I am white.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like being labelled white or even Caucasian. But because I\u2019m in the race majority for the time being (though this is supposed to change sometime in the next fifteen years and whites will be in the minority), <\/i>I carry a burden. In the U.S. we still have never made it past the race issue.\u00a0 When my forbears came to this country in the early 1900\u2019s, they were labeled dumb Pollacks. That wasn\u2019t nice; the Polish worked hard, taking menial labor in the coal mines and working three jobs to make life easier for their children.<\/p>\n
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This is where I get upset.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to be respectful since I am a guest of AR. I don\u2019t understand why black people (and hey, I have two half black nephews, so I am not racist) <\/i>are frequently changing what white people are supposed to call them. Colored? Not anymore. African American? The label du jour. But I know a lot of black people who are not from Africa and they resent the label. Asians don\u2019t seem to be too upset about being called…. Asian.\u00a0 Native Americans used to be Indians, but I don\u2019t get the same sense of them having a chip on their shoulder about being or being called Native Americans.\u00a0 Hispanics?\u00a0 They deal with their label, too.<\/p>\n
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Where am I going with this? Well, as a white person, I wonder why African Americans have their own television network and awards program. When whites become the minority in the U.S. \u2014 and in 2012 white babies born in the U.S were in the minority, and whites are projected to be in the minority by 2043 \u2014 I don\u2019t think we will have the white equivalent of the NAACP. I don\u2019t foresee whites getting that coveted college scholarship or reduction in tuition because they will be the minority. The Hispanics do have their own TV shows, but I don\u2019t see them pushing their agenda, which is equality, I think. Maybe superiority?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
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Because, if you ask me, we are all equal.\u00a0 All races.\u00a0 We now have a black president.\u00a0 I never voted based on race, so the black president thing isn\u2019t about Obama being half white and half black. But a lot of people make it about that very thing.\u00a0 Which then diminishes the equality of the situation.<\/p>\n
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I didn\u2019t like when Obama chimed in about the George Zimmerman trial saying Trayvon was an African American (true)<\/i> killed by a white person (not true)<\/i>. Zimmerman is half Hispanic. There they go again, making it about race. It isn\u2019t. If I see a white teen walking around with his hoodie pulled up, a part of me becomes watchful. He could be any color and my guard might go up. To me, this was not about race.\u00a0 But some made it about race… again.<\/p>\n
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One more thing.\u00a0 If black people ever say they want reparations for their ancestors being slaves, I am opting out.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a slave. My ancestors didn\u2019t have slaves either. They were dirt poor, eking out an existence in Eastern Europe.\u00a0 Which is why they made the trip to America. If anything, I want reparations for my ancestors being labeled dumb and being treated like dirt. That hurts me that my forebears were labeled and treated poorly by other people\u2019s ancestors in America.<\/p>\n
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See where this leads? To craziness. Race is not an issue anymore.\u00a0 Black people are afforded the same opportunities as any other race in America.\u00a0 We all have to work hard and grasp for that brass ring if we want to make it here. So please, stop talking about race and start exerting your energies toward making your world better. But if we\u2019re going to continue this tedious discussion about race and what different races need and demand, then you need to call me what I am.\u00a0 An Eastern European American.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s to not having to check a box on forms stating our race. Here\u2019s to equality for all.<\/p>\n
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Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n
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Respectfully,<\/p>\n
DEE<\/p>\n
I am white.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like being labelled white or even Caucasian. But because I\u2019m in the race majority for the time being (though this is supposed to change sometime in the next fifteen years and whites will be in the minority), I carry a burden. In the U.S. we still have never made it … <\/p>\n