If this ain't racism, tell me what is.

When it comes to race issues, white Americans want to be let off the hook far too easily. They wanna say that racism was in the past. That it's no more. But that's baloney. Racism still permeates American society. Underneath. Oh, it's less obvious. Less out in the open. We've never really become truly integrated. Black and white. Other ethnic groups have integrated. Italians. French. Germans. English. Swedes. Because they are all essentially white. But many whites are still leery of mixing with blacks. And to some extent, blacks may be cautious about trusting whites. And I can't blame the blacks. We whites have given them the shaft throughout the history of recent centuries. We claim that the blacks were freed after the Civil War. More bullshit. Blacks are still subjugated to some extent today. Heck, I know beyond a doubt that I wouldn't be as privileged as I am today if I were black. I'd be quite a different person. Because throughout my lifetime I would have been disadvantaged. Socially. Politically. Economically. And that would have had a long-term, lifelong effect on me. Yes, to this very day. But many of us honkies don't believe it. We're unable or unwilling to put ourselves in the shoes of a black person. Maybe because it would scare the hell out of us. Instead, we sit in our little lily white neighborhoods and proclaim black people can achieve any and everything. No problem. But there is a problem. And it's called unrecognized racism. In a sense, black people are still in shackles. They are at a disadvantage. Merely because they are black. And if that ain't racism -- well, then tell me what is. --Jim Broede