Out On A Limb

I'm just sitting here doing some housework and catching up on my O'Reilly Factors. I've watched a couple of installments today, but one segment just hit me pretty hard. I think this is important. Let me set things up a bit to diffuse the obvious comments that really are not relavent. Bill O was not hosting the show I was watching. John Casek was. Also the comments that I'm addressing were not made by the host.

Jazz singer Rene Marie was asked to sing the national anthem at this function in Denver. When she got up to sing, she sang a different song (same tune) having to do with black struggles. There has been some uproar in Denver over this. One of the guests on the Factor was Dr. Lamont Hill. His position over this is that it was no big deal and used the argument that if she had sung "God Bless America" it would have been the same thing - she didn't sing what she was supposed to sing. One of thre main arguments was that the song she sang, instead of uplifing America pointed the finger of oppression at it.

Here's my problem. First, if she didn't feel comfortable singing an American song as an American, she should have turned it down. Second, Dr. Hill did what he always does and that is to blather on about how oppressed blacks have always been in this country and we should just feel guilty and let them do everything they want, including giving them the best china of the table.

I've had it! Wrongs have been done and now the system is pretty equitable. Except blacks are always trying to use our past against us to stack the odds in their favor. I'm not wealthy and have my own share of struggles. I don't think of blacks, natives, asians, or anyone else as being inferior to me on the basis of their race. But I find it really hard to accept a black person as just another human being (colorless) while being constantly reminded of things done that no one in his family was around to experience.

This singer once told a crowd that as a black woman she has never really felt like an American. And Dr. Hill just keeps on defending this type of behavior and never sees that black people can be wrong too. He always argues on the side of the black in the conversation. He defended Rev. Wright, Al Sharpton, and many others no matter how divisive or outrageous their actions or words. And he is always ready to condemn whites in the reverse. He's just a yes-man for the African community and as such, I think he does a lot more harm than good.

I just get tired of hearing how bad the African-Americans have had it and still have it today, when most of their present problems such as crime and broken families are brought on themselves.

I do applaud Bill Cosby, Tyler Perry, and Shelby Steele who are in the fight to help African-Americans take responsibility for their own lives.