Things I am not ashamed of

Contrary to many of my countrymen and peers...

The conquering and almost complete destruction of the Native American culture.

Slavery.

Past Racism.

Imperialism.

McCarthyism.

The Cold War.

These events were all very bad. Had I taken part in any of them, I couldn't live with myself. But, I refuse to take part in selfbashing because of sins of the father.

Reply to pingouin:

I am an Irish Scot. Half my family came to America because of the potato famine. When they arrived, they were forbidden from working in many places. "Irish need not Apply." That was in the middle of the 1800s. The other half were forcibly removed from ancestral lands on the Isle of Skye and shipped with less than a days notice to Nova Scotia. My grandfather's brother was shot in the head when he wouldn't get on the boat. My great grandmother and great grandfather died on the way over. This happened at the turn of the century. All they had was the clothes on their backs. That seems to have happened a lot more recently than slavery was ended. I am I pissed at the English all the time? Should Englishmen give me money because my grandmother and grandfather were abused? Should I be compensated or pitied because there was widespread prejudice against Irishmen 3 generations ago? No, at least in most people's eyes, including mine. I am against affirmative action, and I don't feel guilty about what Americans did in the past. I will not repeat what was done. However, none of the black guys I know were slaves. Few were alive for segregation (I am 18 years old).

Blacks were enslaved (actually, they were initially enslaved by their countrymen and members of enemy tribes and then sold to the Europeans, so logically they should hate the native Africans) by whites. The Irish and the Scots were conquered and "actively fucked with" by the English. The Americans conquered the Native Americans. I don't give a fuck. I will own up to what I do and what I do only. I've never held a guys race against them. Yet people expect me to be guilty about slavery and conquering the natives and Imperialism and just about every other sin thats happened since the world started. Screw it.

Look at Sins of the World. Every nation has done something wrong. How far back should shame go? One generation doesn't do apparently, for slavery, segregation, and the NA conquering was farther back. You need at least 2 generations to cover any. Four or Five for all three. If that long, why not all the way back to medieval times.

Sticking heads in the sand is not the same as not being ashamed. I know a lot of history. Pick a race and they have fucked and been fucked sometime in history. Black, white, yellow or brown, it doesn't matter. The worst neighborhood in Watts is still not as bad as the potato famine, or Dicken's London. Move on, or be left behind. I've seen too many good kids who happen to be black decide that the man is keeping them down and go bad. Usually, the man was in their heads. The black kids who are going to college are the ones who decide they will be the ones to act and that they were not victims. (BTW In most things I am very liberal. I am a member of EFF. I support the ACLU with what little money I can spare.)

Those who have the luxury of absolving themselves of "sins of their fathers" vis-à-vis slavery, apartheid, and genocide in the United States (and the Americas), should, perhaps, be immediately dispatched to the womb of a black, Latino, or Native American mother, and made to live out a life all over again. This "I didn't do it" bullshit seems to blind people to the fact that those past sins have present-day repercussions; maybe a ten-thousand-mile walk in the shoes of those who have a more direct dose of the recursive fallout and bad karma that have resulted from those sins would be the best treatment. But that being unpossible, my alternate advice is: shut the fuck up and learn something for a change.

Sticking your heads in the sand, in regards to the continuously-unfolding causes and effects, is the same as acquiescing to those ongoing effects; your fingerprints are on the body, too. You have squarely made yourself part of the problem, willfully oblivious to any solutions.

If you missed out on all the fun of having generations of your ancestors actively fucked with and held back and held down by Uncle Sam's policies and by the loathing bathed upon them by the general (white) populace, I'd love for you to enjoy such a privilege, you sons of bitches. "No Irish Need Apply" was just Fuck-over Lite compared to centuries of ill treatment of "persons of color" -- an absence of melanin has its advantages, after all.

This is not a game of "all sins of the world are equal"; while it's unfortunate that there have been mutual or all-sides ethnic hatreds going back centuries in Ulster, or Bosnia, or Armenia, outside your very window stands the here-and-now evidence of one-sided sins, perpetuated for centuries.

Have a nice day.

Mistaken Identity Corrected

As I have been told by many people, I look like an ass-hole. As the saying goes, "With a haircut like that, you know he's an ass-hole." And standing just shy of six feet tall and weighing just over two-hundred-fifty pounds with very little fat, the shining dome upon my head gives me the aura of needing a pair of combat boots and coveralls. Oi?

No, not here. I have seen all of the ignorance in America I care to see. For at one time, I was an ignorant youth. Then, I had the combat boots and coveralls. It was the fitting thing to do when you were hitting puberty with your hairline running from your forehead. By sixteen, I could use a child's doll comb to keep my hair neat. So away it went. Now, I have been bald for over fifteen years.

After my spell of ignorance, I carried guilt and remorse for my attitude and felt an overwhelming need to make retribution for those I hurt. And I did. After I healed my soul in my very early twenties, I joined the Marine Corps to share my love for the world with others who needed to express themselves in the same manner. During this time, there was no difference of race....there was only Green. And if they Navy was involved, they were all Blue. And that is how is was, and is. For there could be no unity in the fight for freedom without unity within ranks. A new sense of pride took over, but the look came back....combat boots and shaved head.

It was during the time of my second marriage that I became aware of the fact that ignorance was more a learned thought process than a learning disability. After my first child within these nuptuals had died, she became pregnant. We went to the mall to purchase new items to replace the original items we had to let go of due to memories. I walked with her in what was my usual garb for being on call for duty - green shirt, nice blue jeans, shiny head, and combat boots. If called in, I would put my coveralls on and I would be ready to work. Then it happened. From behind an older woman's voice rang within my ears...

"See that up there, he's one of those skin heads. They're no good"

I turned to see a dark skinned woman about thirty-seven years in age next to another dark skinned woman who looked a few years older. They were both smiling big. The younger woman was leaning down and talking to a group of seven children from ages of one year to thirteen. It was when I saw the children that I became angry. Within the eyes of these children there was pure innocence. Untainted love for humanity that was being ripped from their souls by that comment.

I turned around and confronted the two adults. Quickly I presented my Military ID so they could easily see my picture and the authenticity of the document. I couldn't tell if it was fear in their eyes or confusion. Either way, I knew what I had to say to them would fall on deaf ears. So I looked down, then kneeled before the children now before me. I handed them my ID to pass around and simply said...

I am not a skin head, I am a Marine.

I looked up at the women and further explained....

I fight for your right to be as ignorant as you want to be. Please don't exercise that right.

I took my card back and joined my "at the time" wife. I don't think I did any good. People still feel that same way when they see me. Like I said before, I look like an ass-hole.