© 2022, the Institute for Applied Common Sense
This is a post I generated a year ago, but never published - partly because
I wanted to ensure that my position was clear,
even though out of the mainstream.
Around that time, I promised myself that I would never write anything again
about being a black man in America. Why?
Because it doesn’t really accomplish anything in terms of advancing any
meaningful societal interests. Either
one already recognizes the complexities associated with the race issue, or one
doesn’t. Either one feels that America
is a racist country; or one doesn’t. I’m
not sure that the conversation really matters, unless one believes that they
can sway the sentiment amongst the “undecided.”
Unfortunately, I’ve always tried to find solutions to problems, and not
just repeatedly complain about them. (It’s the engineer in me.) Thus, I prefer
to talk about human issues (and widgets), and the commonality of interests
facing all widgets, and not just black widgets.
So about two years ago, I started a Facebook group page entitled, Black Baby Boomers Who Remember – namely
segregation. I later changed the name to
Black Baby Boomers Who Seek a BetterFuture for All, seeking to attract more Chinese followers. (Seriously! During the early days of this blog, I tried
every imaginable tactic to reach Chinese students. Silly me, once again.) I’ve
been amazed, quite frankly, with the nature of the discourse on the Black Baby Boomers page, which I expected
to become “self – executing,” and take on a momentum of its own.
Then this black guy, who was a member only briefly and
supported most things Trump, accused me of assembling a bunch of Trump haters
and feeding them raw meat, which led to this: “Just so that there is no confusion, or a claim that the goals of
this group page have been misrepresented, I started this group page with no
particular political agenda in mind, either explicit or implied. Additionally,
I welcome, and encourage, people of all ideological views to participate. I do
not belong to either major political party. I am unaffiliated. This page is
focused on the potential reversal of civil rights laws as it affects
minorities.”
Then,
shortly thereafter, a different black guy (as far I could tell, although he might
have been a Russian operative) asked me to expel him from the group, because he
could not figure out how to do so himself.
He was offended by my intellectual dishonesty for including the word
“Black” in the name of the group, which had white members.
All of this reminded me of a time when I had a 4 or 5 hour layover in
Mexico City, and decided to walk through some neighborhoods to get a “real feel”
for the city, but chose to walk down the middle of the street to avoid being
attacked from either side. It actually worked.
Consistent as is my wont to entertain the views of all humans I encounter, and
learn “something” from them, I thought about something often said by one of the
most despicable (and devoid of socially redeeming values) childhood friends of
mine, "Take the names and faces off of the individuals involved, and then
analyze the conduct."
In theory, and in principle, doing the right thing and having integrity and
principles SHOULD NOT CHANGE FROM SITUATION TO SITUATION or event to event, no
matter which team you find yourself associated. There’s a phrase which I have
been uttering to folks for the past year, and I believe that there is a modicum
of truth to it: “There’s no need to take
a side, unless you have a dog in the fight.”
And if we find ourselves rooting for one dog over another, we should
consider the nature and consequences of the fight, and whether it is a good
fight.
I am still amazed to this day about two things in history pertaining to the
Roman Catholic Church – the first being the Doctrine of Discovery, justifying the
exploration and colonization of lands not inhabited by Christians - hhmm, hhhmmmm...,
and if that wasn’t deep enough, the second, the Church cozying up to the Hitler
and the Nazis (reminiscent of Trump cozying up to Putin).
I’m done for tonight. I can’t make
sense of any of this, despite spending an entire year thinking about it. On whose team or side are you; and should it
make a difference? That is the question.
