Racism Is Over!

I want to draw attention to the Republican Party’s official Twitter account’s tale of Rosa Parks helping to end racism. They followed with another tweet hours later saying that her efforts helped continue the fight against racism. Why they chose to not just remove the silly tweet and redo it with a better explanation, I’ll never know. Oh, wait, I do.

The Grand Old Party (GOP) was trolling us on Sunday morning instead of worshiping the Lord during that time. They also lied, so, you know, God was not at all pleased. Racism is over? Really, GOP? I can’t even with this. Racism has ended. Let’s celebrate! Except not. Look at the following stories and be the judge.

(Sidenote: Twitter developed #RacismEndedWhen as a clever hit back at the GOP for this ridiculous tweet. The hashtag revealed examples of modern-day racism, alive and well, thus disproving the GOP’s notion that racism is a long-forgotten American pastime.)

Three black teens were arrested for disorderly conduct. Police said there were problems with loitering in that area, but they were awaiting a bus to pick them up. They play basketball and their coach even came and tried to stop the cop from arresting them for “disorderly conduct” and loitering, but the cop refused to listen to the adult who explained that they were all waiting for a bus.

Now, in this next story, I couldn’t believe what the police officer was saying to this girl’s parents in another state. Thirteen year-old Landry (cool first name) Thompson was in Houston, Texas, with her legally authorized dance-instructor guardians. They were spotted in a car asleep and a police officer woke them up, arrested the two dance instructors (black men), Emmanuel Hurd (29) and Josiah Kelly (22). They were in town to dance with Chachi Gonzales (a well-known hip-hop dancer) at Planet Funk Academy. Landry’s mother had given the instructors the necessary forms to prove that they were Landry’s guardians while she was away from home.

What gets me most in this story is what the police officer is alleged to have said to Landry’s mother (in Oklahoma) once he talked to her on the phone at the scene. Per Destiny Thompson, Landry’s mother:

“He got on the phone and he said, ‘Are you aware your daughter is in Houston, Texas, with two black men?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am aware of that,'” Destiny Thompson told ABCNews.com. “Then he started mumbling stuff about my parenting, why I would let her do that and then he proceeded to tell me the people she was with were intoxicated or on something.”

Yo…WHAT?! o__O “Are you aware your daughter is in Houston with two black men? You’re an unfit mother!”

Oh, and catch THIS gem from the cop to the instructors:

“Sir, you’ve got to understand, you two men are black and she’s white.”

Again – o_______O

Is this 1954 Mississippi?! I don’t know what we need to do to convince racist people that we’re all equal and that just because you’re white and/or have power, that does not make you unique or special because of the color of your skin or your access to things in life. Where are the conscious privileged people who can use that privilege to help fix this broken social system?

So, GOP, racism clearly is not over, no matter how much you’d like to think it is, or lie to America that it is over, and that anyone who claims racial discrimination is using it as a cop-out for lazy behavior. What’s really lazy is denying that racism still exists since it’s no longer enshrined in law or that it’s greatly diminished and isn’t more insidious and hidden. I’d really appreciate it if Republicans would stop being lazy on social issues like this in order to preserve their increasingly tenuous hold on power and influence.

The brown people are a-coming. You’ve got about 37 years left.

Do you think that the GOP is right? Is racism over? Am I right in that it’s just changed tactics on how it’s implemented?

Tags: featured, GOP, Politics, Race, Racism, Racist, Republicans, Rosa Parks

Category: Conservatives, Politics