the Color of Anger

Race is still an important factor is all of our lives in the US. We have not been allowed to admit it, however. But under the surface is a deeply seated anger and distrust. Blacks are angry that they do not seem to be making progress as a whole toward the American dream. I can feel it whenever I move around in my own community. In my little town in North Carolina there seems to be no racial tension whatsoever. Folks get along. But you can feel the underlying anger, but it is never made personal. Neighbors here are more alike than different, and you see more smiles and good humor than frowns and resentment. Many whites are angry that blacks seem to be behind much of the violent crime in the larger communities, denigrating our schools and neighborhoods, playing the victim card instead of taking responsibility and making the effort to lift themselves up the economic and social ladder. Many whites see blacks, not as victims, but as their own problem.

Blacks as a race have been subverted and mistreated in this country for a very long time - slavery, rape, murder, unforgivable repression. Blacks have every right to be resentful of whites. If both races share any common ground, it is that each resents being pushed around. Blacks still far too often feel like second class citizens, while whites are tired of being pushed around by the "rights" of non-whites dictated by recent elite governance. So everybody is angry and nobody has been doing anything to address the anger, certainly not the recent administration. 

The media continues to parade stories designed to make black people feel not just conflicted but furious. Race baiters like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson continue to receive prominent attention to keep black anger focused and hot. Then there is the perennially angry Congresswoman Maxine Waters, as well as many other representatives of Congress, both black and white, who continue to see everything in terms of race, gender, and class, in that order. Behind the recent rise of racial tension in the US is none other than Mr. Obama himself, who never missed an opportunity to whip up anger over race any opportunity that he could.

In the words of a black man about our black president: "Obama has set race relations back fifty years. When a black man kills a cop, he lectures us about having guns, and tells blacks it's wrong to kill, but he knows how they feel. (He might as well just skip the "it's wrong" part). When a cop kills a black suspect, he lectures us about having guns, and tells the rioting blacks he knows how they feel. He rarely speaks of his adopted hometown of Chicago's obscene murder rate, never mentions that it's blacks killing blacks, and lectures us about having guns, even though he knows Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country.

He was silent when the "knockout game", and the flash mob attacks on businesses happened. He could have helped decrease blacks killing the cops, and the rioting by angry blacks, when a cop kills a black suspect, by speaking approvingly of law and order, and telling rioters that the violent behavior they're exhibiting will not be tolerated, and that it only begets more violence and hatred, but he didn't. He could have spoken out frequently and clearly about how much he supports law enforcement, but he didn't. He could have, for the love of G-D, flipped a switch on National Law Enforcement Day, and lit the White House blue, but he couldn't even show that much support. He has systematically, purposefully, spitefully, and maliciously given sympathy and aid to the criminal bad actors in the black community. He has by word, and lack of action, let them know he does not disapprove of their crimes, and by his silence, showed that he, in fact, felt like the victims deserved what they got. He is despicable. Thanks be to G-D, he's only got a few more days, to try to ruin America. It will take President Trump and many others a long time to ameliorate the damage this narcissistic evil man has wrought."

May we all give the new president, on this day of his inauguration, the benefit of the doubt and trust that a man who does not see himself as a victim better understands the potential for mending race relations than a resentful one who does.