Les Deplorables

I don't think I've commented on this yet, but sometimes last week when I was working, living life, and generally trying to get along, Hillary called me deplorable.  And that's okay, I have considered the source.  Hillary should consider the old adage about glass houses and rocks.

The meme has been making the rounds, and many of us have taken it as a badge of honor.  I'm deplorable.  Yeah, right.  That's funny.  Donald Trump has even worked it into his campaign spiel.

So, now comes this idiot writer from the Washington Post, who reassures us that being called racist doesn't mean that we're oppressed.  The author, in her lede, is billed as "an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Morgan State University."  Okay, fine.  I've never heard of Morgan University, although I'm pretty sure that I'm a multimedia journalist.  But, as do most academics, she gets it all wrong.

These days, a lot of white people are feeling victimized and discriminated against, even though they’re not actually being systemically victimized and discriminated against because of their race. In one breath, they will deny that racism exists, only to cry “reverse racism” in the next breath. To racists, the real meaning of reverse racism is having to treat people of color fairly and with respect — to the point where it just feels uncomfortable.

As we are apt to say in the Deep South, that is complete and utter bullshit.  I'm not victimized.  I'm amused.  It's an amusing descriptor because it has been so watered down over the past five decades that the epithet is flavorless.  It has no value, and that's a shame.  Calling someone a racist used to mean something, but these days calling me a racist is meaningless.

I'm a child of the Deep South, I was raised in Louisiana during the '50s and '60s when the insult meant something.  But, like most of us, I've grown.  I've grown up working and living in a society that has also grown.  I've worked and lived in a vibrant multi-colored society my whole life.  I have learned to respect each person for their individual attributes.  And, to not respect some people, likewise for their individual attributes.  I take each person as they come.

I"m not a victim.  I've made my life with the help of lots of people; family, friends, associates.  I treasure each of them, from whatever racial background they may hail.

The one conclusion that I have come to over the last twenty years, is that any person who drops the race card reveals their own ignorance and bigotry.  Let me paraphrase a great American.  The race card is the last refuge of the bigot.  And, to complete the association, I also see that the Democratic party drops the race card far more often than any other political party.

So, Assistant Professor Patton, I don't consider myself a victim, but I do consider you a bigot.