On Being a White Christian Male I: Racism

The thought struck me this morning about how there has never been a worse time in the history of existence to be a white Christian male.  Christians, it seems, are viewed as a plague upon the earth, scourge of mankind's existence and quite possibly the root of every conflict/war/time of bloodshed that has ever visited the face of the earth.  White people too, it seems, are shown practically no preferential treatment among the various races of earth, in America at least (ironically enough).  The same goes for gender.  It seems to me that women of this country in particular are anxious not just to prove they can do anything men can do, but they can do everything better than men can do.  But this blog is mostly about race, so I'll try to stick to my topic.

I am familiar with a story; would you like to hear it? I am assuming you would, since you're here and since you can't actually talk back to me, but it goes like this:  I knew a girl once who graduated high school with a grade point average above 4.0.  Not an easy accomplishment and it would be safe to assume she worked as hard as a person can to achieve that goal.  In fact, you could say there is nothing more she could have done to better her gpa.  It was, after all, higher than perfect.  I also once knew a boy who graduated high school with a 3.4 gpa.  He was a good student, realizing the importance of good grades but still finding the time to have fun and make friends at school and not just bury his face in schoolbooks.   A 3.4 gpa is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of (higher than my own gpa at the end of high school), but unless my arithmetic fails me, a 3.4 falls lower on the scale than a 4.0.  Both of these proud graduates apply to various prestigious universities, but one particularly selective school they happen to find in common.  Selective schools, we all know, only accept the most qualified applicants.  Most qualified applicants...let's review those gpa scores one more time to refresh our memories.  Girl = above 4.0; Guy = 3.4.  So, the most qualified applicant should be the girl.  But curiously enough, the girl does not receive acceptance.  Now, this fact alone is no reason to expect foul play.  Perhaps the school is already overflowing with 4.o students and there simply is no room for more.  What can a person do about that, right? Nothing.  But wait!  The young man, the 3.4 student receives acceptance to the university!  Now there seems to be something fishy about.  How could a 3.4 student win out over an above 4.0 student?  Let's step back and examine the applicants one more time.  We have our female student, hard working, exceptionally smart and...caucasian (in other words, strike 3 you're out). We have our male student, hard working (but never working too hard), acceptably smart (but not uncommonly so) and...mulatto, which is to say, one parent of caucasian descent and one parent of african descent.  Why do you think the young man (less qualified) was chosen over the young woman (more qualified)?

Just a little footnote here: ahem, Webster's online dictionary defines racism: the belief that race is the primary determinate of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Another thing that, to me, reveals America's preferential treatment of races other than caucasian is how much bickering and belly-aching non-white races can get away with and no one says anything.  Think about it:  several months ago, the african american sports community (specifically the NCAA football community) was up in arms over the fact that there are only a handful of black coaches in division 1 football.  That fact alone says to me that these people don't care about good coaches, they don't care about results, they don't care about finding the right coach for the job, they care about the color of the man's skin (or as we'll surely get to in time, the woman's skin).  More specifically, they want to see fewer coaches with white skin and more coaches with dark skin.  Not more wins, not more football players graduating, not more prestigious recruits...more dark skin.  This, ladies and gentlemen is racism. It tells me that racism is an issue that is far from settled and in fact, has swung a full 180 degrees in the opposite direction.  Think about how many african american awareness groups, clubs, and activist organizations there are.  My God, we even have an entire month set aside to celebrate the achievements of certain men and women for no other reason other than the fact that they have black skin.   We should celebrate these people and their achievements for what they contributed to society, not because they have ancestors hailing from the african continent.  What if I created a club or an organization whose sole purpose it was to promote white people and their accomplishments?  I would be decried as a racist, a closed-minded fool and an enemy of "tolerance."  But I can't count the number of african american organizations there are whose purposes are similar in nature, and nobody can say a foul word about it.  There is even a television channel entirely devoted to Black Entertainment.  How ridiculous is it that there is an exclusively black tv channel?  I mean, the notion that there is a particular brand of entertainment that's only directed towards black people? Really?? No wonder American culture is so shallow, when there are such silly dividers among the country's citizens. What it does is make the rest of the population feel like black people have a "culture" and history all to themselves here in America and they want no one else to be in on it. It's sad, because it proves that racism is still around, only now it's directed the opposite way.

Let's look at another indication that race is still an unsettled issue in America:  The coronation of Barack Obama as the savior and king of the USA.  The celebration of his election to the office of president was certainly a more grand, lavish celebration than we usually see in newly elected presidents.  Why is this? Because he's black.  He's got dark skin, that's why.  It's not because of his credentials; it's not because of his foreign policies; it's not because of his ideas about health care reform; it's not because of his silver tongue; It's because his skin is dark.  And while we're on that, it must be said that he is just as much a white man as he is a black man.  I think it is preposterous to celebrate him as black man (exclusively) because he is every bit as caucasian as he is african.  But I think the people of America are so blinded by the fact that he is of partial African descent, that they don't even care about what he does in office.  I remember surveys being taken before election, specifically in the Harlem neighborhood of New York I believe, asking if these voters approved of Obama's choice of running mate in Sarah Palin, and of his intent to continue the war in Iraq.  These voters supported Obama 100%, proving their ignorance and apparent preference for an african american over a caucasian.  Of course, not all supporters of Obama support him just because he is black (although it certainly does help, I'm sure), but I think enough of them do to draw conclusions about America's infatuation with him.  If you look at polls conducted about Obama's conduct in office thus far, they are overwhelmingly positive.  The man has had just enough time to say some kind words, spend more money, travel the world, touch the Queen of England, and bow to a foreign power.  He's hardly even had a chance to make an impact, so how can people pass judgement on his conduct so far?  Because he's black, and a black man can do no wrong (at least, that's what I think America thinks). 

...to be continued.