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ashleyfanficAfter reading this I have to make a post.
I've lived in Alabama my entire life. I've never had an experience where someone, black, white, asian, whatever was left out of a group because of their race. The only time I've ever experienced racism on my part was after 9/11 and our church, a Christian church, had to cancel our Middle Eastern food festival because a threat was called in on us because they assumed we were Muslim. It was the first time in 20 years they didn't have a food festival. It's been put on every year since.
So, living in Alabama, you really come into contact with different races. People can tell you that the south is still racist, and I can't say that there aren't people still like that that live here, but I can say that I've never even really considered race an issue. My mom, on the other hand, grew up in Birmingham during the 50s and 60s and saw what true racism was. She went to Phillips High School in downtown Birmingham where the population was 90% black and 10% white. During the 60's they had a problem with stabbings at the high school, to the point where no one was allowed out of the classroom without someone with them, and even then it was limited. But since the schooles were integrated, it's changed Alabama, at least to me. When I hear stories of my mom talking about black kids fighting against white kids simply because of the color of their skin, it's so totally foreign to me.
The elementary school and high school I went to were not segregated in any way. I know a misconception from anyone who has never been to the south is that we're all still marrying cousins, live on plantations, and own slaves. News flash, my mom's parents were slaves. There were as many white slaves as there were black slaves because poor farm owners, whites, couldn't afford their farms and became indetured to other people. They were, at times, treated no better than the others.
So, when I hear things about racism it really strikes me the wrong way. Like, I don't understand. You judge a person based on their character, not their color. I feel that sometimes, people hide behind it. Blacks feel unfairly treated, Hispanics, Asians, and in the case of the case against the firefighters, even whites feel they are being discriminated against. But I don't understand. A person's color should have very little to do with anything, and for those that blame their misfortunes on other races seems...I hate to use the word stupid, but the president did, so I will to. It's stupid. No one can hold you back from something if you want it enough.
So, here's this professor who was arrested. Now, the story goes like this. A neighbor of his called into the police that she saw two black men with backpacks pushing against the door of the professor's house trying to break in. Now, had I seen it, I would have called the police too, especially since it looked like they were trying to break in by pushing against the door. The cop responds to the call and goes into the house and asks to see ID. At first, the professor rails against him, already calling him a racist, and refused to show his ID. He's already violated the law because he's refused an officer's command, but the officer asked again for his ID and once he saw that the man lived there, he was getting ready to leave. However, the professor followed him outside, still yelling at the officer, where he then became disorderly. Now, if you look at the pictures of his arrest, there are also black officers there, so, I really don't know how he's calling this racial profiling...anyway, the professor obviously worked himself up so much in his fury that his actions caused him to get arrested. And now he's saying that he was arrested because of his race.
*sigh* Someone explain it to me. I just can't wrap my head around this. He followed the cop out there with the intention of obviously saying more to him and the cop did his duty and arrested him. I don't get how that was racial profiling. The cop was doing his job and checking out what the neighbor called in only to be harassed by this man. Then, last night, the President called the cops actions stupid. How does that make cops on the street any safer? I get that he's a friend, but come on. Mr. President, you said before you said anything else that you didn't have the facts in the case, and yet you still called the officer stupid. These men put their lives on the lines every day to protect the citizens of our country, but because it was a friend then he's being used as...I guess a plot point to make people forget the fact that you didn't answer any questions about Health Care in your address.
I just don't understand the race issue. I just really don't. I feel bad for this cop because he's obviously about to be dragged through the mud for doing his freaking job.
I've lived in Alabama my entire life. I've never had an experience where someone, black, white, asian, whatever was left out of a group because of their race. The only time I've ever experienced racism on my part was after 9/11 and our church, a Christian church, had to cancel our Middle Eastern food festival because a threat was called in on us because they assumed we were Muslim. It was the first time in 20 years they didn't have a food festival. It's been put on every year since.
So, living in Alabama, you really come into contact with different races. People can tell you that the south is still racist, and I can't say that there aren't people still like that that live here, but I can say that I've never even really considered race an issue. My mom, on the other hand, grew up in Birmingham during the 50s and 60s and saw what true racism was. She went to Phillips High School in downtown Birmingham where the population was 90% black and 10% white. During the 60's they had a problem with stabbings at the high school, to the point where no one was allowed out of the classroom without someone with them, and even then it was limited. But since the schooles were integrated, it's changed Alabama, at least to me. When I hear stories of my mom talking about black kids fighting against white kids simply because of the color of their skin, it's so totally foreign to me.
The elementary school and high school I went to were not segregated in any way. I know a misconception from anyone who has never been to the south is that we're all still marrying cousins, live on plantations, and own slaves. News flash, my mom's parents were slaves. There were as many white slaves as there were black slaves because poor farm owners, whites, couldn't afford their farms and became indetured to other people. They were, at times, treated no better than the others.
So, when I hear things about racism it really strikes me the wrong way. Like, I don't understand. You judge a person based on their character, not their color. I feel that sometimes, people hide behind it. Blacks feel unfairly treated, Hispanics, Asians, and in the case of the case against the firefighters, even whites feel they are being discriminated against. But I don't understand. A person's color should have very little to do with anything, and for those that blame their misfortunes on other races seems...I hate to use the word stupid, but the president did, so I will to. It's stupid. No one can hold you back from something if you want it enough.
So, here's this professor who was arrested. Now, the story goes like this. A neighbor of his called into the police that she saw two black men with backpacks pushing against the door of the professor's house trying to break in. Now, had I seen it, I would have called the police too, especially since it looked like they were trying to break in by pushing against the door. The cop responds to the call and goes into the house and asks to see ID. At first, the professor rails against him, already calling him a racist, and refused to show his ID. He's already violated the law because he's refused an officer's command, but the officer asked again for his ID and once he saw that the man lived there, he was getting ready to leave. However, the professor followed him outside, still yelling at the officer, where he then became disorderly. Now, if you look at the pictures of his arrest, there are also black officers there, so, I really don't know how he's calling this racial profiling...anyway, the professor obviously worked himself up so much in his fury that his actions caused him to get arrested. And now he's saying that he was arrested because of his race.
*sigh* Someone explain it to me. I just can't wrap my head around this. He followed the cop out there with the intention of obviously saying more to him and the cop did his duty and arrested him. I don't get how that was racial profiling. The cop was doing his job and checking out what the neighbor called in only to be harassed by this man. Then, last night, the President called the cops actions stupid. How does that make cops on the street any safer? I get that he's a friend, but come on. Mr. President, you said before you said anything else that you didn't have the facts in the case, and yet you still called the officer stupid. These men put their lives on the lines every day to protect the citizens of our country, but because it was a friend then he's being used as...I guess a plot point to make people forget the fact that you didn't answer any questions about Health Care in your address.
I just don't understand the race issue. I just really don't. I feel bad for this cop because he's obviously about to be dragged through the mud for doing his freaking job.