Editorial: racism sucks ...
Unfortunately, racism, fundamentalism and discrimination tend to abound wherever there are humanoids that delight in making themselves seem a more valuable "specimen of humanity" than another (or others). It is - however - mindboggling for me to see how the tradition of racism / discrimination is also sometimes held as an "ace" in the back pocket by liberals and persons who otherwise profess to be above such thoughts/words/actions ... an ace card that is whipped out whenever one fears that one is sitting with a losing hand. Then racism and discrimination become a traditional "comfort" - easy to fall back upon, as misery loves company and pecking orders are to be used when personal power must be re-established. For those who are victims of discrimination, it is sometimes more of a comfort to know where the other person actually stands and what he/she is liable to say/do in a particular situation - this rather than to constantly wonder if this one or that one really is beyond racist / discriminatory behavioral patterns or not ... sort of like staring a venomous snake or a scorpion in the eye, waiting for the eventual strike to come.
In my book "Collected poems and stories" (2005) I included the following little poem about this very topic:
MODERN TIMES AND THE OLD NEGRO.
I remembers one hot 'n dusty mornin'
on the road to Realism:
bus couldn' ha' been more 'n nine miles
outside the Big City when the
air-conditionin' gave out.
The upright, sunburn-wrinkled faces
'round me soon started a'meltin'
into sleepy country roads -
like the ones ya sees on bank calendars:
with clapboard corner stores a'boastin'
sales on 'Freudian Slips' an' plastic posies.
Yeah, ah jus' knowed ah be headed straight fo'
Hell, so's ah closed mah eyes real tight
sayin' "Praised be the Lawd!"
Feelin' panicky that ah be most terribly lost,
ah was jus' abouts to get off that bus,
when ah hears someone whisper "Niggar."
Well chil', ah gots mad fo' a minute,
but then ah jus' grinned like an
old fly in a new outhouse 'cause
suddenly ah knowed exactly where ah be.
STOP ALL RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION NOW!!!
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