Decriminalize Racism and See How Quiet the People Get

There is a definite mood swing in this country towards comments made about certain people. It almost compares to kids shouting child abuse any time a parent wants to discipline.

Black lives matter is a current shout. Well. Yes, they do. But, so do white, brown, yellow, green, purple and whatever color you choose to designate a people. The news is full of shootings, some seem to be connected with people of a certain color. Some seem to be in certain environments. Some seem to involve religion. Some seem to involve politics. Some seem to be senseless.

What do they have in common? Attention from the media. Yes. Bad attention is just as good as good attention. Just like when we were kids and we'd do something wrong, just to compete with the good kids for attention.

It seems that in the past couple years, we have seen people make comments, and somebody gets uppity and the whole situation gets put in the news. We all listen, watch and judge the people. Most of the time, the common opinion is: for Pete's sake, can we not just get along?

People claim copy cat crimes. The crimes that seem to be a mirror of a crime committed that makes the news. It seems like people will compete to be the next stupid story on the news.

Is it a copy cat crime, or is it the opinion that there is just so much instant news and perhaps social media coverage that we can compare the crime scene?

I have been around for 57 years. In that time, I was read stories. I was read stories like Little Black Sambo and Brer Rabbit. These stories were awesome. I loved the people in them.

Little Black Sambo was about a little boy who was in the jungle who was surrounded by hostile tigers, but convinced said tigers to join together in a circle around some tree and they turned into butter for Little Black Sambo's pancakes. The story enhanced how I felt about Little Black Sambo. I thought he was awesome. A hero.

Little Black Sambo was black. What? He was black? What the heck does that mean? He was a boy. He was in a situation. He faced bad creatures. He was able to control his environment. He was able to make lemonade with the lemons life threw him. Granted, the author used pancakes and butter for his example, but the fact remains that he was victorious... and we loved him. The story didn't invite the horrors of racism. No! The story promoted love and joy and hope.

Brer Rabbit. I recall reading stories about Brer Rabbit, and again, I loved the stories. The stories made me feel good. The stories promoted love and well being. People claim that the stories put black people in a bad light.

What? Why? Are these the same black people who laugh at the movie Fargo and think all Minnesotans talk with Yah, sure, you betcha? Isn't that another clear example of how cultural features make that culture more lovable?

It's like the commercial about cellphones.... someone is in a bad cellphone zone and says "Can you hear me now?"

I was outside a Bar and Grill one summer, up north, talking on the cellphone with one of my grown children, and as one of the other patrons exited the bar, I said "Can you hear me now?" to my child. The patron exclaimed, "Gad, I didn't think people actually said that!!!" I was being funny, but it's an example of the same.

I say, bring back Roseanne. I say, bring back Little Black Sambo. I say, bring back Brer Rabbit. Reduce the hate involved with crabbing about wrongs, and just mind your P's and Q's.

I say, bring back love. Yes. Love.