Career-Ending Column, but All True

Ladies and Gentlemen, this will be the column that precludes me from ever having a political career.

Racism is caused by the very people who cry out as being victims of racism. (I told you this would end my political career.) I'm an average white guy. Polls have shown that most people in the United States are average folks with moderate views. Just as in any bell curve, there is always evidence of fringe lunatics -- whether they bomb abortion clinics or labs in which animals are used for testing -- but the vast majority of Americans understand that fringe lunatics are exactly that. They are dishonorable, untrustworthy, and completely anathema to the American way of life. Average Americans have friends who cross all colors and backgrounds. At church, at work, at school, on the weekends, in restaurants: the average American comes into continuous contact with people of all backgrounds. And for the average American, these interactions are completely unremarkable, meaning that the average American gets along with people in all of these situations without incident.

Being an average white guy, and knowing a lot of average guys (of all colors and creeds), no one pays any attention to color except in the Summer when I get my annual burn and turn a glowing shade of crimson. Color is the result of pigmentation, a chemical reaction that differs from one person to the next. Just as average Americans don't discriminate on the color of someone's hair, we likewise don't discriminate on the color of skin. Discriminating based on the color of a person's skin is as logical as discriminating against someone based on the color of their eyes.

So why do so many otherwise smart people of all colors believe that racism is so prevalent in the U.S.?

Let's take your average American. He or she is going along their daily business and hears on the news by victims crying "racism" that there is still a White Devil out there ready to snatch back the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and its amendments. This aggressive stance by those crying "racism" sets the average American back on his heels, making him take a defensive stance, because he knows that HE isn't a racist, no matter how often educated victims tell him that he really is a racist deep in his heart.

No. We aren't.

Then, from years of being in this defensive stance, the average American decides that he has cowed for too long under the insanely inane attacks from "victims." (Yeah, read that last part again: "attacks from victims." Does that even seem logical?) Anyway, finally taking a stand, the average American declares proudly that he is not racist and that the entire issue has been raised by the victim. By pointing the finger at the victim, the victim now snaps a photo of the average American (for the benefit of media coverage) and declares, "See! They are on the attack! The average American hates us victims." Now it is a Hate Crime to stand up for one's beliefs.

After being declared a Hate Criminal and demonized in the media, the average American then begins to truly detest the actions of the victim. So what do we have? Racism? No, not really. The average American doesn't hate all people of a particular victim class based on skin color. They just despise those whose actions bring about such animosity. For the average American, he can despise race pimps and doddering ex-Presidents and still maintain all his existing friendships with people of all skin colors.

Obama started down the right path when he denied Jimmy Carter's statement that opposition to the new President was based on racism. But he didn't go far enough. By not coming out and categorically crushing the issue of race in this issue, he has allowed the racism issue to fester. (And I thought he promised to bring us all together. I guess "all of us" meant all of us of a certain political bent.) Average Americans who are not racist don't like being called racists, and they will vote accordingly in the next election. Obama has just ended his ability to be a two-term President. And he did this, because in his heart, he believes that there is racism out there and can't bring himself to categorically crush the issue. And if a President thinks that the Americans he serves contradict his views based on his skin color vice the fact that they oppose faulty legislation, then he is not fit to be President, because he does not understand his constituents. And a public servant who does not understand his constituents can never truly represent them.

It is time for racism to creep back into the shadowy corners of the fringe -- where it had been effectively compartmentalized -- to die a lonely death. And you can't do that by continuously bringing it back into the light.