By way of explanation....
A gentleman(I use the term loosely) from our community wrote a letter to our local newspaper about our recent elections. First our City Manager appointed a black man as our new Chief of Police. Second in a run off for Sheriff there were two gentleman, Wyles and Leon running. Wyles (who use to be our Chief of Police, and a very good one) won the run off. Third we live in a community that is about 80% Hispanic. The man in question is Hispanic and in his letter he berates our Hispanic community for not supporting "their own kind". The following is Andy's response to his racism. His letter appeared in the El Paso Times on Friday April 25th.
Kudos to Mr. Nick Valenzuela for reminding us all that evolution is a very slow process. His racist ranting concerning our Democratic candidate for sheriff and the new chief of police are a sad commentary on how very little we as a society have progressed in our views of the human race.
He raves about Hispanics not having "faith in their own race," and how these selections are tragic because the Hispanics of this city did not vote for their own kind.
Their own kind? Why does skin tone have anything to do with one's ability to represent and serve one's community?
By Mr. Valenzuela's logic, I, and all my white American brethren, should vehemently oppose the campaign of Barack Obama. After all, most of America is white, which means Obama is not "one of us," and therefore could not possibly represent our best interests.
It's this kind of thinking that led to such marvelous historical events as slavery and the Holocaust.
Sadly, some people are shameful examples of how little we have grown in our thinking about race on the planet.
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4 comments:
I certainly wish more people like your son exist. I know I'm sick and tired of the whole race thing. Being Latin myself I'm automatically subject to certain predispositions (like my temper) but that should not be a prerequisite for anything other than what color my hair is and what my kids might look like in the future if I had any. I'm proud that he stood up for ALL of us not just a certain demographic. If people stop thinking in terms of race we'd be a lot better off.. unfortunately people are going to have to grow up and give up century old traditions of hatred.
Thanks Elsie. And I am glad to say that he is not the only one. Our paper has run 1 or 2 letters a day from people chastizing this man for what he wrote. Most of the letters come from "his own kind". They print your name and I am sure the man is taking alot of abuse.
Our next letter will have to be in my name and will be directed to a letter in the paper today. This man wants the US to boycott the Olympics. As much as I hate China's policies and don't know why they were given the games in the first place, a boycot will do nothing but rob young athletes of their chance to be Olympic champions.
Way to go Andy!!! :D
Sorry I'm late with my praise...
Great letter Andy! Way to go!!!
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