https://www.amazon.com/We-Owe-our-Children-Country/dp/0692562109/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
When Donald Trump began using the "Make America Great Again" slogan he was immediately branded a racist.
I'm not going to lie to you and say I have never done or said anything that was racist. I'm not proud of it but I have. I'm human. I imagine anyone who reads this has. No matter what race you are, I imagine you can think of something you have said or done that is racist. We are all humans with human weakness's.
I am just having a hard time seeing how that book title, or campaign slogan can be considered racist. It doesn't mean we want to return to slavery or Jim Crow laws. It means we long for a time when parents could allow their children go out and play anywhere in the neighborhood without fear no matter the race.
How is it racist to want to return America to that beacon on the hill President Reagan spoke of? Why is it racist to oppose the policies of Barack Obama, not because he is half black and half white, but because you feel his policies were detrimental to our country. If in your heart you believed that but didn't speak out because he is half black would that in itself not be a form of racism?
I did not vote for President Obama either time. It had absolutely nothing to do with his race. In the first election one of the main reasons he didn't get my vote was his comment about bitter people clinging to their Bibles and guns. Still I remember so well watching his first Inauguration. I was so proud of our country. I feared his policies but was hopeful he could bring everyone together.
I remember listening to Juan Williams describing his feelings as a black man and it tugged at my heart. I actually had to wipe tears from my face. As we got away from his glowing rhetoric on the campaign trail, to actually governing, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that my hope of him bringing everyone together wasn't meant to be.
If I was a racist, I wouldn't have donated money I truly don't have to Col. Allen West's last Congressional campaign. I wouldn't have asked him to consider a run for President which I did. I wouldn't have supported Dr. Ben Carson, Herman Caine, Mia Love, Senator Tim Scott, Dr. Thomas Sowell, Sheriff David Clarke and so many other African Americans who represent my same philosophical and or Religious beliefs. It has nothing to do with race, sex, creed or color. Others include: Condoleezza Rice, Alan Keyes, Larry Elder, Judge Clarence Thomas, Tony Dungy, Michael Steele, Dr. Alveda King, Dr. Carol Swain, Charles Payne, Erik Rush, Deneen Borella, Harris Faulkner, and Kevin Jackson.
I would support any of those for political office. Not because they are African Americans. Because they reflect my values. Period.
I have been told over and over as a white man I can't understand what it is like to be a minority in this country. They are right. Neither can I understand the discrimination my Irish Ancestors felt when they first came to this country and the Irish were treated so badly. Nor how my American Indian Ancestors felt, or once my Irish Ancestors married American Indians how their children felt being called "Black Irish" and being discriminated against.
This is what I do know. Wanting to return to a time when kids weren't killing kids; when kids and young adults weren't dying in alarming rates of drug overdoses; when families stayed together and raised their children; when we had daily prayers to start our day in school; when the American Flag was in our classroom and we said The Pledge of Allegiance every morning; these things aren't racist. They are simply wanting what is best for our children of all races. We need to study and understand our history, both the good and the bad, so we don't make the same mistakes. So we understand the sacrifices so many have made to make this the greatest country in history, but we don't need to live in the past.
It's time to come together before it takes another tragedy to bring us together.
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