By Brian Shosten
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve heard several (not all) African-Americans say that they won’t wave the American flag or have anything to do with it. Are you kidding me? Don’t let the door hit you in on the way out. How long will it be before you accept that America has changed immensely for the better over the past 100 years? How long before you admit that you’re a 1000 times better off than your ancestors, or for that matter, the people who are still in Africa today?
Here’s the rhetoric African-Americans give us European-Americans (“white” wouldn’t be giving enough props to my ancestors): “You don’t know what it’s like to be discriminated against because of your skin color”. You’re right. But, if I try to understand, you’ll just say, “You’re white, you could never understand.” If I ignore it and carry on, then I’m an jerk who doesn’t care. So either way, I can’t win. Here’s my point: When someone tells me that it’s impossible for me to understand something, I say fine and I forget about it. I wasn’t here when your African-American ancestors were enslaved, raped, tortured, and neither were you; so don’t put that crap on me.
I don’t feel bad for being white, and I don’t feel responsible for what a bunch of slave owners did when I wasn’t even born yet. It was wrong for all of them, and I wish to hell it never would have happened. I’m glad the South lost the civil war, and I’m glad that the civil rights movement came along. I don’t care about appearing as compassionate. I’m neither angry nor disenfranchised, no matter how desperately some people on campus will have you think. Yes, I guess by some people’s definition, I may be a bad American, but that’s tough!
Everyone gets discriminated against in some way. Overweight people get treated worse than any other segment of the population. I’ve seen people say horrible things right to the face of an overweight person and not even think twice about it, so I think its safe to say some people actually do know what its like to be treated unfairly. People need to think more about how they treat people across the board. That is what will make change in America all the more faster. Its not going to be some legislation or some event that changes things, its going to be people stepping up and saying, “Hey, maybe I need to treat people a little bit better than I do.”
Brian Shosten is a senior political science major and a columnist for The Louisville Cardinal.
