Realpeelz Racism Issue of the Year

I could have went many directions in deciding what was going to be my issue of the year, but when I thought about it, Race played a part in just about everything this country did this year.

Hollywood= If it wasn't Mel Gibson proclaiming How Jews cause all the Major Wars, It was Michael Richards (Kramer) telling an audience how 50 yrs ago people would be strung from trees for actions they committed today. Oh by the way, he may have dropped the word Nigger a couple of times to. These two weren't the only people to show there true colors, they were just the only ones to get caught The Bernie Mac Show, Half and Half, and Eve all cancelled after the merger of UPN and the WB, yet shows in the graveyard such as 7th Heaven and Gilmore Girls stay on the air.

Politics= Curious as to who the top Democratic Presidential Candidate is in 2008? I'll give you a hint, its not Hillary Clinton, nor is it John Edwards. Its Barack Obama. But I challenge you to do a search for his name and tell me that while reading whatever it is you archived that not once race was ever an issue. I can remember sitting around watching C-SPAN and Barack
ck was doing a press conference after what some may consider a successful trip through New Hampshire ( sight for primary elections) The first 10 -15 questions he received went a little something like this. Do you think this country is ready for a Black President? , Can a Black President get diplomacy here? , Does your upbringing have any factor in your decision to to etc.? Yet, I watched those same people interview Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) and somehow, his race was never called into question. Then there was Texas... My home sweet home. Someone convinced the Texas Legislature that we need a fence that would stretch all the way across the border, and thus in doing so will eliminate illegals from crossing the border. Part of me wanders if Indians had that technology way back when where would this country be today?

Sports = They say you hurt the ones you love the most. So My love for sports is about to take a serious beating now. ESPN makes a killing trying to Promote how Barry Bonds is a juiced up roid head who doesn't care about his team and is about to break a record held by another black man. We call in to agree with them, even though we know nothing about Barry. Terrell Owens is vilified by that and many more networks for the same actions. To make it worse for TO though, his drug overdose was spent as him trying to call for attention. Then the hate got right back on track and kept on chuggin. The NBA has one fight, and the next thing you know is that there nothing more then a bunch of Cornrow wearing thugs who know nothing about the true spirit of the game. The black athlete in professional sports is penalized for self expression. You don't believe me, Here's a fun game you can play when ya get bored this NFL Sunday. Take a shot every time you hear the following " We need more players like Marvin Harrison and Barry Sanders who score a touchdown and just hand the ball back to the referee" or for my Basketball fans " The NBA needs more guys who know the fundamentals of the game". I guarantee you , you'll get drunk alot faster then you think. Dont think I forgot about the World Games By the Way. Team USA Basketball Bronze Medal. No fundamentals people screamed. Sign Fred Hoyberg or J J Reddick people yelled. Team USA Baseball.Specifically the World Baseball Classic. No medal, gets but I bet you don't even remember it do you? You know how many people of color were on the Baseball team? I can bet you there were far more (POC) on the basketball team. Oh by the way, Michael Irvin said that the only reason Tony Romo was playing so well was because he had to have ancestors of African American descent. Normally I ignore such comments, but I thought about it and it hit me, if the shoe were on the other foot, we'd be calling for his job.

Society = The tragedy that happened to Sean Bell is still fresh in the minds of many New Yorkers and as well is should be. 50 shots. 50 shots to eliminate the threat of 3 young men coming out of a strip club at 3am. Every time I've left a strip club the last thing on my mind was trying to kill somebody. I cant begin to tell you how bad I felt for that mans family. The day before his wedding he's gunned down.

Going into 2007, Its my hope that we as a Country can take Bigger steps to eliminate the practices of Racism. To pretend that it doesn't exist is only an insult on the intelligence of many. I'm not pointing the finger at one race either, its a problem that every body shares. Until we can figure out that all men are created equal in this country, we can never move on from our man indiscretions.