The Race

The era in which we live in now is all about change. Accepting, denying, and making changes. It's actually enlightening when you sit back and see where we, as a country, were and where we are now. Yes we disagree on topics but we've come a long way to be able to disagree in an adult and civil manner.

Our country has seen a shift of being more accepting to people outside of said "NORM" defining the norm is in the eye of the beholder. I've heard statements like being gay is the new black, as in the color, not the EEO code used in employment. Or the big topic now is race and who is or is not racial and everyone has an opinion. More on gay later.

My opinion is only signficant to myself. A simple observation of all. I do have opinions and find things in all statements that I can agree with to an extent. I am a Filipina. That means I am a woman of Filipino origins. My husband is Chinese. Technically speaking, we are not of the same race. Ask any Chinese person and they'll agree. But people see two asians and they say, that's normal when really Chinese people do not like it when you marry outside of their race. I'm fortunate to have Jimmy's family because they are not like typical Chinese people. But I have learned a lot about this culture.

FB is like a sounding board of opinions. You can choose to agree or disagree or ignore. People are very passionate about their views that virtual friendships have been lost over it. Virtual friendships, to me, are no comparison to a real friendship. So if you lose a friend or three, so be it. Your FB life still goes on and more importantly, your real life still goes on.

So here is how I weigh in on this topic of race.

Our great country had inhabitants already on this great continent before Europeans came. Those people are now permitted to stay on land they call their own called a reservation. Wonderful. BRAVO America for being so nice to the good tribes of America. You don't hear about their fight for equality all too often because for the most part, they fight for what they want to preserve, like their language, their heritage, their way of life. No one argues. 

Then Europeans came to conquer the land and claim what they believed is rightfully theres ignoring the people who were here first. We now call the majority of these people WHITE, not the color but the EEO Code. They brought many things with them on their journey to conquer all - including rodents, diseases oh and yes, slaves. 

Our country evolves because people evolved to be more sensitive and compassionate towards others. Slaves started to take matters into their own hands. Take for instance, Mary McCleod Bethune. Her parents were slaves. She too worked in the field with her parents. She wanted to be more than a farm picker so she educated herself. In the early 1900, African-Americans couldn't go to school like the other children (and by other, I mean white people). So she taught children on her own, with her own money, and created opportunities where children of her same race could get an education. That was racism forcing a race to do what they can for themselves because no one else accepted them.

Remember, also during this evolution of America, that Asians were under scrutiny and held in concentration camps all over America because they feared one specific Asian race, so they made all Asians suffer. No one talks about that.

I digress.

Over many years, more and more people become more sensitive and accepting of people outside of their own race. Some people are more accepting then others, and some will never be accepting. 

My observation of recent events is this:

Each person is an individual and cannot be the representative of the entire ethnicity, race, or color. To say that one person acts this way so the entire (insert groups name here) acts like this, is ignorant. 

It is okay for there to be schools and organizations that promote a race like Bethune Cookman University because it celebrates where we were and where we are now. And it helps the community as a whole. There is no one suffering from these organizations and there is no promotion of hate towards other people coming from these schools and organizations. 

The reason why it doesn't translate well when having a white school or organization, is not that you can't be proud of being white, You absolutely can be proud of your race but these organizations, for the most part - as far as I know, promote the hate of every race outside of their own. Forgetting that they were not the first people who lived on this continent but believe this country was meant to be white. Selfish and ignorant. 

Individuals of all race, ethnicity groups have opinions. What I found in observing this is, most white people support their race. Most black people support their race. This is all depending on the situation at hand. but what you don't see a lot of is Asians (and by Asians I mean the entire CONTINENT OF ASIA) we sit by and watch the controversy. Because what you don't see is we generally keep to ourselves (or our group of people). What was in the past is in the past. No need to be upset about it because we look forward not backwards. Asians stick within our respective communities. Like I said, Chinese people stick with each other. It's virtually the same with any Asian group, Indians, Japanese, Vietnamese, even Filipinos. What people say and do around us doesn't matter so long as it doesn't interfere with what we're doing. 

Back to gay. Gay is not the new black. Gay is Gay. We are more accepting of it now because people have been brave enough to face their fears and be open about who the are instead of hiding it. It's not new, we are just more accepting of it as a society as we should be because who would really want to walk around life pretending to be someone else. 

And lastly, I saw a case where a comedian was sued by a lesbian couple because of the jokes that were made about gays. Don't go to a comic show if you don't want to be part of the joke. That's what comedians do. They make fun of people. It's all in good fun. I have gay friends who make gay jokes. It's funny. And it's even funnier when they can make Asian jokes at me. Why, because I don't care. A joke is just that, a joke. a jest. a comment that has no definition as to the person I am. So laugh. Laugh because it's funny. Laugh because laughing is healthy. And remember, life is too short to worry about everyone else. 

(My nature pics. Thought it would break up the monotony of words.)