I was talking to a buddy last night about the large amount of "Happy Nigger Day" tweets I saw on Twitter on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.' Day and how the majority of tweets were from American kids of both European and African descent. When he asked me what I thought that was about, I said, "maybe our vision of equality is as old as we are."
Equality in America is a goal for many Americans and believe that many people have an idea of what that will look like.
It reminds me of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of Sith and the prophecy of the Chosen One. The prophecy said the Chosen One would come and restore balance to the Force. The Jedi knights believed the prophecy meant the elimination of the Dark side thus restoring balance to the Light Side of the Force. What actually happened was that the Chosen One helped Lord Sidious pull off the Great Jedi Purge leaving only two Jedi left. Two Jedi and two Dark Lords. Balance.
I find that the same thing is happening in America in terms of racial equality. We think of equality as being as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in the I have a dream speech a "day when all God’s children, black and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
And instead equality in America is more like the day when all God's children black and white, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic, get on their smartphones and tweet "Happy Nigger Day" in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and get retweets.
If I may be judgmental, it is ignorant, insensitive, and kind Anti-American as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the greatest Americans to ever live. However, I can see that it is equally ignorant, equally insensitive and equally disrespectful.
I am starting to think that we may have put so much energy in equality that we forgot about education and nationalism. At this rate, when equality arrives we will be stupid and Anti-American. But equally. Being judgmental, the tweets are ignorant and Anti-American as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the greatest Americans to ever live. However, I can see that it is equally ignorant and equally Anti-American.
And the response was as equal as the call. The tweets against the HND tweets crossed all the lines. Every race, religion, creed and sexual orientation seemed to be outraged by the initial tweets.
Maybe equality in America doesn’t mean a complete annihilation of the hate but rather balance. Maybe equality means that there are just as many lovers as there are haters.
Remember. No Always. No Never.
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