This race business????

I am not the boldest person alive and really don't like stirring the pot, but a couple of things have happened and I just have a couple of questions banging around in my head that I just have to put out there.

First I am an old white male, just so you know.

I mentioned in a previous post that local politics is about to get very interesting. One of Dallas County's commissioners was arrested by FBI for a variety of charges. And this gentleman has been a very strong activist for African Americans and even to the point of being polarizing in some people's eyes. Many in our local African American community feel he was targeted because he is very vocal.

He has been involved in local politics for decades and has been very vocal and even flamboyant the whole time too. Many people respect what he has done for his community. And his arrest leaves many in the African American community upset and who knows, they may be rightfully upset. As a constitutionalist I have to advocate for him innocent until proven guilty. So for now my question is hypothetical, but assumes some things. And of course this is where my point can get lost in all the hyperbole of addressing is this a true race issue or is it something else.


So, hypothetically lets presume there is some merit to the FBI's charges and our friend may face real jail time. How is this handled by the African American community. Will they continue to support him at all costs? Or can they separate the good he did from the mistakes he may have made and basically ignore the race card and address the issue of the person. Can all the good he did for the community be emphasized so young people can emulate that and the community also recognize the mistakes and teach young people the difference so they can even further his work in the right direction? I think my point is it is 2014, when can we start trying to find a reasonable balance in what we do and our expectations of people as a person without any other issues hindering what is the reality. I am treading water here to hopefully walk a line to open honest discussion without inflaming the problem of the race issue.

And he is innocent until proven,guilty. He is so well known here that I am using his story as an example of how we all might could move forward innocent or guilty.

Some version of this next story occurred.

Say you are walking through a store and as you turn the aisle you see a woman/Mother hit her child two or three times and say I am going to beat your @$$.

Now this is hard enough to address even if you were to know the person, much less a complete stranger. Yet something should be done, you just can't let a child get hit, even if not hard enough to cause bruising etc.. All of us have an obligation to protect the innocent. (innocent in the general sense, for all I know the child could have called Mom a nasty name etc..) And this possible incident was witnessed by multiple people of a diverse group, but no one seemed to know what to do. In,many cases I have approached store mgt. to alert them of a possible problem. And I have worked in environments where I would and did address these types of issues, but what happens when an old white male addresses concern when he sees a young black female slap her ten year old child. How is that perceived? Do I look like I am helping the child? Or do I look like someone being critical of a different race?

And this question so bothered me that I almost went up to a semi young black male and asked him what he would have thought. I know he thinks I am crazy because I just stopped and stared at him for a second trying resolve in my head how crazy he would think I am. Yet he was in the vicinity so the thought did strike me to ask what should we do.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. How does the world view the villager when he isn't the same?"


Some crazy thoughts in this mixed up world where a little reason would help us all.