Race, Relations, and things that make me go Grrrrrrrrrr

I've been a bit busy - trying to do things that are necessary in my life. I'm hoping that at least some of them, if not all, will be fruitful and bring into my life what I wish. What those things are - I'll blog about in the future.

Today I've finally had a few moments to write some thoughts on what has had me scratching my head, made me angry, and just throwing up my hands.

President Obama, Sgt. Crowley, Prof. Louis Gates.
The topic of race was too quiet...like the elephant in the room. Sadly, it's come out like a lion roaring and I don't know if it has divided the nation anymore than it has, when we should be more focused on health care, getting jobs and the return of the economy.

However, for some people, it's apparently getting increasingly hard to effectively conceal their racism, especially when it comes to dealing with the media. In a story two weeks ago emerged amongst the unavoidable Gates/Crowley fiasco, Cambridge police officer Justin Barrett has somehow managed to put himself in some deep... excrement. (this just says that while Sgt. Crowley may not be a 'racist' there are people in the Cambridge Police dept., the same one that he belongs to that are!)

He was put on paid administrative leave after he mass-mailed a racist, bigoted email to the Boston Globe and members of his National Guard unit, in which he continuously referred to professor Henry Louis Gates Jr as a "jungle monkey." Actually here are some of Barrett's original statement's:

"If I was the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle-monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance." He went on further to say "I am not a racist but I am prejudice towards people who are stupid and pretend to stand up and preach for something they say is freedom but it is merely attention because you do not get enough of it in your little fear-dwelling circle of on-the-bandwagon followers."

What saddens me is that the people who demonstrate this type of behavior are more remorseful for getting caught and how they "worded" their statements more so than recognizing the social implications of their actions. In other words 'Open mouth, insert your entire leg!' This is someone who had HE been the one to respond that day, we may have had a VERY different outcome.

Now before you say I'm not responding to Pres. Obamas comments, I can only say that he is a man who may/or not have been a victim of racism himself, I don't know. Should he have used the words " acted stupidly", I don't know. In the end, there are no words that would have been good enough. Any words would have been taken out of context.

For people to presume that just because the U.S. has a black president in the white house is going to make things better; to think racism disappeared the moment he won is beyond sadly mistaken. How do you fix it? I'm not sure. I think that we should go back to our childhood when we all played with each other - with total disregard to skin color. Racism is taught; it's a learned behavior. I know people who have grown up with racist parents (this included color, religion and everything else) and they choose, to allow people into their lives based on who they are "not the color of their skin". Maybe that's too simplistic - maybe I want to believe that most people are good, sadly I know they are not.


Do I think the "Beer at the Rose garden" was as 'sweet' as it smelled, absolutely not. I believe that it was a photo-op. Let's face it...being called to the Oval office is akin to being called to the principals office.

Relations with other countries and each other.
I know Lisa Ling. She is an amazing woman, journalist and someone whose intellect I admire. I am beyond thrilled that her sister Laura Ling and editor Euna Lee are freed from captivity. What I want to know and may never know is why and how they were captured. Let me say upfront, I am not criticizing them, this was not their fault, they were 'just on the job'. I have been on the border of two countries and immediately knew where the country line was drawn...there were armed guards that told me.

I'm wondering if the area they were filming, contained no signs of warning, or police and if not...if they were just steps into N.Korea, then how and where did the military come from to arrest them? It just seems to me that they were (intentionally or not) further into N.Korea than we honestly know. Does this mean they should have been put in jail and sentenced to 12yrs of hard time - absolutely not. There are other journalists, political prisoners and perhaps many others that we will never know because of their 'non-status', who are arrested and in prisons with no chance of getting out.

Ah...former President Clinton to the rescue. I am a fan - yes I said it. I voted for him, worked on his campaign as a volunteer and think he did a good job. I am sad that I don't remember any interaction with Pres. Clinton and Kim Jong-il - the cynic in me wants to say that Kim Jong wanted Pres. Clinton to 'eat a bit of crow' for something in the past, but I have no evidence to back that up. What I do appreciate is that he passed no official messages and made no promises during his mission. N. Korea is still a country that needs to re-think it's policies.

To wrap this up, I hope that we can now get back to what's important: the economy, jobs, health care. For those critics of Pres Obama, look the man has only been in office for 8 months! If he hasn't made a real change by the end of the year, the I just might join you on the "Where is the Change?" bandwagon.