On the nature of race in America

       This post is divided three ways.

            First, just who am I?  Second is the bad news. Third is the good news.

            Just who am I? 

            I am a retired Marine who has served with many blacks, colored, negroes, African Americans, whatever you term you want to use. My experience is unique, like everyone else's, I think. And I have both lived around the USA, as well as around the world, in mostly military situations. And I observed a lot, both growing up, and then in the Marines. I've even taught at Atlanta University, an historically all black school.

            I had a good friend from North Dakota who spoke Norwegian until he was five. He had never seen a Negro until he joined the Marines. He was a good Marine.

            As to race in America, I would say it is uniquely American. Nobody else in the world is like us. Said another way, no group, including blacks in America, thinks alike. We are all individuals, in the end. Said another way, whites don't all think alike, nor do the Pilipino, as another example (I've lived there, too. I have even run the Manila marathon).

            And in my experience, I have seen plenty of racial prejudice both ways. And I did not like it. 

            Even some absurd programs, in hindsight, were silly. The Marines even had "soul food" served once a week in the mess hall (dining hall these days) at one time, but most people hated it, especially the chitterlings. After all, most Marines were from urban areas, and a lot "soul food" is decidedly rural oriented. Now I am from a country background in Tennessee, and while my mother liked and prepared chitterlings, I and my brothers would lie and starve vice eat this "foreign" food my mother loved so much; including pickled pig's feet, with hairs between the toes, to boot.

            Heck, we even had to take entrenching tools away from Marines in some units because they were using them for weapons, an historical use, by the way. And "dapping" was a problem, too.  But in the same vein, I admired so many young men who stood up for individualism, vice going along to get along. They were just as aware as I was about the serious racial problems we were having at the time, in this example in Japan. And they did not just talk the talk, but also walked the walk. They were living and sleeping  among their peers, too.  It was during that time that I formulated my ideas about the value of leadership and leadership by example.

            And I never forgot the idea of mission, first. So working through racial problems was just part of my job at the time. And I was pretty good at listening, too.

            And it still bothers me about race and marriage. I still have not made up my mind about what all that means, that is blacks tending to marry blacks, and whites tending  to marry whites. So far all I have figured out is that whatever is happening is uniquely American, and I support it; even as more intermarrying between races is occurring, too. Again, that is so uniquely American, in my experience and opinion.

            Now the bad news.

            Those that think Negroes are racially inferior have a point. Just look at crime statistics, school performances, and marriage rates (mostly out of wedlock births), and one can surmise the inferiority  idea. Heck, most blacks were historically brought to American as part of the slave trade, and that burden still hangs over our head, too. Now I would call that a cultural problem, uniquely American again, I would add. I would have thought and hoped we could overcome that past in my lifetime, but I guess not these days. I would love to know how it all sorts out in say another century. After all, in today's times one does not reliably know what or how to think on such a sensitive subject.

            Even now many American government programs seem to promote single parent homes as good gestures and at great expense. Yet one can argue many of the "programs" are also detrimental to promoting families, like two parents at home to try raise their Family as best they can. My example is the out of wedlock birth rates in the black community. It was not always this way. I have the advantage of age to report this. Even one ebony black mentor reported to me the social pressure to "be married" back in his time.

            Given the ways things seem to be evolving, like with present day race baiters  and shake down artists, things will have to take a long time (like generations) to change in America. It still seems like our American history has, and is still producing, a lower economic class of Negroes who gross out so many, speaking for myself.  And for ever what it's worth, there are plenty of poor Scotch-Irish where I live who also gross out most and threaten my well being where I live, too.

            After all, the vast majority of "good" Scotch-Irish are people who should be supported and enhanced, too.

            And I still believe in the idea of "representation", and all that form of government means. And I still believe our families and traditions can do most of it, and are still doing most of it.

            So it all comes to down culture, in my opinion. And our culture is truly "American". And while we still have many racial problems, the long term prospects are also very good. Call it the new world USA if you will. And any change to our culture will always take work, and time.

            Now the good news.

            Most people don't want African Americans on our American side.  Especially Marines do want fellow Americans, including African Americans, on our side. Marines are pretty good fighters, and leaders, too. That's the training standard. This includes those who have Negro blood flowing through them, which is most. And like most Americans, we are generally mongrels when we look at our present marriage tendencies. And this includes the idea of how and why we marry in America.

            And like the now old person I now am (born in 1948), I still believe in the melting pot idea, vice multiculturalism.  And blacks are part of that equation, the melting pot equation, I mean. Like I suggested, it would be interesting if one could come back in a century and see what really happens.

            After all, integrating races and cultures in America is one thing. Being happy is another. Winning in combat is still another.