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 King had, and feel that I should update that update to keep it from becoming (guess) outdated.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.