I have a lot of pressure built up inside of me, a lot of steam I gotta blow – I have to vent (some might say rant, some might say attack). What exactly is it that I have to vent about??? Well, it is an issue that I wish would go away, but unfortunately, I doubt it ever will. The issue I am talking about is the very delicate and sensitive issue of racial relations in this country. The recent NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas saw 3 times more crime that weekend than on any other average weekend – and it was the most crime the city ever saw in that short span of time – over 300 arrests!! The raging debate in the media focuses on two sides: with black people or against black people. But the truth lies actually somewhere in between that. The main thing that frustrates me about any minority is that they often choose to act irresponsibly and then stiff-arm the responsibility of the consequences and effects. I don’t give a damn if a hundred racist rednecks tell you that what you did was wrong only simply because of your race – if what you did was truly wrong, then you were WRONG. We minorities in general should not give a flippin‘ two cents about what others think of us – we should determine the ethical and moral consequences of our own actions within our own minds. I think all minorities, especially black people, have to stop justifying their actions and/or defending their actions based on the views of others. I think that when minorities stop thinking that every negative issue has to deal with race, then they can truly progress as people. Let’s be truly honest, we can never progress race relations if we always choose to play the victim, if we always believe ourselves to be products of a racist environment and narrow-minded atmosphere. The only way to progress racially in this country is for people to STOP discussing race as a factor in events and issues. It is ok to be proud of where you are from and who you are, but do not let that make you a small, closed-minded person who can’t see outside the boundaries of your ethnic community.

If any minority says anything about their own race, truth or fiction, they are immediately hailed as the modern day Uncle Tom. Why is that?? Are we afraid of the truth??? It is just a newer, refined version of the Salem Witchcraft trial. Anyone who has a blunt opinion about his/her own race is immediately labeled an Uncle Tom, a person who loathes their own race, and ultimately a person who hates the very color of their skin and origin of his/her people. Sure, there are those that are exactly that – self-hating, small-minded Uncle Toms. But let us be fair when judging the masses. One man’s blunt opinion does not an Uncle Tom make. Sometimes the truth is harsh and abrasive – but at the end of the day, it is still the truth, whether you like to believe it or not. Truth be told, often that truth lies somewhere between fact and fiction. The All-Star game was the busiest weekend of crime in Vegas ever, but does that label the participants and fans of the All-Star game as thugs, pimps, ho’s (like Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star has written) or were there just some overzealous fans who got out of control?? The truth lies somewhere between the fact that the fans were honest and on their best behavior and that the fans were nothing but thugs and hooligans.

I think everything stems from the lack of morality, ethics, and values in the lower-income proportion of minorities. It is the uneducated and disenfranchised who primarily create the negative stereotypes that people associate with a certain race or ethnicity. That is why those very same people have to take a stand against themselves, their surroundings, and the way they have been raised. If you truly are the exception to the rule, then act like it. If you are one of the few who had every reason to do wrong, but does right, then act like it. Take a stand against others in your community who choose to fail because of their circumstances, not succeed and overcome IN SPITE of their circumstances. Why would you attack another person unlawfully and irresponsibly if you knew that was wrong??? Why would you glorify money, sex, and drugs if you had any sense of morality?? Where is God in all this??? If God exists in the hoods and slums all throughout the world, why are so many more people in the lower-income neighborhoods doing immoral things?? I understand that conditions there are much harsher and much more difficult. But once again, when does personal accountability come into effect??? The worst thing is that immorality is being glorified more now than ever – by rappers, by entertainers, and even by athletes. The line between good and bad is becoming blurred for more and more Americans. So, that was my vent, my opinion on a sensitive issue that people are afraid to honestly and openly discuss.