I myself was at one point in my teens, a xenophobic, irrational and angry kid that really wasn't all that interested in being around anyone that wasn't exactly like myself. I wasn't outwardly aggressive nor targeted my ignorance at any one particular group. I was an equal-opportunity jerk. I didn't like anybody and used diversity as some sort of reasoning. But nothing changes that in a hurry like being thrown into an urban college environment, surrounded by a little bit of everyone out there in your late teens. One learns in a hurry and I was no exception.
Looking back now, I still an unable to pinpoint any logical reasoning for my having been that way. My family, whom I spent most of time around as a kid, didn't have a bigotted soul amongst them. For whatever it was inside of me, adulthood and cultural diversity successfully exorcised it from me. And good riddance. I don't like who I was back then and I don't like being reminded of it. Unfortunately however, unless one buries his head in the sand, it is impossible to completely avoid hearing the rhetoric of divisive people on the news; people that never had that awakening moment in their youth; people who have only amplifed their intolerance and hatred toward others as they've grown older.
Case in point; Al Sharpton. (I won't give him the pleasure of using the title "Reverend")
It struck me this morning that with all of the people I have known in my life, I can't say I can think of one that looks up to nor admires Al Sharpton in any way; at least not to my knowledge. I suppose I can begin taking a poll among them but I'm not expecting to get much more than "he's an idiot" to various eye-rolling responses. Who in the heck anoints a racist jerk like him as a "Reverend" or worse, a "Civil Rights Leader"? Dr. Martin Luther King was a "Civil Rights Leader". Giving Sharpton the same title is a vulgar attempt to group them into a common category. I can think of fewer ways to desecrate the memory of a great man like MLK. Sharpton is a self-absorbed, evil, power-hungry racist with a fetish for destruction and who has directly caused multiple innocent deaths in his lifetime. If the media didn't recklessly lunge at every opportunity to stick a microphone in his face every time he opened his mouth and if certain politicians didn't pounce at every chance to grab a random photo-op with him, the rest of the world might finally turn its collective backs on a person like him, who tries to divide the majority of us who are busy remaining united. But I suppose the media stands to make plenty of ratings-money by legitimizing his relevance. And I can only assume that many politicians feel they improve their electability by palling around with him. The rest of us want nothing to do with him. Many innocent people have died as a result of his mouth. Feel free to Google "Yankel Rosenbaum" and "Freddy's Fashion Mart" for a start. And who can forget the Tawana Brawley story? For those of you in your twenties, I'd read up on that one too. It gives you a little background on his ultimate agenda and how he responds when his stories come crashing down. It also shows the extreme danger that comes when mobs of mislead angry people decide to follow him while naively taking every word from his mouth as God speak.
As a society, we've come a long distance in the last half century in terms of how we accept the superficial differences in one another. The sad truth is that much of that progress can be easily rolled back in a relatively short period of time by the irresponsible actions of a few if too many people begin to follow them. From now on, when I see him on TV, I will immediately change the channel. If his voice is on the radio, I will change the station. If I see him on the internet, I'll close the browser window. I can only hope others do the same. Stop legitimizing people like Al Sharpton.
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