Rant on Racism

Call me naive, but sometimes it really bothers me that racism is still alive and well. The other day, I went to lunch with some coworkers. The place we were at had big screen tvs, tuned to sports and CNN. One of the stories that came up on CNN was about the Muslim family that was kicked off an airplane. One of my coworkers made a comment about it, kind of a "ha-ha, serves them right" type of comment. I must have made a face or shook my head, and she said, "what you don't think they should have been kicked off?" I told her that I didn't know the full story, and she told me that they had been discussing the safest place to sit if a plane blew up. I said that didn't seem right to be kicked off, and she mentioned that other passengers had been uncomfortable. I asked her if she thought they would have been kicked off if a white person had said that. She was quiet for a minute, but then said that maybe they should have had that conversation before they got on the plane.

Which is true. You don't say "bomb" on an airplane and expect that you won't get funny looks or pulled away for questioning. However, I think this whole situation has once again shown the really ugly side of America. Why do we assume that every Muslim is a terrorist? I hate to break it to you, redneck America, but Timothy McVeigh? The Unabomber? Those were white guys. So should we assume that every white male may also be a terrorist? We don't, so why is it ok to assume that every Muslim is?

And what I really resent is that the people who make these statements assume that I would agree with them. Sorry, but I'm a firm believer in "people are people" and don't dislike/fear someone before you get to know them. Don't assume that because I'm white I am as prejudiced as you are.

Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox. I'm probably on a government list somewhere now.