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Comments
by Witt Ryatt
James Brown, he's
the Godfather of Soul, and a Hell of an entertainer. I have always
loved listening to his records, he's "The Man"...or at least he's been
wanted by the Man before.
But James has paid his debt to society. I was
glad when I heard the headlines that he would be inducted into the Hall
of Fame in South Carolina. "That's great" I thought, until I caught
the rest of the story. It's the Black Hall Of Fame.
Oops, anyone who has ever been accosted by this column
knows that kinda stuff just goes all over me. The Black Hall of Fame.
That means NO white folks allowed, no Native Americans, no Asians,
and so forth.
It's an exclusionary organization that creates the
very atmosphere black Americans should find distasteful. At least
it was distasteful to them when they were not allowed to drink at the same
fountains, or sit anywhere they chose on the bus.
Those practices were racist, and rightfully, we have
left them in the dust of our tarnished past. They were exclusionary
on the basis of a person's skin color, and so they were outlawed.
That's why you won't hear any headlines about someone
being inducted into the White Hall Of Fame. If such a thing actually
does exist, chances are, it's thanks to someone who's had enough doubletalk.
The average black citizen finds nothing wrong with
any of the exclusive organizations they can belong to, but non-blacks cannot.
When my youngest son was in 7th grade, he wanted to enter a science project
in the school competiton.
Both of my sons, who are not black, were bussed to
a school that was 85 percent black, 10 percent English-as-a-Second Language
and 5 per cent white. They were not only in the minority, they were
vastly outnumbered. But we had no choice.
I'm not one of those rich whitey's that can afford
pricy private schools. So he wanted to enter his project, except
the contest was for exceptional African American students.
That's all. End of story, out of luck. He asked me why, and
to be honest, I couldn't put it in terms that would preserve his innocence.
So once again, exclusion has been used as a weapon
against someone because of race. That is illegal, or at least it
is if you're excluding a non-white. So far, white people who have
tried to stand up for their rights have been ridiculed, criticized, and
villified as ignorant racists.
The truth was framed as part of popular culture the
other night on the CBS show, "Survivor". Ramona, a black woman who
had failed to pull her weight during the time on the island was in danger
of being voted off. So she changed her tune and reached out to one
of her fellow castaways.
Ramona, who is a chemist graduated Howard University,
and lives in New Jersey. The point was driven home when she made
the offhand comment that Stacy was her first white friend. In her
life!!
It is entirely possible in America today for a black
child to grow to adulthood and never have to deal with pesky white folks
at all. There are government supported black schools, universities,
scholarships, organizations, laws, and set-asides that assure their presence
and success in our society. All in their own private exclusionary
system.
So the next time you tune in BET, or watch Miss Black
America, or give to the United Negro College Fund, or NAACP, remember:
At the current rate of population growth, white folks will be the minority
in just a few years. Maybe we can reap a few benefits then.
Naah, that would be racist, stupid. |
