If you know me, you know that I am probably the least prejudice person on Earth. If you don't know me, you'll just have to take my word for it. Actually, today I discovered that I am a little prejudice. Who am I prejudice against? Stupid people.

I was watching TV yesterday and there was this woman on a news program--wait, I need to tell you that she is black...normally not an important point, but it plays a part in the story--who has written a book explaining why--get this--white people today owe black people (monitarily) for damages (emotional stress, repressing them, etc) that--are you ready for this??--OUR ANCESTORS INFLICTED!!

I've actually heard this issue being argued before, and, luckily, it wouldn't hold up in court (well...logic would say it wouldn't, but I'm sure the stupidity of the human race has spread to courts also). My question is this: how can you hold the people of the present responsable for what the people of the past have done? In that respect, all of the people who have decended from the original Quakers who fled England could sue those who have decended from the English folk of the mid-1600's for religious persecution. While they're doing that, I'm sure they could get them to reimburse them for the money they lost by leaving their lands behind to search for religious freedom.

Luckily, the loudmouth black lady was followed by a man who was actually blacker (blacker? ::shrug:: Well, his skin was about ten shades darker than hers, so he was, in fact, "blacker") than she was. This man became my hero for the week when he basically told the crazy lady that she was...well, crazy. He told her that she was trying to turn back the clock instead of letting life in America go on with no one owing anyone anything. He summed up by telling her that if she was not happy here with a bunch of white people who aren't going to give her a dime, to "haul [her] ass back to Africa". I was ready to give the man a standing ovation from my seat in my living room.

When he told her that, it made me think of something David Alan Grier said about the slaves who were brought to America: "I didn't see the Africans fighting too hard to get us back!"

I also hate how people get so uptight about their race. We will never move forward if we don't knock all this "race" stuff off. I don't get offended when someone calls me "white" (come on, let's face it...I'm about as white as people come...I can't even get a tan in my wildest dreams). There are some people who get so offended when they are referred to as "black". "We're AFRICAN AMERICAN!" I know some actual African Americans. People who were born in Africa and had to learn a whole other language and way of life when they decided to move to the United States. If we're going to nit-pick, I'm "German American", not "white". ::sigh::

Okay....I'm going to end this craziness with a thought from Whoopie Goldberg: "I am American. We have worked far to hard to separate ourselves from anyone else in America by classifying ourselves as 'African Americans'. Drop the "African". We are all Americans."

8/22/02- Chris has decided to add on to my rant. Click here to see what she has to say on the matter.