Daily Archives: November 2, 2006

I can’t avert my gaze

I just sat there. During the College Dems vs. College Republicans debate, I just sat there as my fellow Republican defended torture, saying it was okay to make terrorists feel a little uncomfortable. I had a chance. I had a chance to take the question instead of him. I had the chance to say, “I’m not only dismayed, but disgusted at President Bush and the Congressmen who voted for his bill. I’m ashamed of America for endorsing torture. It’s strange that a party could filibuster reasonable judicial nominees, but couldn’t muster up the force to save habeas corpus. But more so, I’m ashamed of the Republican party for its role in torture. This isn’t a partisan issue. Torture is unequivocably wrong.” Instead, I just sat there, staring at my pen, doing my best not to shout out. I just sat there.

Something has been bothering me for the past few days — something I couldn’t quite identify it. I don’t know if this is what it was, but at the very least, it’s really bothering me right now. I know the audience was small, but I’m ashamed at myself for sitting there and doing nothing.

And right now, instead of… of speaking out against this evil, I’m ruminating on race. Granted, race is an important topic and shouldn’t be ignored, but the very fabric of the Republic isn’t at risk of being torn asunder on account of race.

Andrew Sullivan made the most powerful image yet, regarding Iraq. Iraq is the foreign policy equivalent of Katrina. [Note to self: Put YouTube video in this entry.]

I can no longer sit quietly in my corner. I wrote my four-comic series, but why am I not pimping them at every opportunity! I am too quiet.

Thus, I will continue my ruminations on race, but not at the expense of averting my gaze from very important events in American history. I will begin composing my “Dialogues on Torture” and figure out how to start making that Ticking Time Bomb Gone Wrong movie. I will keep writing about politics up until, through, and after Election Day.

Racism is a problem for all races

White people aren’t the only ones who are racist. There are dimensions of racism we seem to be afraid to discuss. No, I’m not talking about some black people not liking whites. I’m not talking about the bone-headed concept of “reverse-racism.” If that’s all I was talking about, I’d be kinda racist myself.

No, I’m talking about Asian people who hate black people. I’m talking about how some black people hate Mexicans because they think they’re taking their jobs. I’m talking about Mexicans who say they’re getting those jobs because black people are lazy. I’m talking about Jews who hate Arabs. I’m talking about Arabs who hate Jews.

Yes, I know I’m grossly over-generalizing, but this is real. I can prove it throughout history. Look at every single ethnic group who came into this country, and look how they were treated not only by the white Protestants, but by the ethnic groups who previously came in. Look at the Germans who hated the Irish. And look at all of them who hated the blacks, who didn’t let them into their unions. Look at the ones who hated the Chinese. Think all Asians look the same? Some Chinese hate the Japanese. Oh, and what about what the Americans did to the Native Americans?

Just because groups may be oppressed, doesn’t mean they’ll band together. Women were disenfranchised and blacks were disenfranchised at one point in time. Some of the women’s suffrage tactics turned against the blacks and used blatantly racist and classist propaganda.

Specific racial groups dislike other racial groups in specific ways. We can’t over-generalize the problem of racism. White racism towards blacks isn’t the same as Asian racism towards blacks. White racism towards blacks isn’t the same as white racism towards Mexicans. Now, I’m not saying that the history of the issue doesn’t show that certain groups did more horrible things. Still, I’m trying to analyze the contours of racism in our modern age. If we’re seriously going to be a multi-cultural society, we need to realize that it’s not all about how we get along. Sometimes, we don’t get along. And how we don’t get along is a very complicated issue that stretches between all races (not just between whites and other races), in very unique ways.