Is it me, or does it seem calling someone a racist is becoming the new go-to when someone doesn't agree with them? It's becoming too easy to brand someone a racist when everybody shows it to one degree or another.
I've been fortunate over the last 20+ years to have worked at half a dozen jobs with every ethnic group under the sun (sometimes with me being the only white male among them. Token White Guy.). Black, Hispanic, Indian, Filipino, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Agnostic, straight, gay, you name it, I've worked with them.
But just as hate and racism has to be learned and cultivated, so does tolerance.
It's very easy to put up walls just because somebody doesn't look like you, talk like you, think like you, worship like you, etc. But it takes effort to break the walls down and keep them down.
And not everybody wants to keep the walls down. I've seen plenty of instances of people of different races preferring to stay only with their own kind, and never attempt at breaking out of their zone. So, one can argue, anyone of any color can be as racist as the next guy. Not just whites.
One job was a dead-end disappointment. About 500 workers. Five white people, ten blacks, the rest Hispanic. The white people didn't like the black people, the black people didn't like the white people, the black and white people didn't like the Hispanic people, and the Hispanic people didn't like each other. The Mexicans didn't like the Puerto Ricans, the Puerto Ricans didn't like the Dominicans, the Dominicans didn't like the Colombians, and round and round it goes. The prevailing attitude was "We take care of our own, and screw everybody else". Fortunately a handful of us banded together and tried to bring some unity. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we didn't.
Racism is not going away any time soon. And I deplore that, not approve of it. in spite being 2017, in spite having had a Black president, we're still barely beyond Square One in race relations. As long as fear and ignorance exist in people, racism can always find a breeding ground. Regardless of skin color. Racism in the country cannot be pinned solely on Trump any more than it can be pinned on Obama.
I'm old enough to be the father of just about everybody here. I've been hoping since before most of you were born to see some ground being gained. Sometimes we gain a few yards, then lose them. It would be nice to see some tangible sign in my lifetime, even a small one. But there's still so far to go.
In spite of that, I still remain hopeful.