%. If Republicans manage to hold an approval rating at or around 20% during and after Trump’s term as president, that would be enough to seriously affect Democrats chance at winning another presidential election. Democrats cannot afford to lose even a small percentage of the black vote which means even a nod at Donald Trump is not worth the risk for left leaning commentators.

The funny thing is, despite great jobs numbers and prison reform there is a problem in the black community that persists and is often ignored, the family. Government cannot save us on this one. The black population will never match whites in prosperity and success until we figure out how to keep the black fathers at home. So maybe we should stop worrying about whether a president who hasn’t impeded on our freedoms is racist and focus on getting the black family back together.

0 The Left Who Cried Wolf

Ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf? Boy tells the town a wolf is coming, everybody freaks, turns out it was a prank. Boy tells the town a wolf is coming, nobody listens to him, this time he wasn’t lying and the wolf eats all the sheep because no one reacted? This is what the left does when it comes to “crying racism.”
Pumpkins are not racist, neither is math, yet you’ll find papers, articles, and/or blogs declaring both to be racist. Those are the more outlandish examples of crying racism but I’ll go as far to say, test scores aren’t racist, voter registration laws aren’t racist, and neither is touching a black woman’s hair – rude and annoying, yes, but not racist. There is racism in America and there are race-based issues we need to address. Either the left is vastly mistaken, or they’re right and racism really isn’t a big deal since everyone is racist yet things are going pretty well in America. The left makes it difficult for us to address race issues when they actively promote the idea that everything and everyone is racist. Immediately upon certain darlings of the left losing in the recent midterm election, racism was being shouted amongst those on the political left. Even I have become less and less sensitive to racist cries over the years due to the number of outlandish claims made by the left. When I hear someone else’s claims of racism I find myself extra skeptical because I read about race claims weekly that turn out to be nothing. Think I’m being too harsh? Let me share some fun examples.
Celebrate Halloween with a pumpkin this year? Well then I guess you are an insensitive prick! According to two researchers, pumpkins are symbolic of whiteness. If a company uses pumpkins in its marketing come Fall, you might as well take that as a wink and a nod at the rich racist whites. Us blacks inherently know stuff marketed with pumpkins aren’t for the coloreds.
…class, gender, place, and especially race are employed in popular media and marketing of food and flavor; it suggests complicated interplay among food, leisure, labor, nostalgia, and race. Pumpkins in popular culture also reveal contemporary racial and class coding of rural versus urban places.
If you like to frequent the farmers’ market, you are cultivating racism, my friend. This, according to an article published in The Washington Times. Confused? So was I given that I love farmers’ markets because I get joy out of supporting local vendors, especially minorities, who farm in ethical ways. According to professors at San Diego State University, I am just part of the issue of gentrification and normalizing “white consumption habits.” Damn it! My love of fresh corn is me succumbing to white norms! Fresh, chemical-free food is a white people thing – everyone knows this. According to the left, white people can’t enjoy what white people like even if it doesn’t hurt or affect minorities in any way because they’re white and therefore inherently racist.
Another example is hiking. The Sierra Club published an article on “The Unbearable Whiteness of Hiking and How to Solve It.” As far as I know, there aren’t any national parks banning non-whites from hiking, REI doesn’t sell exclusively to whites, and the North Face doesn’t post “whites only” signs on their front doors. Perhaps cultural differences have lead to an eagerness of white people to be in the outdoors? Linking a lack of outdoor recreation to the obesity rates amongst black Americans may be valid, but there is nothing preventing blacks from going outside and recreating. Blaming the group that does recreate is not helpful in solving this problem, but sure, let’s blame those damn whites and their love of exercise.
I take punctuality seriously, but to expect others to do the same would be culturally insensitive of me according to Clemson University. This is where the argument that “all cultures are equal” completely falls apart. If your culture celebrates lateness, not only does your culture get that wrong, it doesn’t matter. Employers are allowed to set the standard and when you agree to be their employee, you agree to adhere to those standards even if they conflict with your culture. See, that’s the beautiful thing about a free market labor system: you don’t have to trade your work for a wage if you don’t agree with the parameters set for said work.
To list a few more examples, you can find papers/articles/studies on how veganism is too white, cosplay (not blackface) is racist, loving your country is only for white people, Dungeons and Dragons perpetuates white male privilege, facial hair is problematic, and, my personal favorite, math is racist. I kid you not, a professor from the University of Illinois explained that because so many mathematicians are white, math itself belongs to whiteness.
…curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans.
I don’t think I need to explain why outrage over math theories named after the men who developed them is insane.
These are just a few examples a Google search spit out. The left has become so crazy-actually I’ll say lazy in their attempt to malign those at the bottom of the intersectional hierarchy that 1) they are less trustworthy as a whole and 2) they make it harder to fight actual racism. So many of the supposed race issues aren’t related to race so much as cultural differences amongst groups that self-segregate. White people gravitating towards an activity isn’t problematic, but placing blame to avoid responsibility for your group’s lack of interest in said activity is.

0 Thanks Racism

You know what grinds my gears? Making group decisions. My friends and I take forever whether it’s picking a weekend activity or finding a place to eat. I’m sure others can relate. We all have our grading criteria for nutrient consumption; most important of course is the food, if it tastes like the inside of a meth-heads trash can then I probably won’t be eating there. There are other intangible aspects as well; are they quick, is the service friendly, what’s their health rating, and clean bathrooms are always a plus. But what if the restaurant chose for you? We’ve all seen the sign: “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.” What if they simply said, “we don’t serve your kind here?” That would just make my life that much easier.

That’s right folks, I’m advocating racism. No I’m not. I’m advocating to allow private businesses to do whatever they want within the demesne of their private property. Before anybody jumps out of their seat and claims everyone deserves the same equal treatment by all – after all it’s 2016 in the US of A – let me ask you this; don’t you deserve to know who your money is going to? Think about all the decision making taken off your shoulders when you show up to your favorite diner and see “Muslims get out” on a sign outside. Hey, if they don’t want money from a demographic who are you to demand them take it?

Does anyone have a problem with this? There’s no reason to get upset someone doesn’t want your money. If I went to the Peckerwood Café and they told me no Niggers allowed, fine. If their food was really good I may try to weasel my way into a half plate, but barring that I would be more than happy to give my money to someone who isn’t going to put it towards something I despise; like snacks for their next Klan rally. Not what I want my 15% tip to go towards.

I said don’t jump out of your seat! Hear me out! Do I think any private business should be able to deny service to anyone for any reason up to and including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and gluten allergy? Yes. Simply because the free market would work around said business. If Burger King banned members of the LGBT community from their restaurants I bet you 100 chicken McNuggets McDonald’s mascot would change from a clown to a unicorn and the golden arches would become rainbows and the execs would ride that horned horse on their private jet to their private island and early retirement. It’s simple supply and demand, which doesn’t stop at our fine eateries either; if a photographer doesn’t want to work at the wedding of a gay couple, another photographer will step up and receive the business from those turned away as well as people who aren’t gay but want to support LGBT equality.

It’s not difficult, either! With the plethora of social media platforms information spreads so fast you can Tweet before takeoff and be fired before landing. Take Sweetcakes by Melissa for example. This was a bakery that politely declined a gay couples request to serve their wedding. Next, they got sued and there was a bunch of hoopla and anger against a bakery that any other day would have served the couple but due to religious reasons chose not to cater a wedding. What if, rather than attacking the business and eventually ruining a law-abiding citizen’s livelihood with a lawsuit, the gay couple had simply posted on social media the event that occurred and let the free market decide the fate of the business? Proponents of marriage equality would join in the boycott. People who didn’t agree or were indifferent to the issue may still shop there. Maybe the business would take a hit and be forced to change, maybe not; the free market would decide. But until then, go somewhere else to buy a damn cake. It’s. Just. A CAKE!!!!! Why would you want to force a company to work for you in the first place? Are you willing to pay full price for a reluctantly made cake?

Boycotts are not a novel idea either and they do have an impact. Target lost an estimated $20 million from a boycott due to their gender neutral bathrooms. And there was a boycott of Chick-fil-A following the news they donate to anti-LGBT groups. Ok, the Chick-fil-A one kinda backfired on the protesters but, I would argue, the reason isn’t because of the protest per se, but the rhetoric. When people are attacked for peacefully saying what they believe it generates sympathy. So don’t give the haters a chance for sympathy! State your case in plain terms to friends and the internet and go on about your life. If you let your hate consume you the terrorists win; when they go low we go high or some such.

Note this argument advocating the increase of freedom of speech to include refusal of service only applies to privately owned businesses. Anything public is paid for by everyone and therefore everyone has a right to. No I don’t think this would have worked in the 1950’s or maybe even as recently 2003 before the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and other major social media platforms. But here we are, almost in 2017 and we have the world at our fingertips in the form of a smartphone – if you have one of those, and there’s nothing wrong if you don’t. I know in a perfect world everything would be rainbows and free smoothies, but since Michael Bay is still making Transformers movies that day is years away. So the next time you get denied service at the ol’ Peckerwood Café, slap the owner on the ass and give ‘em a big wet one because now there’s one less ignoramus using your money for their foul deeds. Thanks racism.