Dakota Beacon

Racist: a word whose meaning morphed lately from legitimate to dishonest. Overused, misused, and abused, it no longer enjoys veracity. What if one person calls another a racist? Who’s to say they are -- or are not? Who cares? The word lost its potency long ago. Stupidly, race mongers now see Caucasians as automatically racist by virtue of their DNA! Enough!

Ponder this traditional definition of racism. Racism is hatred and animus held by an individual against a race different from their own. A Black can hate Caucasians. A Caucasian can hate Blacks. An Oriental can hate Latinos. And so on. It is that simple.

Knock it off! Enough already! I am tired of the accusations and epithets. When was the last time one group was forced to love another – with any success? The racist moniker has become vulgar and boorish. Enough of the abuse and rudeness! Stop it! Just stop it! What has this racial rancor produced? A calmer, more unified country? Don’t be silly! Stirring up the melting pot morphed into a wedge issue dividing Americans.

The term “racist” would be immaterial if not codified by congress and institutionalized by the Justice Department. “Racist” became a nasty, antagonistic weapon of identity politics in the arsenal of the liberal left to bludgeon opponents into submission.

As a kid growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, I believe my parents accomplished the task of teaching my sisters and me about decency in relating to kids of other races. I grew up in a military family and my early cultural education stood me in good stead on the playground. We kids of different races integrated ourselves without parental interference or school indoctrination.

Years later, following in my father’s footsteps, I chose a military career. As a result of federal government programs imposed from the top down, I found myself along with tens of thousands of others required to take “training” courses in “race relations.” Most of us thought the requirement absurd but, like good soldiers, we saluted and did what we were told. That’s when I first learned that I was -- a racist! This had nothing to do with my actions or behavior toward others. That I was “white” (a misnomer for Caucasian) made me racist. There was no direct accusation, just innuendo and implication.

That was then. This sickness metastasized into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Schools and universities blatantly promote the idea of inherent racism. More recently this extended into business and government as minorities were given preferential treatment for employment and promotion. But the times they are a changin’!

When used slanderously as an epithet (playing the race card) rather than factually describing hatred toward another race, then the person using the term “racist” flippantly appears rather stupid reflecting his or her ignorance. For liberals and progressives to twist the definition of “racist” like a pretzel to their own ends in hopes of using it to smear and defame for personal or political gain renders the term wildly irrelevant.

Typically, any discussion of racism, especially in formal presentations found in government seminars, corporate meetings, and academic environments quickly drifts into sanctimonious clichés of a politically correct variety. In other words, discussions are long on ideology but short on honesty and substance.

More racist bilge! A psychobabble term occasionally heard is “white guilt.” “White guilt” as defined states, “Individual or collective guilt felt by some white people for harm resulting from racist treatment of people of color both historically and currently.” Toadies and sycophants buy into this.

With this definition, con artists, charlatans, and race baiters have a field day. Shelby Steele, former professor of English literature at San Jose State University, responds rather nicely in his book “White Guilt.” Blacks in the political spotlight appeal to “white guilt” to their great advantage. Steele further contends that blacks together with white kowtowing liberals have destroyed the promise of the civil rights era.

Over a hundred years ago Booker T. Washington, Negro educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute (1881), identified a problem that continues to plague us today. “There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs – partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.” – Booker T. Washington, Chap. V, “The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob,” 1911, p. 118.

Thank goodness we finally have a President and administration putting an end to racial shenanigans. Stifle the racial guff and be done with it! Racism! Throw it in the trash where it belongs. Three cheers for the Trump administration!

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).