The Governor of Louisiana blamed racial inequality because minorities won't assimilate. Okay, Bobby I see you. Yet another person trying to tell Black and Brown people to assimilate into the main stream culture, while pointing at Martin Luther King to set an example, except this one has a brown face, so I guess it's okay, right? For those who didn't see this coming, or those who don't know exactly what I'm about to talk about, lets take a closer look at why his comment and others like it (regardless of the color of the person that says this kind of stuff) sounds like the same paternalistic patronizing tripe that North America continues to feed to it's citizens and those abroad:
1. The historically bad treatment of Blacks in North America
For those who haven't looked into American History, one can plainly see that Blacks were treated very very poorly, especially after the slaves were set free (read as let go). During these times, Blacks tried their hardest to assimilate and create new lives for themselves. They created schools, churches, stores and various other businesses. During the 1920s, A lot of Blacks were doing pretty well for themselves, until somebody somewhere decided otherwise. Granted there were some who were struggling, but it's what to expect when you analyse any cross sections of a population regardless of where and who is being examined. Some folks were trying to go along to get along, and that didn't go so well. Enter Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr here.
Since folks want to have the benefit of propping up Martin Luther King Jr and his most famous speech when ever they see fit, why don't they take a step back and look at what happened with him. As mentioned in my other blogs, he was shot. This was an educated Black man who 'spoke very well' (whatever that means) and dressed respectable. He never wore a hoodie, or any so called "non respectable" clothing. He was eloquent, clean shaven and quite handsome if I do say so myself. He dressed like everyone during his day, and so did a lot of people all across the country. He was still killed. Dare I say that he was killed for not assimilating?
Rosa Parks was a beautiful woman who carried herself well, and spoke as such. Both Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa attended church regularly. Rosa was not shot, but she had been arrested for not conforming, like Martin Luther King Jr. Dare I say that she was arrested for not assimilating?
Countless Black people were either arrested or out right killed. For Example, Emmitt Till was killed for whistling at a White woman. Dare I say he was killed for not assimilating? Medgar Evers was killed as well. Was it because he wouldn't assimilate either?
2. Today
We have Black millionaires who have gone above and beyond in proving they can make it. Oprah Winfrey is a great example of that, but why did she experience bad treatment in Zurich while shopping? Why did the clerk lie about what happened? Paul Mooney has expressed his feelings on proper treatment as well, and so has Michael Eric Dyson on catching a cab in New York City while wearing his suit and tie. Henry Louis Gates, a professor at Cambridge University(for crying out loud) was arrested because someone in his neighborhood thought he was trying to break into his own home. These people are classified as highly educated, and have assimilated. Why did these things happen to them?
There was a case mentioned previously in my blog regarding a man who was mistaken for a burglar by his neighbor, causing him to get shot by the police. He had assimilated, according to the so called standards set by Bobby Jindal. Why was he shot ?
Let's move on to the "melting pot" idea.
Take a look at each of these cases mentioned above. Honestly, I don't think there ever was such an ideology that was practiced in this country. The Black people mentioned above were completely assimilated, and bad things happened to them. People will argue and say, "That was a long time ago. Quit bringing up the past.", in reference to most of those posts. The comments on the most recent incidents would play out like the following, "They were overreacting and crying racism. I'm so sick and tired of hearing Black people cry and whine about this stuff. They are always the victim, and need to stop the victim or poor me mentality and Get over it already." To them I say, "Explain this incident then. This article mentions that a server in a South Carolina restaurant named Wild Wings Cafe denied service to a party of twenty five Black people because one White patron felt uncomfortable.
Now I'm sure there are people saying ? What? Really? These people chose to keep one patron happy vs asking the uncomfortable person to leave so the bigger party could provide more money for the establishment is a "dead giveaway" (in my Charles Ramsey voice). Who in their right mind would do such a thing? It is just bad business plain and simple. However the interesting thing about it is that I am not surprised. Restaurants have the tendency to have the most racist folks running them sometimes. Were these people assimilated? I mean, they chose to eat at a homogeneous American restaurant right? They like the same food as the uncomfortable patron, so I guess that counts for something according to Mr Jindal. These tactics were popular for a long time, especially in the south, but they still happen all over the country in one way or another. Why? The same can be applied to Oprah's situation where the clerk said Oprah was a liar. Who in their right mind would miss out on obtaining such an astronomical commission? Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't.
Since he wants to worry about people being too attached to their heritage, maybe he should start with the gun toting turbo Christian right wing people who secretly and not so secretly wish the south would rise again. Maybe he should talk to those who don kilts, play bagpipes or engage in Renaissance fairs because some aspects of it may be part of their heritage. Maybe he should go after those who wear or keep early European artifacts due to their family tree being traced back to the war involving (insert European group here) in the year 600 AD. After all, that's waaaay before slavery in the Americas started, so maybe they should get over it and stop trying to be something they clearly aren't. Surely, they would have decided to call themselves American by now, I mean, why don't they stop parading around in archaic European garb and join the twenty first century. Maybe they ought to stop pretending to be Irish on St. Patrick's day, or getting shamrock tattoos on their person. Maybe he should talk to those who are hell bent on being cowboys, and embracing so called "redneck" culture. Maybe they should stop naming their kids Seamus, Sean, Riley, or any other ethnic name because they are American, right? I guess that's why Mr Jindal changed his first name to "Bobby". That's saying something because this guy comes from India, a country that was occupied by the British for so long that the effects are still there after they left. That being said, it seems that when it comes to being Black or Brown in this country, everybody wants 'those people' to erase their heritage and as long as they are White, they are free to explore their heritage to their hearts content.
Some 'melting pot,' huh? << Get The Fuck Outta Here With That Bullshit.
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