To Be Black In America - From the view of a one old White Chick

I don't know what it is to be black. I don't know what it's like to wake up in utter dread each day and wonder what injustice will cross my path. 

I grew up in a mixed neighborhood. Jews, Blacks, Chinese, Latinos, Irish Catholic, Germans, Italians, Polish... you name it... we had one tucked in our area somewhere. I had no idea what racism even WAS until I got older. Even though I was born in the 60's and racism existed all around me, the community I grew up in, sheltered me from the reality of it because we just didn't treat each other that way. 

When I was in my teens and started to see racism first hand via my black friends, even though I knew it existed, I still didn't fully understand it. How could I? I wasn't Black.

All I know is that from the time I was about 5, when anyone experienced being treated unfairly, it made me mad and made me want to stand up for that person. I can't be 100% sure where that came from. Was it the neighborhood I grew up in that didn't see race? Is it something inside my DNA? What I think made me this way was because I was always around people who were full of compassion and were always respectful of others. 

That kind of compassion for your fellow human being, and having respect for others, has gone missing somewhere along the line. When did we stop teaching this? Did we stop acting like this? Did we think compassion and respect was instinctual? Did we think someone else would teach our kids these things? What ever the answer is, we need to step up and start making sure kids grow up knowing the requirements for being a good person.

There are a trillion examples of the lack of compassion and respect we have for others, especially if you are Black in America. I want to talk about one of those examples.

Leslie Jones, of SNL and the remake of Ghost Busters was attacked on her Twitter account ... for being BLACK.

Leslie Jones, star of Ghostbusters and Saturday Night Live cast member, exposed Twitter trolls on Monday for sending her racist, hateful, and even graphic messages. Some of the horrible messages included pictures of apes, with frequent comparisons of Jones to Harambe the gorilla killed at Cincinnati Zoo, and one message saying she was the source of AIDS. {full article} 

My heart breaks for her. But I know she is not alone. Because she is a celebrity, she is a public figure and that makes her the perfect target for racists. Sadly, this is just one of many stories of racism in America.

Each day, I am absolutely floored by all the hate in this country for Black people. I struggle to understand it. I thought we turned a corner when we elected Obama. I don't recall this level of racism back then. So what happened? 

Something occurred to me today and I wanted to share it. So here is my theory on one of the reasons for this renewed, overt bigotry in America.

It's Obama's Fault!!!! 

I am making a joke really, but sort of not. 

I really think this new fervor of racism is some giant backlash for Obama being such an incredible President and for being such a good human being. 

Bigots wanted NEEDED him to fail, they did everything they could to sabotage him, and when all of their dirty tricks didn't break him, it just made them even crazier and more desperate to undermine any black person. I think that is why we are seeing it more today then when he was elected. 

Because Obama was able to take what they dished out, with grace and class, I am convinced it left them so defeated that they are trying to "up their game" and go after people they think they can rattle or diminish in some sort of sore loser mode. You know the type, I lost, so I am going to take you down some other way. He did such a great job, even though he had more on his plate than any president in recent history, that it scared them that their days of white power... was OVER!

Here is the thing about the attack on Leslie Jones .... all the racists out there that think they can get away with this kind of thing, I've got news for you.... millions more... HAVE HER BACK. You didn't pull her down. All you did was inflict a tiny mosquito bite and the rest of us are going to squash you like the disease infected bugs you are.

This is a kind, beautiful, funny, talented human being who was attacked just for being Black in America. She did nothing to deserve this. Not one .....single thing... to incite this, except have the utter gall to be Black in America. 

The attack on her is only going to rally millions of people to her side. Even though it's only one story in the landscape of being Black in America, I hope it also becomes a sort of beacon for folks who are not public figures that go through this kind of experience too.

You racists didn't didn't knock anyone down, in fact, what you did, had the opposite effect. It's bringing people together in the fight against this kind of ugly, foul, idiotic behavior. Now go back into the cave you crawled out of.....

#LoveForLeslie