Easy there buddy – Racism is NOT dead!

Barack Hussein Obama is the President of the United States of America (Acceptance Speech: Goosebumps Galore).  But slow down there big fella!  Racism is not dead in America simply because we elected an African-American as President.

You don’t need me to tell you that you can win an election with less votes because your candidate has more electoral college votes (see 2000 Presidential Election Results).  This year, President-elect Obama received more votes than Senator McCain, and many more electoral college votes.  While I am not trying to cast a shadow on this tremendous achievement, and this monumental step forward in equality in America – I would find it naive for us to believe that racism is a thing of the past.  People still voted for McCain because he is White, just as people voted for Obama because he is black.  But when people vote for McCain because Obama is black; that’s when we have a problem.

Last night on CNN, their table of old white dudes said that many questions of racism have to be put behind us if Obama is elected President.  I could not disagree more.  While racism is not a way of life for the majority of Americans, racism is still quite prevalent in this country.  I don’t see the old white lady smiling and waving to a black man at night because Obama is President.  I don’t see the KKK and Al Sharpton sitting down at a table together and sharing a cup of coffee (guess who wants their coffee light and sweet?).

Far beyond the racist tendencies of the individuals and small racist organizations peppered throughout America, stands the ever powerful Institutionalized Racism.  This form of racism exists at the institutional level; education, corporations and other public/private organizations.  This type of racism is the strongest because the discriminatory acts against people of different color are not performed at the individual level, but are aimed at the roots of these people.

An example of Institutionalized Racism would be a requirement by an organization that all members of the board must be able to track their lineage back at least three (3) generations.  Or an organization that provides health benefits to all workers that are not in seasonal-work like agriculture.  Even the SAT’s have come under heavy scrutiny as a form of Institutionalized Racism as the test is written and designed by a generation of men who decide what children today should and should not have learned.

It is no secret that many African-Americans cannot track their lineage as many are descendants of slaves.  It is no secret that African-Americans and Hispanics make up the majority of seasonal workers, specifically agriculture.  It is no secret that public schools across this nature in the poorest neighborhoods suffer from low funding and are populated with more African-American and Hispanic students than White students.  These students from these poor school districts and poor homes are not meant to pass the SAT’s and receive grants to help them pay for school.

The social structure of this nation has already decided how far we may go and how much success we will have.  I am unable to count the privileges I’ve had in my life because I am a White Male, but I am certain that I have received leniency from some and favors from many.  The practices of Institutionalized Racism hardly come into question because to question the foundation of such long tenured institutions, to some, is to question the foundation of America.  The America that was founded through bloody wars and civil uprisings.  The America that was cultured by Western Europeans who initiated the Slave Trade and defended it as a right of “God’s Children.”

I could not be more excited for President Obama and the next four years (maybe eight?).  I believe he will lead America into a new era where having the most bombs doesn’t necessarily make you the most powerful nation.  This new era is a Global Era, because we cannot continue to act in our own self interest without regard for the other members of the Global Community.  A nation and its people cannot be successful in life by amassing wealth and property.

We can be successful in this Global Era under the guidance and leadership of Barack Obama.  The foundations of our racially biased institutions will no longer be able to compete and survive unless they change; drastically.  I don’t expect Obama to illegalize or investigate institutionalized racism, that task is nearly impossible.  I do expect Obama to encourage people to participate in the global community and to encourage people to help out in their own communities at home.  I expect people to change their way of life for the better because they will be faced with a growing trend, a trend that is calling us into action.   A trend that refuses to deny a Black Man a job simply because he is a Black Man.

The first step of many has been taken.  We cannot expect change to happen; we must be the catalyst for that change.  We cannot become complacent and put racism behind us because we have a Black President; we must work to better ourselves and in turn our neighbors and friends.  If I’ve learned one thing from this past election, it’s that when people really want something, when they really need it – they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get it.  I hope others are as hungry for change as I am, because we’ll need that hunger to continue this tidal wave of change.

Ah shit! I’m screwed…

January 9, 2007

My basketball team is playing our third game of the season, and we are finally getting some real opponents. The first two teams we played were dismissed with ease and to be completely honest, it wasn’t really much fun. The starting five take the floor(6-man team) and I opt to sit until the first time out so that I can finish the half when we’ll need the rebounds. 6 minutes go by and my team calls our first time out. We’re down 5 points to a team of former college players but we’re sticking close with aggressive defense and all out hustling.

I jump on the court and immediately the tide turns our way. My man (person I am defending) was a little over 6 foot and had a 5′10″ guarding him previously. His first few shots are lobbed high and inaccurately towards the hoop. With a few clutch rebounds we are back in the game and up by 3 points. After a quick score on our side I begin to run down court with my man. Suddenly he starts to sprint as I look up and see his teammate throw a bomb down the court and seemingly over my head. While still running backwards, I launch myself into the air and just barely get a finger on the ball. It was just enough to tip the ball out of bounds and stop the clock. after making contact with the ball I feel a sudden movement of my body upwards again. I had expected myself to fall and yet, for a moment, I floated.

In reality I had landed my ass on my man’s shoulder. He knelt towards the ground as my heavy frame landed on him, and just as quickly, slid off of him. I saw the ceiling above me next, then it was just black. I didn’t get knocked out but I sure as shit closed my eyes as the ceiling turned into the floor and I landed with a ferocious BOOM!

The few fans in the stands let out a painful ‘ooooooh’ as the whistle blew. My man lent out his hand and said “Nice hustle” as he helped me off the ground. My team congratulated me as I shook off the impact to my left arm. I stayed in the game until halftime and spent those 5 minutes dribbling a ball and squeezing it, trying anything I could to get the soreness in the back of my mind. I continued to play the rest of the game, primarily with one hand as it would hurt to shoot or catch a pass with my left hand.

As the game ended the pain began to intensify, I had most certainly sprained the bastard and couldn’t wait to get some ice on it. My friend drove me in my car on the way home as he lives nearby. I walked into the apartment to see Kelly at the computer. Her first words, “Its broken isn’t it?” i shrugged off the ridiculous assumption and asked her for a bag of ice. She grabbed the ice and walked me to the couch as I rested for a couple of hours before retreating to bed.

January 10, 2007

Around 3:00 am I am suddenly awakened by a terrible noise, my own bitching. The wrist had really started to hurt more and I was not enjoiing the pain. I threw on some sweats and convinced Kelly to stay in bed while I ran to get some X-Rays real quick.

After watching a doctor take the temperature of an anorexic amputee in his ass, my doctor arrived with the escort for the X-ray. I knew exactly the three views of the bone they were looking for as I broke my right arm only 5 years ago. After another short intermission of waiting and counting the minutes, my doctor returned with glorious news. “It’s not broken on the X-Ray, but I think it’s broken.”

The doctor walked me away from the others and called on the assistance of another female doctor passing by. The two continued to walk with me until they found a dark and unoccupied corner of the hospital. One doctor grabbed a chair for me while the other began digging out the ace bandages and splint materials. The young doctor held my left arm upwards so the other could wrap me up nicely. With no warning at all the primary doctor grabbed my hand and bent it backwards as she placed the splint in place. She held my hand in that position as the other doctor held down my shoulders. At this point I was in more pain than I ever expected and the two doctors were coaching me on my breathing and repeating this phrase, “I knew it was broken.”

The doctors handed me a pill of percoset and told me to call for a ride. Since Kelly was sleeping I didn’t want to bother her and so I faked the phone call and rushed home as the dizziness settled in and knocked me out.

January 11, 2007

The orthopedist concurred that I broke a bone, the scaphoid. He then proceeded to put a full arm cast on me and even locked the thumb in place. As I left the office I could feel the weight of the HUGE cast bearing down on my shoulders. I still thought I had control of my arm as I often attempted to do things like scratch my face or cover my mouth during a cough.

As the weeks passed, I continued to fight the broken bone theory as I felt fine. A week later I am sitting in an operating room getting a screw drilled into my bone so the bone can heal properly. Now I sit here slowly working my fingers, but not my thumb, and praying that this new cast will be taken off tomorrow, February 9, 2007. At this point I still can’t believe how quickly time has passed since I broke my wrist; but I’m certainly not complaining. I am still typing with one hand, but every now and then I throw in a finger from the other hand to assist me and get my thoughts out quicker. I’d have to say that the broken hand may have been the best thing for me at the time. Seeing as how I could no longer type as fast as I thought, I was forced to spend more time thinking and rethinking as I pecked out my sentences, one key at a time.

With all of this time to think I have come to a couple very important conclusions. The first being my living situation. Long Island is simply too expensive and not realistic. I took this opportunity to bring this to Kelly’s attention and now we are discussing alternative places to live. With this new thought came thoughts of work. No longer should I be focusing on jobs at CA or Symbol as I am now looking to remove myself from that area. The end result is the possibility of a return to my first company, RWD Technologies. Now that would be a change!