What’s Wrong with America

But in order to get a true appreciation of what it’s like, put yourself in someone else’s shoes, in the role of the minority for once. Round here we’re pretty secluded in our little Schuylkill Bubble, but you go to Philly, Trinidad, NYC, Jamaica- things are a little different there. Imagine you moved to one of these places, met some people of seemingly polite society, and arranged to meet them for dinner, to get to know one another better. When you get there, you hear Pablo’s familiar voice as you round the corner, and it says:

“Yo so I go to the mall, right, and when I get there, HUGE group of gringos standing in line looking confused, the one guy was so white that- Oh. Hey. Heh heh…umm…h-how’s it going? **you sit down** I mean- he was- Caucasian, and uh… Well I was just telling Dom and the guys about- well, never mind- it’s kind of a boring story.”

So, now you feel about as welcome as herpes. Your presence has prompted an awkward silence (which is really just in the interest of sparing your feelings), and now you’re like a total outsider in addition to being the new guy. Would you be really be offended if they said “white guy”? Are you even FROM Caucasia? Not really, not any more than Chris Rock is from Africa. The point is, if we want race relations to improve, we have to be open about them, not put them on a shelf. Social turmoil is not like champagne, it doesn’t get better if you hide it in a dark place, out of sight, out of mind. And in order to do that, we have to recognize that words are just words, and that the sticks and stones adage has some truth to it: Words can’t hurt you unless you believe them. And lemme tell you something: if you believe you really are a ho because a 90 year old cracker said so on the radio, you have bigger issues to deal with than discrimination.

So I think if we start this now, in our generation, start to abolish political correctness and say what’s on our minds regardless of the company we keep, maybe our kids will do the same. I think in a perfect America, comedians will be able to do what they’re paid to do without fear of retribution, and I think our nation as a whole could really use a chill pill, even if it does have 7 leaves. St. Maarten’s not so bad off, maybe for once the big country needs to take its cues from the little one.

In the end, it’s only what we make it.