RACISM!
Racism is alive and well-in Louisiana.
I couldn't believe the discussion I heard today at a Thanksgiving feast.
And I couldn't be more proud of my 23 year old son-who calmly, intelligently and compassionately defended the honor of an entire race of people.
I'm not from Louisiana-though I've lived here since college...But I still cannot wrap my mind around the kind of bizarre rhetoric that renounces the very dignity of the human person--simply because of their skin color.
No-no one used the N word...but they might as well have...In "intellectual" circles- racism goes under cover...It's their attitude, their judgements, their call for accountability from the poorest of the poor.
I couldn't contain myself...so I said my peace then quickly exited. I've learned it does no good to argue with right wing extremists...closed minded people sometimes are as we say in AA--
"constitutionally unable or unwilling" to accept the simple truth...poverty exists and sometimes poor people need our help.
Some people are so scared someone else may get something for little or no effort...or get a free ride, that they are willing to cut out the giving altogether...even at the risk of losing innocent lives.
Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans and blew the lid off extreme poverty here...revealing the ugly truth about how some human beings had been living--in one of the most infamous cities in the world...It was sobering-sad and so very uncomfortable for city and state leaders. But time and turning our backs on the least among us has a way of camouflaging
reality and then we're right back to the beginning--of bold faced poverty--because times are tough all around.
But today is a day of Thanksgiving...a time to embrace all the gifts of grace that have been showered upon us...and to remember that even when challenges change our moods or color our feelings--if we are breathing--we are living the opportunity for a life of Love, a life of service and an opportunity to look around us, beyond the comfort of our little worlds-to the other side of the tracks where living, breathing human beings share the same hopes and dreams and wishes for a world of opportunity--even when their world is filled with the pain of poverty...and the persecution that comes from misunderstanding, closed minds and hearts that are hardened -by debilitating bigotry--like racism.
I couldn't believe the discussion I heard today at a Thanksgiving feast.
And I couldn't be more proud of my 23 year old son-who calmly, intelligently and compassionately defended the honor of an entire race of people.
I'm not from Louisiana-though I've lived here since college...But I still cannot wrap my mind around the kind of bizarre rhetoric that renounces the very dignity of the human person--simply because of their skin color.
No-no one used the N word...but they might as well have...In "intellectual" circles- racism goes under cover...It's their attitude, their judgements, their call for accountability from the poorest of the poor.
I couldn't contain myself...so I said my peace then quickly exited. I've learned it does no good to argue with right wing extremists...closed minded people sometimes are as we say in AA--
"constitutionally unable or unwilling" to accept the simple truth...poverty exists and sometimes poor people need our help.
Some people are so scared someone else may get something for little or no effort...or get a free ride, that they are willing to cut out the giving altogether...even at the risk of losing innocent lives.
Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans and blew the lid off extreme poverty here...revealing the ugly truth about how some human beings had been living--in one of the most infamous cities in the world...It was sobering-sad and so very uncomfortable for city and state leaders. But time and turning our backs on the least among us has a way of camouflaging
reality and then we're right back to the beginning--of bold faced poverty--because times are tough all around.
But today is a day of Thanksgiving...a time to embrace all the gifts of grace that have been showered upon us...and to remember that even when challenges change our moods or color our feelings--if we are breathing--we are living the opportunity for a life of Love, a life of service and an opportunity to look around us, beyond the comfort of our little worlds-to the other side of the tracks where living, breathing human beings share the same hopes and dreams and wishes for a world of opportunity--even when their world is filled with the pain of poverty...and the persecution that comes from misunderstanding, closed minds and hearts that are hardened -by debilitating bigotry--like racism.
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