There is an effort going on to brainwash the masses into believing the people of this country are racists. I believe foreign governments are fomenting this strife we are seeing in race relations. Never before in the history of nations has the individual had the opportunities and same rights as their fellow citizens regardless of their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. I’ve been on Earth for sixty years and in those sixty years, I have seen nothing but improvements for the citizens of this nation regardless of their skin color. My high school graduating class [95% white] voted Dennis Brown, a Black man, as the person most likely to succeed. Dennis Brown was our valedictorian. One of my most memorable high school teachers was Mrs. Brooks who was Black. Foothill High School had many teachers of color.
I have never heard a White person tell a Black person they were limited by their skin color. And I have never heard a White person call a Black person a n@gger. Whereas I can’t report, I haven’t heard Black people tell their fellow Black citizens they are limited by their skin color. I hadn’t heard this until as of late. All through high school and college, I heard Black students call one another n@gger, which disturbed me to no end. My Black track teammates from the stand yelled at my friend who was also Black, “Run n@gger and win or we’ll beat your black ass!” I was ashamed and appalled at this crass display of uncouth behavior. I made up my mind to voice my thoughts on what had transpired at the bus.
After the coach had finished his talk before our ride home, I asked him to say a few words. I told my teammate to use the word, n@gger, disrespected the sacrifices made by the people during the era of the civil rights movement. I mentioned a list of people who had been killed for their effort to make America live up to the guarantees as laid out in the constitution. You would have thought I was speaking in clicks and whistles from the response I received; nothing but blank stares. And I must point out there is no difference between n@gger and n@gga. When I was in college n@gga wasn’t in use yet. N@gga conjures up in the minds of those who hear it the same inference of inferiority. A college teacher in the 90s was fired for referring to his students as “my n@ggas.”
“I never said that I hated the country. All I said was I respect my people enough to not stand or acknowledge something that disrespects them. I love my people point blank, period.”-Gwen Berry
I view Gwen Berry as a victim of the academic intellectual frauds we have at our universities. Note Berry didn’t say, my country. Berry is removing herself as a member of our society. Then Berry says, my people, twice in her statement. I wrongly thought we were all of her people. But Berry is saying otherwise. What happened to stronger together? Berry is saying Black people born in this country are only her people. Any other people born here are lesser people to not be afforded the same consideration. I wager Berry can’t articulate how the country shows her and her people disrespect.
Our so-called leaders aren’t interested in stamping out bigotry in its many forms, to do so, would put them out from their lofty positions. And speaking of our leaders, it’s a front to everything our country stands for to have groups in our Congress whose membership is predicated on skin color. We will never rid our nation of the mentality of racial them versus us until we remove it from our Congress.
Every person in my life who is Black or a person of color is highly successful. Two of the three doctors I see are people of color, one is Black and a woman. In closing, Gwen Berry can’t point to any discrimination that prevented her from voting, going to college, or competing in sports.
Written by Mark Pullen. Published by Sammy Campbell.