How Else Do We Celebrate? Part II

Hi guys.

I hope things are going well for you. I'm doing laundry.

Still.

Anywho, I typed up something last year as my personal "update" of the Dream Dr. King had, and feel that I should update that update to keep it from becoming (guess) outdated. And here's how I feel.

...A year rarely makes much difference in the actual course of social history. This past year was no different. Some things of note did occur. And there's one I can thing type about immediately:

The Super Bowl!

...

No not the one for 2008. I don't care about this one. I don't care about the New York Giants. I hate the New England Patriots.

And to a certain extent, I didn't care about last year's either. I didn't care about the Indianapolis Colts. I didn't care about the Chicago Bears.

But last year, two black head coaches of NFL teams led teams to the Super Bowl: the first time in National Football History.

...-Wow. Some girl just referenced Alex Mack.

"Be like Alex Mack...you could just slide under the door...You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?...-"

Anyway, Tony Dungy and Tubby Smith led the Colts and Bears respectively. And because only two teams play in the Super Bowl, one (Dungy) would become the first to win a Super Bowl as a head coach.

These events are significant in my mind

1. For one reason,
2. But for a very important reason.

Now that this initial stepping stone has been passed, it is no longer a big deal.

In that one reason, it means no one conspired against the coaches enough to deny them jobs as head coaches. It means no one on the teams slacked off enough to cause the team to do poorly. It means no referee interfered enough to prevent either team from reaching the Super Bowl, or winning enough to make the playoffs. It means that the hatred and racism has subsided enough to allow these men to do their jobs.

It also means that the hatred and racism had subsided for a long enough period of time so that the two men could reach the level of knowledge, skill, leadership, etc. to compete in the highest of leagues of American football. Other coaches might have done the same thing, but the wave of acceptance had not washed the prejudice far enough from the shimmering beaches that was the skill of those black head coahces*.

*I sincerely apologize for that horrible analogy. I'm tired. But then again, I guess I'm not sorry enough to edit that, so take it as you will.

It also means that it is no longer a big deal. Like I said, no one is going to give more praise than should be given. These men have already reached the pinnacle of their sport as black men. It's not special that black men can coach. It really isn't special that they were given the opportunity to get there at the beginning of the season, just like every NFL head coach. It is special that it happened, so we know that people as a whole will allow it to happen just as if it were any other coach.

Because that's all these men are, really. They just coach. And they are good at what they do. Good enough to compete and excel at the highest level.

I guess they point of that is that no one pulled invisible or visible strings enough to stop them. And by that, the people that wear suits with the NFL emblem on it, say it's ok. They are ok with a black head coach leading the best team that year.

And now, we can be equal. It had probably been that way for several years, but the championship victory is symbolic of that, I guess.



Now, in my own life, I've met a lot of people of different ethnicities. And I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to see it. At the University of Georgia, a recognized college in the Deep South, people of Middle Eastern, Asian, Latin American, and African descent live, learn, and excel in their academics and extracurriculars.

Yes, yes, the Indian kids can get drunk with the best of the white kids.

What I see that I don't really understand is the massive amounts of voluntary segregation among friends. Perhaps in this sense, it isn't quite segregation by definition, if the definition of segregation includes the attribute of it being "systematic separation." But what I look over to my right is two young men of Middle Eastern descent studying for a test.

No big deal.

What I saw earlier today was a group of over ten people of Middle Eastern descent eating lunch together without anybody else of any other race.

And what I see on a regular basis is similar cliques of races. Not all of the time, of course not. I hang with Asian, white, black, and people of Middle Eastern ethnicities all of the time. As do many other people.

And I could understand if there were some difference culturally, in the way of a lifestyle, a way of everyday living, that would make it difficult for others to understand you. If you don't speak English well, it is probably nice to speak your native language every once in a while with someone else fluently. It is probably good to discuss your religion with someone else who practices it and understands the history of it. It is probably comforting for someone to understand why you do certain things or abstain from certain activities, as they entertain and abstain from the same activities.

What I don't see is those differences between the racial cliques and most kids on campus.

For example (these two young men are such good examples. I would thank them for there efforts...or lack thereof, but they may be offended,) these two Middle Eastern guys are wearing stereotypical clothes of the Western world with one guy with his cap backwards. Both are sitting at some slouch. Both are using stand English slang and grammar without any kind of accent. The only difference I can see is that they are of Middle Eastern descent.

It was the same case with the ten or more kids sitting and eating earlier. Or with other kids I see that set themselves apart.

The only difference I can see is that they are of a different race. And after getting to know some of these people a little better, I know that they aren't much different than anyone other stereotypical frat guy or sorority girl.

So do they actively look for people of their race to associate with? And if one cannot tell any difference in culture, why would people group themselves off as such? My guess is a racism geared toward meeting those of the same race more often than with people of other races.

Perhaps there is something obvious there that I just don't see. And it would definitely be rude of me to ask.

But when Martin Luther King Day comes and passes, and throughout the day, I see people in the same places, doing the same things, with people that look just like them, I wonder how much progress has been made.

I mean the negative attitudes (or the ones people front) are much, much less racist and bigoted than ever before in the history of the United States. The legislation is created and has upheld in many cases the right for equality for all peoples.

But with all that, people still choose to organize themselves by something as shallow as looks.

Perhaps it is just my incomplete, premature observations, but either way, it doesn't look good.

Well, aside from things being neat and organized.

And given how far things have come in the history of equality of all peoples, this is probably just a phase in history, given that there are no severe steps backwards. And as the history of the US and the Western world continues, these cliques will likely become less based upon race and more based upon similarities of a more meaningful nature.

And in many cases, as is the case with many black people, "black" the race is synonymous with "black" the culture to a point where music, a nonvisible colorless thing (unless you have that condition John Mayer has that makes you see color when you hear music...) has been called "black music." Maybe that is the case with people of other minorities.

And I believe after a while, these cultures will blend and mix until the US no longer stands as a social power. Who knows.

Take it as you will.

I hope you enjoyed your day off.

Peace. Love.

Dreams.

How Else Do We Celebrate

Hi people.

I've been gone. Hiatus, if you will. I hate us, if you won't.

(...What?)

Anywho, I typed this up a year ago for Martin Luther King Day. It's not so much a tribute to his life and his accomplishments, great and unique as they were/are to the US Civil Rights movement, as it is an update of sorts on my version of the dream.

The update is different now. Which I will post later.

And by later, I mean, in an hour or so. Whenever I finish.

I'm waiting for laundry to wash and dry.

Sleep-deprived blogging. Should be fun.

Shall we?

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Well, today is MLKJ day. The day where fairies come from the sky. They land on all meanie administrators heads from all school systems (except Bob Jones U, maybe) and make them give the kids and sometimes adults a day off.

...

Ok, not really, but MLK is only "celebrated" by a few black people. I haven't seen Asian people celebrate it. Hispanic. Indian. And honestly, not many black people. I've seen a few whites on occasion do somethings, and those who celebrate at churches are mostly black.

But then again, I haven't been to many white churches, and not on MLK day.

Then again, I suppose the day shouldn't be made to celebrate just MLK, because there were many other people that helped and may have had a more political or social influence than King.

It's no big deal. The holiday. I don't think MLK cares that there is a day celebrating Civil Rights' achievements. As long as the achievements were made, he'd be just as happy.

In fact, being a doctor, he'd probably be happier seeing me and other minorities in school with all other groups of people than us segregating ourselves with our friends of our own respective races.

Well, kudos to you Dr. King and just as many kudos to the people of all colors and backgrounds that did their own thing during the Civil Rights movement.

Now.

.................

This is the whiny part.

I have many white friends. It's about a 80/20ish ratio white to black. I say 80/20ish, because I have a few friends who are neither white or black. Or they are both.

Of the close friends, it's closer to 50/50ish. I understand that because of cultural differences and whatever differences that may not exist due to culture (I don't believe much in the latter) that I usually have to keep those friends separate.

Segregated, if you will.

Dontae is a close friend of mine from football in HS, school, and when I worked at Harvey's. He's really cool. Cassie I know from many places, I guess. I spent the most time talking with her during a joint enrollment thing at Brewton-Parker. She's really cool.

I can't remember if it was 11th grade in Trig or if it was 9th grade Geometry, but Dontae, Cassie, and I sat together kinda in the back of the room. And for once, one of my (soon to be) good white friends and one of my good black friends got along. Well. On a regular basis.
The tastes in music were still different. The accents and dialects were different. The backgrounds were different. But two intelligent people got along, and even without me being there, they probably would have gotten along just as well.

It was good to see. And after a while, I was able to just enjoy conversation with two friends like usual.

But it doesn't happen often outside of school. TJ and Jason, perhaps closer friends than Cassie and Dontae are, because TJ and I, and Jason and I have been through more bad times, and most definitely more good times.

Anyway Jason and Bryna were going to Dairy Queen after a football game in Vidalia. I saw TJ there and we started to talk.

Admittedly Jason doesn't really know TJ and TJ doesn't know Jason. But it bothered me to know that two of my friends didn't even talk.

They weren't even fighting. They didn't say anything to each other. Like neither existed. And from the outside looking in, it was that way.

It wasn't because TJ is black or because Jason is white. It's because of the "circles" of friends people tend to have. Jason's circle included me. TJ's circle included me. And in both circles, I tend to believe I'm somewhere near the center. However, as big as both circles are (Jason and TJ have many acquaintances, if not friends) neither circle had the other person in it. Even with me being so close to the centers (TJ and Jason), and me being a center of my own circle with them being close to the center, they weren't close to each other.

If the center of a circle E is close to the center of circle T and circle J, then how can the circles of T and J not even touch?

They must touch. It is mathematically, moreso geometrically impossible otherwise.

So how can this be?




Because people aren't circles.




And I cannot make sense of it with a shape as simple as a circle. If it must be graphed somehow, it would include far more complicated shapes for most people. For me, it may be a circle, a line, something more asymmetrical.

For most, not really circles, in some cases not even shapes with defined boundaries. Sometimes, it's just two points.

And even with exceptions to my "circle" theory, you can't make sense of everything.

People are too complex. And in the way of friends, maybe I'm either very complex or very simple.

And in the case of Jason and TJ, too complex or simple.


Am I asking you to make friends with people of other races so that the ratio of your friends is more even?

No.

However, am I asking you to make some friends of other races?

No.

Just one good friend of another race?

No.

What am I asking of you?



Nothing.




I am asking nothing of you.




For whatever the reason, and there is a reason...there is a reason for everything, whether it can be figured or not, it is the way it is...

The situation is the situation.

Just because things don't seem right, doesn't mean it isn't right. Some things are above my thought, human thought, or human thought in any point of human's evolution.

So what's all this typing for?


?


I don't know.