This column was originally published on July 19 , 2009. I thought in view of everything that is going on currently it merited another read.
Dear Readers :
Earlier this month a 90 year old American citizen was forcibly removed from his home and flown to Munich , Germany to stand trial for alleged Nazi war crimes. John Demjanjuk was an S.S. Guard at the notorious Sobibor Concentration Camp who it is alleged was complicit in the murder of 29,000 European Jews in the Nazi ovens. While it should be of great concern to all Americans that a grave injustice has probably been done to this American the focus of this essay is not Mr. Demjanjuk's guilt or innocence. It is something far more important than that.
I have absolutely no doubt that Mr. Demjanjuk will be water boarded as well as tortured via some of the other methods employed with the approval of our current Speaker Of The House Of Representatives Nancy Pelosi amongst many of the current Democratic members of Congress who are conveniently now in quite a tizzy about these " torture" methods being employed against vicious known terrorists at Guantanamo. How is it that these interrogation methods are inhumane for terrorists but the treatment Mr. Demjanjuk has already received with far less compelling evidence against him does not spark even one voice of outrage amongst the enlightened and oh so morally superior Liberons / Dumbasses / Democrats? In thirty years when the shoe may very well be on the other foot do any of you think Ms. Pelosi and her ilk will relish the idea of being judged by the mullahs of Iran or Saudi Arabia or worse even still a now dominant Al Qaeda? I think we all know that a beheading would be in their immediate futures. How is it that " the attention grab " method of interrogation which leaves no permanent damage and at best is nothing more than a major pain in the ass for the recipient is considered " torture " by these folks but forcibly removing a 90 year old man from his home of 50 years to stand trial in a foreign country for a crime the evidence of which leaves a reasonable doubt is not considered torture? These people are shameless. They should be held accountable by the same standards they hold everybody else accountable. Perhaps someday the Mullahs will get to do all of us Americans a favor.
With God's judgment so close at hand for Mr. Demjanjuk is it really necessary for humanity to be screaming for the blood of a 90 year old man?
This is nothing more than yet another example of the perceived aggrieved seeking their pound of flesh.
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One of the convenient features I have as owner of this site is the ability to see who is visiting my site. I can tell you that I get many such visits. I can also tell you that from time to time I write about those visits. Today is one of those days.
A few days ago I had a visit from what I assume to be one of the two owners of a website called Beyond Black And White. With an intriguing name such as that I decided to pay them a visit. When arriving at their site the first thing you'll see is their eye catching and intriguing logo you see above. They had me hooked. I stayed for a prolonged visit. Now you've probably already figured out that this website has volumes to say about the relationship between the races. There is a great deal of focus on interracial dating , usually Black women with White men. Loving the Nubian Goddesses as much as the next guy I dove in headfirst and read a few articles. The one article , so far ,that caught my attention was titled " Jumping The Broom With A White Boy " by Chrystelyn D. Karazin who is as best as I can determine one of the owners of this blog.
This is a touching story of Ms. Karazin's difficulties in finding a Black soul mate for a husband and her awakening to the realization that she was limiting her choices by insisting on a Black man for the job. Ultimately Ms. Karazin falls in love with her Prince Charming who just happens to be Melanin Deficient. God does indeed work in mysterious ways. She goes on to speak about the difficulties they will face in the future as an interracial couple and about her experiences with some nasty White racists in her youth. This is a great story and extremely well written. I would highly recommend that you read it. There is however one fly in the ointment.
Speaking about the difficulties she and her husband will face in the future together and her hope that he will understand why certain racist behavior and words make her crazy she says the following : " When it was time to take the leap my palms slick with sweat , part of me was giddy with love and promise , the other , secret part, was full of fear and dread. I would begin a life with a man that had never known bald prejudice , never been called a name meant to humiliate and dehumanize him. He would have to understand why that word had so much power , how it could cause me to crumble into tears. He would have to toughen up to hear a few slurs of his own , now that he was going to be married to me."
I'm astounded that someone of Mrs. Karazin's age can believe that ANYBODY could go through life having " never been called a name meant to humiliate and dehumanize him." I have news for you Mrs. Karazin being called a honky is as demeaning to White people as being called a Nigger is to Black people. Being called a spic is as demeaning to Puerto Ricans as being called a nigger is to you. Being called a wetback is as demeaning to a Mexican as being called a nigger is to you. etc etc etc. Having the race card played against you every single time a White person has a political or social disagreement with a Black person because he thinks he sees The Shadow Of Jim Crow rearing it's ugly head is extremely dehumanizing and demeaning.The intent of the perpetrator is exactly the same in all instances. I'm astounded that someone of Mrs. Karazin's age could think that ANYBODY goes through life without facing " bald prejudice ". I have news for you Mrs. Karazin not getting a job or accepted into university that you richly deserve because you are White , male , female , Asian , chronologically advanced , from the wrong side of the tracks or a myriad of other reasons is as demeaning to those people as it would be to a Black person being denied solely because he /she was black. And the intent of the perpetrator of this act is always the same. I'm astounded that someone of Mrs. Karazin's age and current situation could view her Melanin Deficient husband as not tough enough and in need of hearing a few slurs in that regard. I would ask you Mrs. Karazin is there anybody more hated in modern American society than the White man? Your husband goes out into that world everyday and faces that hate and deals with it effectively. At the end of the day he comes home to you and loves you for who you are. Mrs.Karazin if you truly believe that your husband had never in his life heard a slur meant to dehumanize and humiliate him you are naive to the point of being dangerous. The truth be told Mrs. Karazin your husband is a man of great courage and patience. He goes into that hateful world every day and deals with it for his family and he married a strong capable Black woman. Tell me Mrs. Karazin what does he have to do to convince you? Speaking quite frankly Mrs. Karazin I think you need to do a lot of soul searching about your worldview. Perhaps it's time to focus on and accentuate your humanity instead of your " Blackness ". I also think you owe your husband a profuse apology. After the apology a night of wild passionate abandon is probably in order. Just joking about that Mrs. Karazin.lol
Why is it that the victims of such vile racism are usually so dismissive of other people's pain and experiences? Shouldn't these be the very people that understand other people's similar pain and experiences the best? Is their dismissal of other people's pain and experiences based in arrogance ,ignorance or naivete ? I don't pretend to know the answer to the first question . I'll just file it as " a question for the ages ". I do know that this phenomenon is not exclusive to Black people. I have a theory about the second question. I think that depending on the circumstances of the pain / experience and the identity of the perpetrator it could be any of the three. I'll leave it to the reader to reach his own conclusions in the examples I've discussed.
As most of you know by now I have been teaching at Chinese universities for the last ten years. In a few minutes I will have a question to ask you and some observations to make. Before I ask you that question and make those observations I want you to keep in mind that my students range in age from 18 - 24 . Now for my question. Can anybody tell me what similarly aged Japanese people have done to China? The vast majority of Chinese people have a vile hatred of the Japanese based in past history . The Chinese hate what the Japanese people of THAT time did to China in the pre - WW 2 Era. They also hate that Japan won't acknowledge their past history and apologize and that the Japanese Prime Minister visits their shrine to their war dead every year. They are very vocal about this hatred and they don't care who hears them, how ignorant it makes them sound or what anybody thinks of them for their vocalization of this hatred. Now when I try to explain why the Japanese are like they are they intensely hate me. Well I'm American so this does not scare me or intimidate me. Actually it pisses me off to the max. No amount of explaining to them that the more they pressure Japan about this the less likely they are to get what they want helps them understand. The more they vandalize Japanese property in China the less likely they are to get what they want . They more they bitch about the Japanese Prime Minister paying his respects to his country's war dead the less likely they are to get what they want . It never occurs to them that ALL countries including their own honor their war dead in a similar manner. All of this goes to no avail. They continue in their disgusting ways. Not to worry though I have a plan. These little fuckwits are going to learn something if it kills them and gives me high blood pressure and migraines which it usually does. I change my tactics.
I ask them " Do you think you Chinese are the ONLY ones that suffered at the hands of the Japanese ? " The vast majority of them do indeed think that since they do not get educated otherwise. The Chinese government you see is ONLY concerned with China and Chinese suffering. Some of the smarter ones do know the true story though. They are the ones you see beginning to change their attitudes. I remind them of all the other people that suffered at the hands of the Japanese. The S. Koreans , The Thais, The Filipinos , The Malays , The British , The Aussies , the Americans ad infinitum. Well I ask what do you have to say about their suffering? What do you have to say about those people forgiving the Japanese and moving on? Now you can really see the smart ones thinking about this and giving it some serious consideration. The fuckwits however still remain fucktwitted. And now being an American and knowing of those bodies of American service men lying at the bottom of Pearl Harbor I get really angry with them and berate them loudly and publicly about their ignorance and arrogance. Now their hatred of me equals that of their hatred of the Japanese. "But teacher you don't understand what they did to us." Can you believe this arrogance that a 20 year old Chinese kid would say this to someone who's father fought the Japanese in China to keep the Chinese free? I remind them that if it weren't for the Americans with the help of all those other folks mentioned above the class they are currently sitting in would be being taught in Japanese. At this point the hatred of me is do thick that you could cut it with a knife. Trust me when I tell you folks that the line of people that want a piece of me is a long one and distinguished by their infamy. You don't really think I'm concerned about these little fuckwit Chinese students do you? They need to hear the truth!! Guess who is going to tell them? lol Pay attention I was of the last generation that actually received a good education from the American school system. You're about to see what your long ago spent tax dollars bought you.
For the next four weeks these little fuckwit's assignments are to give talks on the following topics : " The Tuskeegee Airman " " The Navajo Code Talkers " " the movies " Pearl Harbor " " King Rat " " Tora !! Tora !! Tora !! " The Telemark Raids " and " The Flying Tigers " FDR's " Day Of Infamy " speech and the famous quote from the Japanese Admiral about awakening the sleeping giant. I also remind them quite forcefully about what happened to Japan at the end of the war lest any of them are entertaining any nasty ideas for the future. At the conclusion of this four weeks of study the smart kids come to me and thank me for what I've done for them and tell me now they understand. I've won!! And the fuckwits well they will ALWAYS be fuckwits. It's enough for me that I tortured them with their own stupidity for four weeks. I've won again. I do remain hopeful though that maybe some of what I've taught these dumbasses will sink in eventually and they will have a change of attitude. I just can't fight my Christian outlook I guess.
Why is it that once again the victim,the Chinese in this case , who should know better considering their own past experiences are so willing to humiliate and demean people who had nothing to do with what happened to them? I guess in this case the concept of " the son is not responsible for the sins of the father escapes them. This is not really surprising since the vast majority of the Chinese have no religious tradition. And the intent of the perpetrator is always the same. How refreshing it would be to hear the Chinese speak of other people's suffering at the hands of the Japanese instead of always and only focusing on their own. How refreshing it would be to hear a thank you to the people that got the Japanese out of China. Don't hold your breath waiting for the Chinese to do either of those things.
Why is it that whenever Jewish people speak of the Shoah they only speak of the atrocities the Germans committed against the Jews? Shouldn't the people that lost six million of it's own be the ideal spokespeople for all the Christians , Poles , Russians , Czechs , Communists , trade unionists , Gays , Gypsies etc etc ? I've never heard any mention of these victims when a Jewish person talks about the Shoah. Have you? Why is it that young Germans of today are constantly berated with " their " Nazi past? I don't think this is constructive. Do you? How is it that the people that lost six million of their own in a genocide are such willing practitioners of the blood commerce of the biggest genocide in human history? Shouldn't they know better?
Once again in this case ONLY the victims of this experience have pain that matters. And the intent of the perpetrator is always the same. How refreshing it would be to hear Jewish people speak of the other victims of the Shoah.How refreshing it would be to hear a thank you to the people that put a stop to this genocide? How refreshing it would be to see the Jews leading the fight against abortion. Who would be more qualified to lead that battle?
When I was a young man at the height of the Civil Rights movement I can remember watching an interview with a Black singer on T.V. Now keep in mind that at this time it was still fairly rare to see Black people on T.V. This program was about Civil Rights in America .The interviewer asked this Black lady the following question. " Would you prefer to be called Negro or Black. " I thought then and I think now that this young woman had a great answer that eliminates all the bullshit and cuts to the heart of the matter." My name is Gerry. Please just call me that." Perhaps when we can all just call each other Christelyn or Paul or Hans or Ding Ye or Keiko all of this foolishness will end and we will indeed be able to move beyond Black and White and Yellow and Red and Brown. The time for everybody to stop trumpeting their own particular group's pain and experiences at the expense of their humanity is long past due.
I wish you all the best in your marriage Mrs. Karazin
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