American Racism and Sexism Today

Between the Don Imus controversy and the Duke rape case, we've seen the ugly side of America. Racism and sexism are running rampant, or so we're told by the media. And we know racism and sexism are wrong.

But there's one group of people who is the target of a lot of racism and sexism. A race and a gender that has been blamed for crime, drug use, poverty, irresponsibility, corruption, war, and all sorts of other bad stuff. Whenever they complain, the majority of people ignore their complaints, no matter how valid they are. To many people, this group is the lowest of the low. Who is this group?

White males.

It's no secret that white men have done more than a few things that have hurt our country, and we deserve to be knocked around a bit for those things. Heck, I'm still apologizing for Vanilla Ice. But what passes for criticism of white males these days is just as racist and sexist as anything uttered by Don Imus.

Take the comments following the dropping of the charges against the three Duke lacrosse players accused of raping a woman. For the better part of a year, these three young men were dragged through the mud, all because of one woman's lies and one prosecutor's misdeeds in defense of those lies. And what do you think happened? Most people were happy that the men were vindicated, but there was still a contingent who believed they bought justice. Why?

Because, as Joy Behar of "The View" put it, Duke is a "rich white boy's club." Try telling that to their families, who now have legal fees to deal with.

And it's not just celebrities or near-celebrities who are doing it. Blog posters all across the country are getting into the act. Reading some postings on message boards about the Duke case and the Imus controversy got to be downright bigoted with the general attitude of some posters being "Now whites know how blacks feel." Take this posting about Imus, for example:

...I just love white guys like you -- who know NOTHING about being demeaned on the basis of race OR gender -- Having so much to say. If I hear one more "whiney white guy" pitying the sad state of affairs for their lot, I think I'll puke...They are the BIGGEST whiners about "political correctness" 'cause what REALLY bothers them, is the fact that they just can't insult everybody else anymore without consequences... Boo-freakin'-Hoo...You don't "hold all the cards" anymore -- which is the way it SHOULD have been all along -- You're NOT the only people in the world...In fact, when you count white WOMEN in addition to both genders of color -- It is YOU who are the minority.

A test to see if your comments are bigoted in any way is to change what you say about a certain group to your group and see if you get offended. Let's try it with a portion of the above post.

...If I hear one more "whiney black guy" pitying the sad state of affairs for their lot, I think I'll puke...They are the BIGGEST whiners about "racism" 'cause what REALLY bothers them, is the fact that they can't just insult everybody else anymore without consequences...

Judges, we have a winner.

It's nice to see people speaking out against racism and sexism, but we shouldn't be racist and sexist to speak out against them. That makes us no better than the ones we criticize.

Of course, what do I know? I'm only a white man.