Who cares that Barack Obama is the first black president? I do. The opponents of civil rights take every opportunity to extol the virtue of a color blind society. Their agenda is to convince us that the problem is solved, that racism is in the past and we should just get over it. But addressing the problem and eliminating the problem are two different things and we still have a lot of work to do.
I was an officer for the Transportation Security Administration and while on duty on the checkpoint exit lane, an officer pointed to a group of African Americans waiting for someone to arrive and said to me, “If it was up to me I’d send them all back to Africa”. This was a person wearing our nation’s uniform while on duty. While it was shocking to hear, it was troubling the she made the remark so casually as if I would naturally agree. Over time I noticed a pattern of discrimination in the TSA workplace. TSA was exempted from collective bargaining and the protections afforded federal workers at former President’ Bush’s urging, so it was a real case study in the value of workplace protections.
I observed a pattern of discrimination as “officer of the month” recognition was awarded almost exclusively to white officers, and the open system of cronyism meant that few officers of color were promoted. Later another officer told me when pointing to a black officer “I’m tired of carrying that deadwood around” suggesting that he had to work doubly hard to make up for some who didn’t do their share. I wrote an open letter to management asking them to take action against this culture of discrimination in our workplace. After all, if we had racists in our midst then black passengers would also be singled out (a couple of years later I was reprimanded by a supervisor for his perception that I did not single out enough black passengers for random screening due to my history on this issue, he called me disloyal).
For the offense of writing the letter, I was given a two-year reprimand for, in the words of the Assistant Director at the time, fanning the flames. My attempts to explain to him that I was tamping down the flames by addressing a real problem, only led him to claim that I considered him a racist. Eventually I was terminated for my union activities.
So don’t tell me that electing our first African-American president doesn’t matter. That type of rhetoric comes from an ignorance of the experience of others so extreme that it can only be the taunt borne out of a racist agenda. It’s an attempt to diminish the meaning of this moment. It’s a denigration of the pride African Americans feel as Americans on this day. They know that if we all feel empowered and let our voices be heard, we will create an America that is truly free and represents the best of all our values.
Special Report: Inauguration Day 2009
Comments
hello, why does everyone still refer to people as the blacks and the whites, should it be the african americans and the americans that the should start to refer to?
It is everywhere and I fear just part of being human. I'll bet even Mr. Ron Moore has said something which might not have been well advised. I spent 3 very long years in the "Deep South" and would have crawled through glass to get out. The war was still there and the guilt of racism was on all sides of the fence. No place is perfect but having traveled to approx 20+ countries per year for my work I can still assure all that the US visa is the most sought after paper in the world. My point is this is still the best place to be when people seek to be free and have a chance at something great.
So back to the St. Lewis TSA, my guess is there is a little more to Mr. Moore's termination than just a misunderstood guy trying to do God's work.
First, he is only 1/2 black and was raised in a white family. Not sure what all the hype is.
Second, Dr MLK (in who I truely believe in) dreamed of a society where we don't care about skin color. If that is true and all the black's believe in MLK then why are we hyping the "First Black President" thing?!? That whole concept goes against MLK's beliefs.
Oh, and he is NOT an African-American... he is an American. He does not have a duel citizenship.
Oh, and he is NOT an African-American... he is an American. He does not have a duel citizenship.
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