STICKS & STONES

I was a bit taken aback by a recent response to one of my posts on Facebook. I really wasn't surprised by the sentiment as the guy who posted the comment possesses an outlook that is diametrically opposed to mine when it comes to just about everything and, yet, through our work in the media, we have garnered a healthy respect for each other and have often been able to hold a civil conversation. We have even threatened to get together for a beer or two on a number of occasions. Recently, however, he posted something as a response to someone else who responded to a post of mine that I just can't seem to let go of. Let me try to explain: After the legislature in Arizona passed a law that allows, and almost seems encourage, discrimination against members of the LGBT community based on religious beliefs, I posted an opinion. This law will also allow discrimination against Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Atheists – basically anyone who is not a Christian, and let religious beliefs serve as the reason. My initial comment read, “I wonder how long it will be before members of the LGBT community will be forced to wear rainbow armbands so that those who choose to discriminate will know who to keep out. No armbands needed for people of color - they're obvious. As for non-Christians - Well, they can save money by distributing a few cases of used Star of David armbands that someone picked when visiting Germany a while back. When did the government in Arizona become the Fourth Reich? Honestly - this is exactly the kind of shit that people in MY family came here to escape - and this is just how it started!” I received quite a few comments including one from a friend in Texas who wrote, with tongue firmly embedded in cheek, “Finally a state with more rednecks per capita than Texas!” Well, that seemed to truly anger the guy who made the statement that this piece is about and, I knew he was pissed off when he made it. If fact it didn't take him long at all when he saw the “rednecks in Texas” observation to remark, “Liberals throw the redneck term so much, it is damn near racist... And some of us are getting kind of tired of it.” I am really very sorry to see that some of “you” are getting "kind of tired" of the term “redneck” which you see as being turned into something “damn near racist.” Probably about as "kind of tired" as I got of being called a “kike” and having rocks thrown at me by neighbors at about the age of 8. Or as "kind of tired" as I got of exclusion when I was told I couldn't pledge any of the fraternities on my college campus by the time I had reached 18. All frats and sororities on campus were “restricted.” Or as "kind of tired" as I got of being asked where my horns and tail were by some clown from Georgia (I hesitate to use the term redneck), who was dead serious and found a way to leave literature on my pillow, each night, warning me that I was bound for hell. I was all of 19. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we were both already in hell. It was called boot camp. Or as "kind of tired" as my parents got, while trying to buy a house in Connecticut, of all places, of being told that we weren't at all welcome nor allowed to buy in a number of areas. Or as "kind of tired" as my wife's extremely educated family got of being referred to as “niggers” and told they could not legally vote until the big, bad government stepped in in 1965 and gave them the ability to exercise the most basic of our rights, although, even in 2014, it's still made as difficult as possible. You see, pal, I do understand how you feel when you see the term redneck bandied about in such a cavalier way. I truly get it when you say that it's “damn near racist” to use the term. I might be a little more clear in my perception, however, if the terms I've had to deal with for my entire life hadn't far surpassed the “damn near racist” stage more than 60 years ago. The most ironic thing about his comment, however, was that it was a response to a friend who will be the first to use the term “Texas redneck” to describe himself. I suppose there might be a place in some minds that can find a modicum of racist implication in the term “redneck.” I'm just not sure where that could possibly be since the “art” of using the race of another as a way to hate, exclude and make life as miserable as possible for had to come from somewhere. When one group ranks others as inherently inferior and acts upon those beliefs to keep others down socially, economically, spiritually and institutionally and then gets called a name, I suppose I can "kind of" see their dilemma. What it all boils down to is the ironic fact that every single bit of this moronic nonsense could have been avoided if only the Samoset, the natives who were the first to encounter the pilgrims, had just had a tougher immigration policy.