On Race Relations in Our Nation During the Zimmerman Trial

I was thinking about something this morning. I hate the way that Americans have become so divided - not just economically (the haves and the have-nots) and politically (left v right) but racially, as well. It started with the Blacks wanting to teach their kids to be proud of who they were, so they launched a nationwide campaign to teach "Black pride". Well, no one else wanted to be left out so pretty soon it was the Native Americans teaching their kids that they were "special" because of their heritage, along with the Hispanics, the Irish, the Russian's, the Chinese, and the list goes on and on and on - each of us trying to teach our children that they are special and unique because of their heritage.

Well, I'm all for teaching a child about their heritage. However, it's become a way now of dividing us, of setting us apart. The fact is that if I, as a German/Norwegian/Swede/English/Irish/Scot, were lying dying in a hospital emergency room due to blood loss, they could infuse into me any blood from any other American (or non-American) and my life would be saved. The fact is folks, that RACE IS AN ILLUSION. Skin color is but a function of the amount of melanin in our skin. There is only one 'race' and that is the HUMAN RACE. That's why any one of us can marry another HUMAN, of any heritage, and raise a family together. Take a Black child and raise him in a Caucasian family and he grows up to talk like, dress like and act like his siblings. In the case of my kids, who have Caucasian, Black, and Asian siblings, they all have ways of talking and doing things that are similar to their siblings and to me. Yes, sure, they inherited certain genetic characteristics that make them each unique and different, but in many ways they are similar simply because they were raised in the same home with the same parent.

One of the greatest things about America has always been that we are a 'melting pot'. People from all over the world - make that human beings from all over the world - came together and formed a nation. An imperfect nation, one that needed to be refined, but one that became the most free society that this world has ever known.

The last 30 years or so, however, we've all tried to set ourselves apart to the point that the melting pot has become a bowl full of separate ingredients, each of them set apart from the other, separate. Because of this, the infighting among HUMAN Americans has risen to the point that race relations in this country are just as bad, if not worse, than before the Civil Rights movement. Racism is rampant, though now it's less the Caucasians being racist against the Blacks, the Asians or the Hispanics and more those races being racist against the Caucasians and against one another. With the Zimmerman trial on display, the racists are out in full force - some making negative comments about the Martin boy, some threatening violence and rioting if Zimmerman is acquitted. The mainstream media only fans the flames by only showing the parts of the trial that fit their 'agenda'. What happened to the voices of the Civil Rights era? Are we really willing to put the sacrifices of those who fought to bring all Americans onto equal footing, some of whom DIED for the cause, mean nothing at all? All just so that we can puff out our chests and says that we're 'different' from all the other Americans? I can only imagine that men the likes of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King are turning over in their graves.

If we don't stop this, if we don't start pulling together again as HUMAN Americans, I fear for this nation. The phrase, "United, we stand - divided, we fall," first uttered by Patrick Henry over 200 years ago, is just as true today as it ever was. If we don't stop pushing against one another, trying to prove that we're 'different' or 'better', this nation will continue to crumble until there is no part of it that we are able to recognize anymore. We MUST teach our children - at home and in our schools - that, yes they are unique and special individuals with unique heritages, but that they are - first and foremost - a part of the Human Race and, secondly, an American. Otherwise, they may not have an America left to live in - or, if they do, it will be an America that none of us wants to live in.

A WARNING FOR MY CANADIAN FRIENDS

I was pondering, with Canada Day just passed and our Independence Day upon us, about something I've noticed. What I've realized is that - in many things - Canada tends to run just behind America. Often times, what happens here follows in Canada within just a few years. Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing. 

When the U.S. was electing our President last year, several of my Canadian friends felt they needed to weigh in. Most of them were pro-Obama and anti-Romney and would tell me that I was wrong in my views. Most of my Canadian friendships survived the elections, fortunately, but I wonder if my pro-Obama Canadian friends still feel the same?

Now that you know he cheated in the elections by targeting, threatening and keeping Conservative groups muted or silent, do you still stand by him? Now that you know his crowning achievement "Obamacare" is a money sucking, tax gobbling, job killing disaster, do you still think he's brilliant? Now that you know he's collecting all of your telephone data and recording your every email and internet activity, do you still trust him? Now that he's unilaterally making laws and policies for our Nation by bypassing our Congress and doing whatever he pleases - regardless of what the American people want, do you still see him as a great guy?

I said at the beginning that this is meant at a warning and it is. If things hold true to the past, you may see your country heading in this same direction sometime soon. Since I don't watch CBC news much, for all I know it already is. Be careful, Canadians. Be sure that you're doing the research and listening to both sides of the story - don't get complacent. Be watchful that your media doesn't become a propaganda machine like most of ours has. Just be forewarned, my friends, and be on guard, or you may find yourselves dealing with a rapidly emerging dictatorial tyrant like the one in our White House.

Three more years.... I hope America survives.