White Supremacy

With the number of attacks going up because of white supremacy, I feel I should write a few things on my mind. First white supremacy is nothing but white ISIS/al-kaida or simply a group of terrorists. They are just white - that's all. Their leaders are equivalent to Osama bin Laden, plain and simple.

These white supremacy groups sadly are not recognized by American government (or I think any other government) as terrorist groups because these governments are generally also white. Their attacks are also not called terrorist attacks. They are classified differently. Why? Again white supporting white?

In my opinion any race/religion that kills any other one is not "superior" - they just have more weapons and they cause terror in people's lives. So the main culprit here really are the weapon makers. They provide a means for these delusional people to go out and kill innocent people.

When I look at some of these white supremacist terrorists who are caught or shown in videos parading etc., there is nothing they are saying or doing that makes them superior. Just because you are white does not make you superior. Look at what you are doing - your actions are what make you superior. If you are not doing good for the society then you are not a good person. I know the white supremacist thinks they are doing good for their white people - but how? That is not clear to me.

In my opinion, wherever the white people have gone, they have caused only death and misery to that host country. They have killed indigenous people and caused them to become a minority in their own country, they have looted countries, they have displaced people by taking them as slaves.  They have forced indigenous people to change their religion, way of life and education. This has happened in African continent, Asian continent and in the South American continent. How much more damage are they going to cause? And now they think they are being suppressed? What a whole lot of BS.

The whole reason behind Brexit has been also the increased immigration into Britain. So British can go anywhere and invade but no one should come into Britain?? Also, why would anyone come there if there were no jobs in Britain. Which then means that the British did not want to do the jobs that the immigrants took. Same thing is happening in USA. The "white" Americans don't want to do certain jobs so they hire cheap labor from other countries and then they cry that their jobs are being taken away.

When I went through the green card process, my job had to be advertised and made sure that no American applicant was qualified for the job. And no one was! It means Americans are not qualified to do intellectual jobs, but they also don't want to do the non-intellectual ones. What do they want? The government to keep giving them money? If not, then get out there and work. There is always work for anyone who wants to work.

Back to white supremacy. This will not go away any time soon. Until the whites acknowledge that America is not theirs alone, it was founded on immigration. It really belongs to the natives who were here before the whites stepped on the continent and decided to decimate the natives. If they want a "white" country, maybe they should go back to Britain or Ireland or wherever they came from.

Mustard Seed - Book Review

I never expected an author with the last name Ibrahim to write about something so American so white and so historical about America.

I am really glad I picked up this book to read. It was very nicely written with authenticity to historical facts. The story is about these two families, one white one black connected through a slavery past and connected again 20 years later through freedom.

The story is written from the perspective of two young women, one black and one white, both with very different vision of their future from their older generation. I don’t want to write the whole story but I do want to make some observations:

·        The next generation can choose to be different, if they want to. But it takes a lot of courage to break tradition. I am not saying the cowards choose to stay in the older culture, I think they find security in it. They like carrying out traditions and their family history, no matter how awful it was. But again, to them it is not awful because it is their “family” history.

·        One should learn history. Without history there is no future. Our present is based on our past and if we don’t know what that is, then how do we grow?  We will keep repeating the mistakes of our past.

·        Some things are inherently bad, no matter which century or culture one lives in. For e.g. stealing – always wrong to take something that does not belong to you. Slavery, in context of this book, will always be bad. If you need people to work for you, then you pay them for the work. they will be your employees. And if you treat them properly they will always work for you. But greediness is one of the causes of slavery.  The other is denigrating another person.

·        There is nothing that love will not conquer. Some people are definitely born evil, but there are a number of people who’s lives would change if they got love and compassion from family and friends. This is one reason I despise bullies. They create an environment to create evil just like what they themselves are.

I did not know much about slavery before coming to USA. But then I saw Mississippi Burning, the movie, and it showed me a side of America I had not imagined. And now with Trump in the White House, I see America burning everywhere. I have never felt so brown in my life!

I don’t like watching or reading anything about slavery, but reading about it me gives me more perspective on who these Americans are that I now call my fellow citizens. (It took me more than two years to get myself to watch 12 Years s Slave and it really bothered me that people can be so evil.) All the Americans I had met were hospitable and friendly in Toledo, Buffalo, Missouri.  I could not even imagine they had a racist bone in them. My PhD boss, a British guy, was racist, but it did not affect me so much personally and our research group was quite diverse so a number of things got absorbed or ignored.

In Virginia I could feel the racism from my students, and I had a hard time accepting that any white American could be this way. I left Virginia very soon. But since then I have read some books and watched movies on the slavery issue, mostly fiction. All of the stories are drawn from nonfiction, of course. The atmosphere in America has also changed a lot since Obama became the first black president.  All the racists started coming out and now with Trump in office they are all out. I now find it incredibly hypocritical of Americans talking about not letting immigrants come into their country, when essentially that is what they all are.

I don’t think I even want to venture into reading about the Native’s history or it will make me even more mad. I have seen a couple movies and I some books and that also make me super mad! Some of the whites think that the world belongs to them and they can treat people however they want. The sad thing is they have been getting away with it too!

Back to the book, it was really well written with all the pain and helplessness one feels in certain situations. The best part of the book was the positives in the book despite all the miserable happenings. The two young women were strong in character and ultimately came through for each other.

Hating the Government and the Whiteness in USA

I was thinking about why some people in USA hate the US government so much.  Then I thought about how this country came into being. There were no rules, regulations or impositions. One could go wherever anyone wanted, shoot and kill whoever they thought was trespassing on their land or for whatever reason and no one would question them.  And Maybe people would fear them for it and they could easily rule that place.  That is what all the western movies are about which are so popular?

Of course what all those initial immigrants were not counting on was that there would be more immigrants.  This all then leads to having a social structure, law and order that they would have to abide by.  Slavery in the early days was a result of unchecked morals and greed.  Even slavery took a long time to be abolished because the initial government was from the same initial white immigrants. In my opinion there is no moral high ground for slavery in any era.

With the election of Obama, the first black president (and this is when he is only half black!!), nomination of Trump as a presidential candidate now the acquittal of the Oregon wildlife occupiers that “western” mentality is coming back.  One just wants to do whatever they want and government should just butt out of it.  Well…they don’t believe in government when they need to obey rules and pay taxes but they will believe in government when they want their medicare and medicaid!! How does this work??

Why is it that these “militia” was let off without any verdict whereas the Native Indians who are fighting for their natural resources, water, are being treated like criminals.  Double standards are everywhere all the time in USA. If Obama had been even 1% of what Trump is as a candidate he would have been vilified. Even Hillary, despite being white, would have been vilified! But Trump is excused all behaviour and people actually defend it. How?? It really is great to be white in America and that’s what all these white supremacy groups want….their white America back!  It’s a scary thought.

Any country that excludes because of religion will not survive.  Any country that is formed on the basis of religion or class or color will not survive. Diversity is a natural phenomenon.  Anyone who does not embrace it will become extinct.  I think humanity is getting there…..

Right now I am just blown away by the racism that is so alive in this day and age in America.