Here’s an
interesting word from the New Oxford American Dictionary – hypocrisy, noun ( pl. -sies): the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
You are
probably wondering why I would choose to highlight this word. The truth is, I’m
afraid there are far too many people in this country who pretend to know what
the word means, but either neglect or choose to ignore it when it comes to
their own actions. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised coming from a nation
where personal responsibility is an increasingly rare commodity.
The concept of racism is one that is way too often molded from the point of view of the accuser that has created a distinct dual standard. When a person not sharing the genes of the black race uses the “N-Word” in describing another, he or she is considered racist. No matter when or under what circumstances, a person uttering something that even sounds like the “N-Word” will have their life destroyed in perpetuity – they are branded as racist. If you attend a show with a black comedian in it, the chances of not hearing the “N-Word” used are astronomical. It’s also a
common street language in predominantly black communities – nothing racist
about it.
The irony of
the “N-Word” is that it originated in the 17th century to describe
people with black (French: nègre
and Spanish: negro,
Latin: niger) skin.
The “N-Word” was purportedly associated with slavery in the pre-civil war
south, and therefore today should be strictly taboo when referring to black
skinned people. Okay, let’s purge our vocabularies and dictionaries of the
“N-Word”.
“Cracker”, on
the other hand, is a term very closely associated with slavery. A cracker was
an over-seer who used a whip to keep slaves in-line and working. Even though
there were also black over-seers with whips, the word is somehow associated
only with the white ones.
Nobody even
raises an eyebrow then a black person uses the word “Cracker” in any company to
describe a white person. They don’t even bother to disguise the word with a
euphemism such as “C-word”. That’s not racist? If not, then it’s at least
hypocritical.
During
the George Zimmerman trial, there were thinly veiled attempts to cast Zimmerman
as racist. Were there reports of him uttering the “N-Word”? If so, it must have
been censored in the news, because I didn’t hear or read about it. On the other
hand, a witness stated she had a conversation with Martin right before the
altercation that took his life where he used the word “Cracker” to describe the
man following him. Let’s see, Zimmerman must be a racist but Martin is what, a
choirboy?
The left wing
news media are always portraying any opposition to Obama’s policies as racist.
But while Obama gives $7 billion of our tax dollars to improve African electric
power, and simultaneously cuts our National Guard and furloughing people at the
pentagon, there is nothing racist about that it’s just plain wrong.
Universities
notoriously lower standards for blacks so they can admit them over much higher
qualified students of what? Other races! Nothing racist about that (wink-wink).
Now that
George Zimmerman has been acquitted of murdering Travon Martin, our black head
of the justice system, Eric Holder, is scrambling to find a way to charge this
innocent man with some violation of the civil rights law, an act signed into
law in 1964 aimed specifically at ending discrimination. I suppose if a
non-black person kills a black man in self-defense, it must be discrimination.
After all, why couldn’t he have chosen to shoot a white passer by instead of
the black man that was pounding his head into the concrete? Was Martin
discriminating when he said a “Cracker” was following him? If this isn’t
racism, it surely is hypocrisy.
You can bet
the farm that if this had gone the other way – Martin killing Zimmerman – there
would have been two short paragraphs in just the local newspaper, and most of
the country would have never heard of George Zimmerman.
How many Hispanics
are killed every day by any race, without high profile news reporting? How many
blacks are killed each day by other blacks without even a hint of protestation?
How many whites are killed by any race with only back-page coverage in the
local newspaper?
In 1995, a black man was acquitted of killing his white wife and white houseguest. White people took to the streets in hoards destroying property in protest of the injustice done to the white woman and man. No wait, that’s wrong! The white people did nothing, while the black people rejoiced at the acquittal of O.J. Simpson. What did reverend Al Sharptongue have to say about that? Do you hear crickets chirping? Or is that the sound of hypocrisy?
Although it’s
not, I am certain there will be some people calling this column racist. There
is no way anyone can call it hypocritical, though.