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Ron Jackson's Perspective
The Sunday Journal -
Think
Kankakee, Illinois
November 3, 2002
Oh brother, the
system does work |
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I stand corrected.
Actually I feel like a whipped dog that peed on the carpet after one
particular response to my September column,
For some there are no answers,
that dealt with mob violence in Chicago and other problems in the
black community.
One reader was very disheartened with my point of view.
He even called me a black brother, a term that disheartens me.
This reader went on to say, "I think he's (meaning me) the type of
brother who thinks the system works."
I tell ya, share a thought with someone and they feel
they know you completely. More accurately, I believe the
"system," meaning our social and legal order of conduct, is to be
"worked" by members of society. The system doesn't work us, we
work it, and many bad members of our society know how to work the
legal system better than others.
According to this respondent, I was completely wrong in
my thinking that parents are the first and most influential persons
to prevent unruliness in our society and particularly in the lives
of black youth. I stand corrected. The real culprit, I
have been informed, for all the ills in the black community is none
other than, "Ronald Wilson Reagan with his trickled-down economics,
putting drugs in the black communities."
If you are laughing hysterically, I understand.
That was my first reaction to that statement. Then I went
nuts. Even more than my normal nuttiness. Then I calmed
down.
So there we have it, folks. It's former President
Ronald Reagan who is responsible for all the bad things that happen
to black Americans. After all these years, we now know just
who the "white man" is. We can now stop all the crazy
reparations-for-slavery talk and just sue the hell out of the former
president.
I had to stop and think for a second about Mr. Reagan.
Do I recall his drug dealing days? No, I don't, but I do
remember the great availability of drugs when I lived in Southern
California prior to and during Reagan's eight years in the Oval
Office. I also recall my first two years of college I received
at no cost. I mean, absolutely free. At one time, thanks
to Ronald Reagan, every resident, including blacks, in California
was entitled to two years of free college. Since Reagan
stopped selling drugs, community college in California is no longer
free.
I guess being the uninformed "black brother" that I am,
I stupidly chose free college over drugs. I "worked" that
system for all it was worth. I worked a full-time job to get
the other two years of college too. And I haven't looked back
with any regrets.
The last point the reader offered was, "I hope my
comments don't offend anybody, but being black offends most people."
Oh really now. Most people are offended by blacks? Most
people?
From that statement, I must assume that since black
people are part of "most people," they too are offended by blacks.
That could explain all the black on black crime.
I don't know anyone who is offended by black people.
I do know some people who just don't like blacks because they are
black, but I'll limit this column to one ignorant person.
How can a person be offended by the color of a person
like they can be by too much cologne on a crowded train or by bad
body odor in an elevator?
Blacks don't offend me, but in any color, blatant
ignorance does.
As our former president continues his battle with
Alzheimer's, I wish him well. For the moment, I will pretend I
have the affliction and try not to remember the silliness and
ignorance that prompted this column. |
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