Thursday, November 19, 2009

RACISM AT WALMART?

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Wasn’t the election of Barack Obama supposed to usher in a new post-racial in America? Aren’t we all supposed to be judging each man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin, as Dr. King once dreamed?

Why, then, are we bombarded by charges of racism at every turn? Could it be that racism has simply become a convenient excuse for bad behavior in the black community?

Consider this news item: A twenty-something black woman named Heather Ellis cut in line at a Walmart in Kennett, Missouri, her hometown. She pushed in front of another customer who had already placed her items on the conveyor, shoved the customer’s merchandise back, and placed her own purchases in front of it. When other customers complained about Ms. Ellis pushing in front of them, a shoving match ensued. When Ms. Ellis’s objectionable behavior continued, a security officer and the store manager asked her to leave the store. When she refused, the manager called the police.

Walmart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez is quoted as saying, "In this matter, there was a disturbance and law enforcement was contacted, in accordance with our normal procedures.”

According to the police report, Ms. Ellis resisted arrest, cursed at a police officer and threatened to beat him if he laid his hands on her.

Did Ms. Ellis apologize for her behavior? Of course not! Instead, she played the race card. Rather than admit that her behavior was rude and inappropriate, Ms. Ellis filed a written complaint with the NAACP contending that she had been “hassled” by the store’s employees and “mistreated” by the police. She concluded by complaining, "What a shame the system can destroy a young person's future like this because of bad cops."

I beg your pardon? You shove in front of other customers, push their merchandise that’s already on the conveyor back and place your own stuff ahead of it, and when people complain, you conclude it must be because of the color of your skin?? They can’t possibly be complaining because you’re a spoiled brat who doesn’t know how to behave appropriately in polite society, could they?

Sadly, Ellis’s father, Rev. Nathaniel Ellis, is supporting her in this outrage. I can’t help but wonder what gospel the Rev. Ellis preaches. His daughter’s behavior certainly isn’t appropriate by any standards MY Bible contains. Perhaps Rev. Ellis, like the infamous Jeremiah Wright, preaches “black liberation theology”, rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ?

And what idiot lawyer would file a lawsuit based on such ridiculous charges? Any reasonably successful attorney should have better things to do with his time than to encourage such immature behavior!

Another recent example of behavior in the post-racism era of Obama was the black professor in Massachusetts who was questioned by police because a neighbor, who noticed not the color of his skin but only the fact that someone was behaving suspiciously outside the professor’s home and, like any good neighbor, reported the suspicious activity to the police. Had this been a break-in, the professor would have appreciated his neighbor’s diligence. However, when police requested identification, the professor behaved rudely, hurled racial slurs at the officers and, in general, behaved like a jackass.

Allow me to point out that it is not whites, but blacks, who continually harp on race. The black community, especially men like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who have made careers out of trumped-up charges of racism, don’t WANT a post-racial era in America. They don’t WANT to be treated like everyone else. As soon as the rest of us treat them without regard to race, require the same qualifications or demand the same appropriate behavior as is expected of everyone else, charges of racism are made.

I, for one, am sick to death of blacks using race as an excuse for bad behavior and failure to achieve. It is irrational to demand equality in one breath and then, in the next, object because you’re being held to the same standards as everyone else.

Try this, instead: Forget about skin color — your own and others’, behave like a responsible adult, and stop looking for excuses for inappropriate behavior and lack of achievement. Only when the black community embraces this attitude will we live in a post-racial society.

© 2009 by Libbi Adams. All rights reserved.

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