Flaunt it if you've got it

All right, guys, I know I'm on a posting spree today - but this stuff drives me nuts. I do not agree that police have killed unarmed black men, okay? We'll get that statement out of the way before I proceed.

An 18-year-old man was killed in New York. The man's mother called 911 and in the background, he was screaming that he had a gun. When police arrived, apparently, he was holding an object under his shirt and started to approach police. Police told him to stop and he refused. After 20 rounds were fired at the man, the weapon turned out to be a black hairbrush.

What buggered me about this article was that they interviewed a gentleman who was a neighbor to the 18-year-old man who was killed. He says:

Another neighbor, Wayne Holder, said police should be required to see a weapon before opening fire on a suspect. "At least see a gun before you start to discharge it," Holder said. Police "don't even have to see it, [if] they think you got one, you're going to get shot."

Wow. That is some backwards logic. There is a reason that police ask you to put both hands up. Who hasn't thought of the whole conceal-gun-in-pocket-and-shoot ploy? Yea, everyone thinks that will work. Concealed weapons are the reason why we have to take our shoes off at the airport. Concealed weapons are the reason why we get patted down at the courthouse. Concealed weapons are the reason suicide bombers are successful. Look, I'm not saying the police are right 100% of the time. But they and the military are in no danger of taking over our streets! (See Pakistan and Musharraf; Cuba and Castro.) So why is it that it's unfair to our police to protect themselves under a very important assumption when it is a life and death situation?

The fact that this guy was shot at 20 times is very concerning to me. The fact that Mayor Bloomberg and Rev. Al Sharpton are involved are not surprising. But the fact that people think that forcing a suspect to show they're actually armed, especially when they have proof that the kid confirmed that suspicion over a 911 call, is foolish and dangerous to our police forces. It's not the solution to the bigger problem - and what is that, exactly? Racism? A lack of cultural sensitivity training? That's a whole different bag of frozen peas, people, but I certainly know that visual evidence of a weapon will not save lives on either side of the police tape.

Race, thy name is charged (but not too much)

You know, there's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world today. Other than the atrocities going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there's our environmental worries, everything that we're ignoring between Israel and Palestine, the 2008 presidential election campaigns, and the dominance of the New England Patriots (ok, just kidding on the latter). But what keeps catching my attention between these news-saturated events are the smaller ones that pop up from time to time involving nooses and the "N" word.

Ah, yes. Remember Don Imus? Michael Richards? And now, Duane "Dog" Chapman? The Jena 6? Boy, that's a lot of racially-charged stuff going on in the U.S.

I was curious to see what BBC said about Dog; I searched their entire site and only this came up. I searched CNN, and got this, as well as several videos. Not to say our friends across the pond don't have their own reports of racism, as well as most every other country in this world.

So, dear friends, this issue of racism does not revolve around Dog (or any white man using the "N" word), or even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (or any of our admirable black leaders). This is nothing new to the world. Actually, replace the word racism with discrimination, and you'll see that even the issue of racism does not revolve around itself. Being racist is only part of the problem. It's a problem that we all have, in one way, shape or form. Did you ever make fun of the fat kid at school when you were younger? Did you ever talk behind someone else's back (otherwise known as gossip)? Do you purposefully avoid the homeless on the street?

You know what? I've done those three things; I'd be a fool not to admit it. And 99.999% of the readership has done at least one of these things in their lifetime. Admittedly, I don't make fun of obese people any more; I'd much rather talk about my health issues than gossip these days; and after living/visiting in many big cities, I try to carry change and dollar bills with me now. But we are all afraid of someone because they are different from us - not the collective "us," but you and me as individuals. We all have our fears about differences. I know there are women out there who are afraid they would not love their children if they were born mentally retarded. I know some women choose abortion after finding out the baby has the trisomy-23 gene. It is fear that drives discrimination because we like the comforts and belonging we were afforded when growing up.

Discrimination is a constantly simmering pot, just under the skin of every human on this earth - but it's directed at all sorts of people. The obese, the dwarfs; the black, the Chinese; the Hindus, the Muslims; the gays, the lesbians. Black people are not the only ones discriminated against, and I think some people in this country resent the fact that they currently get the most attention in this country when it comes to matters of discrimination. No one gets on CNN when they call someone a towelhead, runts, and "yo mama" jokes (and those are the mild insults, to take into account that this is somewhat of a family blog). Even when these insults are used, they're usually used incorrectly.

People can be changed, though. I know that for sure. I will leave you with these thoughts, however:

"Of course, America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up."- Oscar Wilde

"No one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute."-
Paul Gallico, US writer