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.