Feb 25 f&$*#@ racist!

If you could read my mind right now, every other word would have to be blacked out. Lately the word 'racist' has been bandied about with a whole lot of snark and enmity and I'm just totally fed up and frankly pissed about it.

It wasn't so long ago that a co-worker called me a racist because I didn't believe taxes should be raised to pay for even more low income housing in an area that already more than its fair share. I was called racist because they felt my views affected in essence, 'poor, black people." WTF?!

First of all, IF I was being discriminatory, it would be against poor, WHITE people as in our area they make up the greater percentage of welfare recipients. If we really want to get down to it, technically it would be discrimination against poor, white mothers but that is a discussion for another day.

It's lovely how the co-worker made the jump from my wallet to my brain since obviously he was a mind reader. But oh contraire! He has no clue how I was brought up nor how I make judgments about people - and yes, we all make judgments. Do not let anyone fool you about that. We have to make decisions every day and those decisions are judgments of one versus another based on certain criteria that we value.

As I look back, my parents and grandpa afforded me one of the most open-minded approaches to people that a child could have. My dad always taught me to judge people by their actions, not on looks whether that is the color of their skin, the clothes they wear or even who they know. I took him at his word on that as he had grown up in the ghetto area of town, was a police officer for over 30 years, worked the toughest beats in the city - especially during the race riots of the late sixties and early seventies, and counted among his closest friends *gasp!* many black people.

Those very friends stood vigil with us at the hospital for almost a week after he had a motorcycle accident from which he never regained consciousness. They stood guard over his casket and were pall bearers at his funeral. His actions toward them and their actions toward him spoke volumes to me. He practiced what he preached to the very end.

The same was true with my grandpa, my mom's dad, who lived with us for most of my formative years. He was Polish but he also had a variety of friends including many in the Chippewa band in Minnesota. For a young girl, having two strong male figures who didn't care how much money anyone had or the color of their skin, it left an indelible mark. However, people were judged harshly if they were disrespectful, pompous, arrogant or were just plain a$$holes.

The thing is, just because someone doesn't want to have their paycheck robbed for someone else's pet project shouldn't automatically label them as uncaring, racist, homophobic or whatever. Nor are people racist just because it is an easy epithet to throw out and cast dispersions. But yes Virginia, there is such thing as racism - I won't deny that. However, by crying racist at every turn, true racism gets diminished.

So, what do we do from here? Can we eradicate racism from our society? I personally don't think we can eradicate racism but given enough time it can be diminished. Diminish it by example, not hate crime legislation (another topic for another day.) Diminish it by not allowing losers to cry racism at every turn and therefore keeping it at the forefront of our attention. Racist behavior should not be tolerated, but it should also not get undue attention that will propel the hatred and will be viewed by others as being acceptable and a means to get attention.

Another pet peeve of mine is that if you should be called a racist, don't throw out how many friends of color you have and how you couldn't possibly be racist as a result. Let people know that that they don't know you nor do they know how you think. By doing the former you are being defensive and asserting in their mind that they are right and that is the reaction they want because they want to be right. By doing the latter you are putting them on notice that you are not allowing them to think for you and therefore need to bug off because you won't tolerate them nor their a$$hole views.

And as Greg Gutfeld from the late night show 'Red Eye' said at the end of one of his Gregalogues, "And if you don't agree with me, you are a racist homophobe who eats cats."

Cross-posted and comments welcome at PoliGrrl.