Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Will the real racist please stand up?

Man oh man do I hate this topic. I am so sick and tired of people having issues with people of different ethnicities. Once again I will state my stance. It does not matter what color your skin is, black, yellow, green or orange. We are all human beings. We all breath the same air, and we should all have each other's back.

There have been a couple of incidents that have been in the news. One concerning Imus and Adam Jones, and the other with Shaq and Kobe. Here is my take on both of them.

If Imus didn't have a history of using derogatory comments against people of diverse backgrounds, this would be a slam dunk. There was nothing in his comment to Warner Wolf that was derogatory. He asked what color he was, and Wolf said he was African American. Imus' response was oh, well there you go. His statement was vague at best, but yet again, he is under fire. The only advice I would have to Mr. Imus is look, if you were convicted of arson, you should probably not play with matches anymore. When it comes to race, just shut up and you will be fine.

Now the incident with Shaq and Kobe. Shaq apprently feels like he can say whatever he wants whenever he wants, and this time he is catching grief for it. What Shaq needs to do is let it go. Turn the page in your life and move on. It is like a divorced couple that keeps sending each other hate mail. Get over the split and grow up.

The biggest problem I have in all of this is that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona took away Shaq's deputy badges for rude and derogatory language. Shaq apparently used the "N" word and other expletives in his rap to Kobe. Mr. Arpaio said that if one of his sherrif's had used that language he would be fired. Hmmmm. That sounds to me like it is a bit racist. You are taking a badge away from an African American man for using a term that is socially accepted amongst fellow African Americans. Shaq is in no trouble what so ever for sayng these words, yet this is from a man, Mr. Arpaio, that makes his male inmates wear pink underwear and eat green bologna. That sure doesn't sound like it falls into the realm of cruel and unusual punishment too much now does it. It is my feelings that Mr. Arpaio is the true racist here. He is trying to make an example out of an African American employee for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Get out the pens and write to Sheriff Joe and tell him how you feel about that.


Sheriff Joe Arpaio
100 West Washington
Suite 1900
Phoenix, AZ 85003

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