My mother’s ancestral family immigrated to America from Ireland. You might say, she was “Black-Irish” as was the great/late actor Errol Flynn. Genetically, as per DNA, my mother was a Basque. At some point in time, her ancestors arrived and settled upon the island of Ireland.
“… Basques have a long tradition of mobility far beyond their borders due to various political, economic, and social forces throughout history. As early as the 11th century, Basques were whalers, ship-builders, mariners, explorers, and missionaries who navigated ocean waters as far as Newfoundland and South America. Basques built and sailed Christopher Columbus’ fleet …”
The Basque People reside in the area of Southern France and Northern Spain to this very day, as per the informative link below:
As you can see, above, my mother was dark complected, as was I from the very day I was born, until my features began to more favor my Dad’s Cox/Graham side of the family in my mid to late forties. As you can see by the pic directly below as I sat to the left of my younger friend who became my father-in-law.
The Basque People do very much resemble what some folks would, in racist-fashion, call Meskins, Beaners, or Greasers, just as they do the Hispanic Peoples of Mexico, Texas, and other areas of America to this very day. Ignorance is never bliss!
My mother suffered the same racist epithets as she grew up here in West Texas. The result was that she learned to claim she was “White,” in an attempt to deal with the cruelty that others inflicted upon her on a daily basis. And she sought to protect me by forcing me to state that I was “White,” as well.
What the f**k is so special about being “White,” anyway?
Well, for one, if you at least look “White” -- bear in mind Jews are not considered as “White,” though they may be light complected, as per the Racist determination of the Klan’s KKK -- you might not suffer the true to my life incident that happened to me in the second grade as I walked home from school, and was overtaken by a group of older boys, who were coincidentally “White.”
I innocently said hello. My greeting was met with words which I had never heard before, at that time, in my young life, as I was called a meskin, a beaner, and a greaser while the group of boys proceeded to beat the living s**t out of me, and leave me bloodied and battered in the vacant field I crossed every day on the way home from school.
Needless to say, I never walked through that field again, but chose to walk the long way home as part of the lesson I had hard-learned about life that day -- the day I learned what Racism really is, and what it is like to be hated and discriminated against for no reason other than the tint of your complexion, and color of your skin.
Thus, I do conclude that Racism is a ravaging Disease which plagues all Humanity as those individuals who allow Racist thinking to rule their hearts and minds.
Having shared a little about myself, please allow me to continue with the very reason for writing this article:
I once had a friend, who actually told me that, “It’s Racist to be Racist against Racists!”
Quite obviously, I had never walked in my friend’s shoes, had never lived or experienced his hard fought life as an African-AMERICAN. I could never presume to even imagine all he had suffered in growing up here in our “Racist America.” Bear in mind that my friend is/was a good man without any Racist inclination, whatsoever -- that he was astutely aware of. The exact same could be said of us all, as flawed Human Beings.
Over the years -- in pondering his statement on appearance of face value -- I believed that he was attempting to tell me to oppose, and do everything in my power to heal, the Racism that is prevalent in far too many people, while, at the same time, focusing on loving the person despite their obvious Racist behavior, and tendencies towards Racism that, oftentimes, they blindly do not even realize they are exhibiting on a daily basis.
Seems simple enough. Even sounds good. And yet! To accept the above interpretation, of my friend’s words, does absolutely nothing to eradicate the disease of Racism that is harbored and nurtured within the hearts and minds of Human Beings as people just like you and I.
Why so? Racism is not a bacteria, nor a virus, that can be treated with medications, or a vaccine. Racism does not invade the Human body, nor can it exist in any part of the Human body -- save one: The Human Mind.
Racism is a flaw of our inherent Human Nature that can best be metaphorically described as a form of mental illness, wherein individuals (consciously or unconsciously) allow our religions, our cultures, our society -- and most importantly our parents -- to pattern our minds in creating time-rutted pathways of how we choose to think in regards other Human Beings whom we deem as, somehow, different than we consider ourselves to be.
To sum up my friend’s statement in utter naive simplicity would also serve as a form of self-serving justification that allows for the continuance of the shameful existence of Racism, rather than seeking to eradicate Racism as the devastating travesty’s plague upon all Humanity that it truly is.
Taking an open stand against Racism, seeking to eradicate any vestige of Racism from our own minds and lives, is not an act of being Racist against Racists. Rather, taking such a stand is that first meaningful step in healing a most important part of our own, individual, flawed, totally fucked up, Human Nature.
An undeniable fact:
Racism exists within every and all cultures of men-as-Man’s Humanity -- a damn shameful fact to think of, much less to boldly speak and say!
And the truth of reality is, Racism is nothing more than that which I choose to term as Humanity’s Self Derived (better than thou-ness) “Religion of Supremacism,” best exampled here in our America as “White Supremacy,” though such (better than thou-ness) wrong-thinking is also found within most every society, culture, and nation around the entirety of the world.
To put it simply: Racism is a pernicious propensity possessed by all Human Beings to seek out and find a means of considering themselves better than, or above, other Human Beings, whether the selected topic’s issue is complexion, bloodline, religion, ideology, culture, nationality, or that of physical or mental attributes.
FACT: The Religion of Supremacism always bears forth the two wickedly evil fruits of Racism and Classism.
An example of Classism? “Upper Class,” “Middle Class,” and “Lower Class” are economic categories that serve to define our status quo right here in our America. And get this, according to various media sources, the “Middle Class” is shrinking, and may one day cease to exist, to leave only the “Upper Class” and the “Lower Class” economic categories of “We The People,” as Average Jane-N-Joe American citizens of The United States of America: AKA the USA.
Let it also be known that I am referring to an America which openly speaks of “Third World” nations, while never uttering a word about the existence of said “Second World” nations, as though such an existence is simply known to all in never actually naming such “Second World” nations -- per se.
I wanna know, don’t you? What the hell world is being referred to? I thought we all lived upon this one world called planet Earth. All this talk of different worlds that exist on the same damn planet sounds a mite delusional to me -- and much more than just a tad deceptive. Strip away the bullshit and what do you have left? Racism and Classism.
Always remember this: The Religion of Supremacism inherently bears forth the wickedly evil fruit of Racism and Classism. Classism always serves to incite and fuel Racism! Racism always serves to incite and fuel Classism.
Because of my second grade experience, I naturally married a woman of similar complexion as I -- not out of Racism, but out of the reality that “White” girls would have nothing to do with me in terms of girlfriends and dating.
So, I must say that I simply adapted. I chose to date Black girls and Hispanic girls in moving on with my teenage life until that day when I met and married my late Hispanic wife of 49 years.
And yet, once again, I found that Racism exists even within Hispanic folks and their families, where some consider themselves above others due to claims of Spanish ancestry, rather than Mexican ancestry.
Whats more, go figure this one: I have had Hispanic friends who openly spoke disparagingly about “Wet Backs,” when their own parents came across the Rio Grande to establish lives and families here in America.
Yep, the never mentioned existence of the Religion of Supremacism is hard at work within Human minds blinded by the better than thou-ness of Racism and Classism -- which is damn sure a piss poor state of mind.
Please! Before you allow yourself another Racist thought, ask yourself a serious question:
What the f**k is wrong with all of us as Human-F*****g-Beings!
Answer: If you are not willing to change, retrain the thinking of your time rutted mind -- then, my friend, you are the very problem that may one day bring about the extinction of Man’s Humanity called the Human Race.
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