-See all writings in this series-
As the class winds down, week 9 got me fired up a bit. We talked about equality and hate crimes.
The readings this week were historic in nature. We started with A response to governor Stevens by Seattle, an Indian chief. About the oppression toward his people. Just one section of this writing stuck out to me. When the chief took some of the responsibility for what happened and put it on ‘his young people.’
Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them.
Next we had to read the text from Martin Luther King, Junior’s, I Have a Dream speech. This was the first time I actually read this speech from beginning to end. The one thing that stuck out to me was MLK’s message of real hope. Not a hope contingent on government action but on personal action.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
Next we read Celebrity Bigots: Why We Need Them and What They Won’t Say by Richard Goldstein. Now much of this is going on people like Eminem and Imus and their well known gaffs over the years. But then the goes to his real point, homosexuality. Making the following claim:
Gays are to America what Jews were to Europe a century ago.
What? Are you kidding me? Just stunning really.
Then he sais this:
There isn’t a shred of evidence that homosexuals can be counseled into losing their same-sex desire.
In my assignment this week I said the following:
I agree, there isn't a shred of evidence, but a mountain of it. There are entire ministries built upon homosexuals that were counseled into losing their same-sex desires.
You can claim otherwise, but the facts speak to what I say.
Next we started covering equality of opportunity. The question raised was, should we want equality under the law or equality of what we own? I said equality under the law for two reasons.
1. You just can’t all of a sudden redistribute wealth. Are the millionaires really going to spread the wealth to that level? Would I be willing to? The answer is no.
2. With number one in mind, equality under the law gives all people the same opportunity to make a good life of themselves. 
Then we touched on affirmative action.
These are two things that really get me fired up. Redistributing wealth and then awarding contracts or jobs on things other than personal work and skills just violates my constitutional rights. Just because I’m a male white guy, I shouldn’t a job or a government contract? I just don’t see how that is justifiable.
Finally I had to read The Ballot or the Bullet, by Malcolm X. Again another thing that I had never fully read before. Here is what I said on my assignment in the class:
All I can say is WOW. What a speech. It would be easy to discredit his entire speech due to the anger in it, but the timing of the speech makes his anger understandable. He was in a time when lynching's were somewhat common. Wouldn't you be loud and angry? What I have loved about this class is the relevance to today. There were two statements in his speech that stuck out to me, and I will close with them.
"In Washington, D.C., in the House of Representatives, there are 257 who are Democrats. Only 177 are Republican. In the Senate there are 67 Democrats. Only 33 are Republicans. The party that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate. And still they can't keep their promise to you. 'Cause you're a chump."
"Why were they filibustering the civil rights legislation? Because the civil rights legislation is supposed to guarantee voting rights to Negroes in those states. And those senators from those states know that if the Negroes in those states can vote, those senators are down the drain."
Sound familiar?
[Initially Written 2.22.2009]