So then, let’s talk.
Let me start by saying I honestly don’t care what skin color
anybody is. Or what race they are,
either. Seriously, I don’t.
Skin color or race don’t define anything for me. Character and ability do.
I’m not blind – I can clearly see what color someone is and
could take a reasonable guess at their race if I tried. But I don’t bother. Because I simply don’t
care.
That also means I don’t think anyone’s skin color or race makes
them special in any way. Nor should they
be entitled to anything just because of either one. Or discriminated against,
either.
It may make a lot of folks angry that I don’t care. That’s apparently intolerable to many who
think I have some moral responsibility to care deeply about skin color or
race. Too bad.
Protestors have spent several months tearing down statues, rioting,
looting and assaulting the residents, businesses and police in city after city
so that people like me pay attention to them solely because of their skin color
or race. I suppose their plan for me and
others like me was to be so scared of them, or feel so guilty, that we’d decide
they deserved super-special treatment.
Speaking only for myself, it didn’t work. All I saw was violent
mobs tearing down things that had absolutely nothing – in my mind – to do with
the claimed source of their anger. Which, I’ve been told repeatedly, is “racial
injustice,” whatever that is. Nobody can
define it.
The whole Black Lives Matter stuff left me cold. And still
does. Of course, black lives matter. But so do white lives, Hispanic lives,
Asian lives, Native American lives, Pacific Islander lives, police lives, and all
other lives matter. All human lives matter. Not just black lives.
But if you say that aloud you’re called a racist. Go figure.
No one deserves special treatment or punishment because of
their skin color or race. If you commit a serious crime and get caught, you’ll
get arrested and maybe get punished. It
doesn’t matter what color or race you are.
Nor does the colors or races of the cops. What does matter is how many other times you’ve
been arrested and convicted before now, the severity of those priors, and the crime you're accused of now.
That’s how it’s supposed to work. That’s equal justice under
the law. For the most part, it works just that way day in and day out. Objective data bear that out.
The same goes for officer involved shootings. Draw a weapon
on a cop and you are likely to get shot; the cops only see the weapon, not your
skin color or race. In fact, these days in many urban areas it’s highly likely the
cop who shoots you will be the same skin color and race as you.
The fact that we’re all supposed to be treated equally under
the law regardless of race, religion or ethnicity is one of the great appeals
of our country to others around the world.
Another great appeal of our country is that, by law and by
custom, you’re innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof always rests
on the accuser, not the person being accused.
And what really infuriates the people who always yell racism about
everything all the time is that they can almost never prove it. Then again, they don’t care about proving
anything.
They scream racism merely as a tactic to end discussion the
same way a dog barks to get you to stop whatever you’re doing. They don’t want
to listen to reason or facts any more than a dog does; they just want to get
their way.
I don’t care if anyone calls me a racist. I know I’m not, no
matter how hard the media and some people try to make me feel like one. There’s no proof. I can’t think of a single instance that I made
even the most minor decision based on skin color or race, or gender or sexual
orientation for that matter, for or against, in my entire personal or business life. Not one.
I seriously doubt anyone who has ever known or worked with
me could either.
That said, it’s nothing to be overly proud of. These simply were never issues I considered
that important. I acted out of complete
and total indifference, not bravery or compassion or some abstract dedication
to diversity or political correctness. I
did nothing special.
That’s why I don’t feel compelled to wear my indifference to
anyone’s skin color or race on my sleeve, nor bring it up in every conversation
or argument. It’s so irrelevant it’s
boring.
My guess is most Americans of any skin colors or races
probably feel the same way by now. The only racists among us are those who
think skin color and race are an individual’s single most important attribute, above
all else, even more important than the content of their character.
So are we done here?
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