How Imus Got My Goat

When I recommended that you folks read the ORL post on the Imus story I said it was something that I felt strongly about. One of the comments on here asked me to elaborate on why that is. In making comment on Matt's story I said "...there is no place in this day and age for racism".

I really do believe that. It didn't come to me overnight in a flash. It has been in my thoughts over the years as Mother Nature dragged me into maturity. In my younger selfish years I would have been considered a racist. I enjoyed and often repeated racist jokes, especially if it got a few laughs. Then in the early sixties discrimination became a national issue and resulted in the creation of the Equal Rights Amendment. I remember watching newscasts of George Wallace calling out the National Guard to block students from going to school. I remember the stories of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his efforts to right the wrongs in our society. If your were living in that era and didn't become conscious of all the social injustice in our country you were either in strong denial or living in a cave without any contact with the outside world.

Then later on in the sixties I found myself in Viet Nam. You want to talk about cultural shock... Take a boy from Wellsville and plop him down in a poor country like that garden spot of the Orient! However, over there I witnessed a different kind of racism. To me it seemed very much like a caste society. If you were an Eurasian citizen of that country you were an outcast. Racism over there was openly practiced and accepted. It was much more prominent over there than what I knew in the states. That bothered me.

Growing up I went to school with and played with kids of other races. Then my kids did the same. You know what? Other than skin color those kids were no different than me or you. Growing older over the years I been fortunate enough to meet and befriend a racially diverse set of people.

I grew up with racism. My paternal grandmother was a European immigrant and if you were not of her country's heritage she pitied you. My maternal grandfather would get high blood pressure if you said anything good about Abe Lincoln or Republicans. His grandfather lost the family fortune when Lincoln freed the slaves. That grandfather lived in the south. To me all that was foolish.

In this country only the American Indians are true natives as far as we're concerned. Now they are a minority. For the rest of us we are all children of immigrants. Most of us are native born but back through the generations there is a relative that initially came over here "on the boat". This great country of ours is literally a melting pot of different races and creeds. It is what makes the USA a unique country. It is one of the things that make the USA a great country.

Throughout the history of our country there has been many injustices done on what we call minorities. It wasn't right but it was done and for the most part it's history. We can not change that. It's water over the damn. What remains today is racism and it's unfortunately still a big problem. I doubt if I will live long enough to see the end of it but I will certainly not condone it. Like I'm fond of saying it ain't right. It's something that we have to get over and move on to making life better for all of us.

That's why I felt strongly about Mr. Stewart's story on the Imus affair. I don't care who you are if you use any form of racism, for any purpose, you're wrong.