Too Old to Become a Racist

I'm dumbfounded.  I just read that Christopher Columbus never tried to convince anyone the world wasn't flat, because every educated person in the world at that time knew it wasn't true.  The 'world is flat' story was cooked up by Washington Irving in the 1800's,  here's the story.   I learned this because I also just learned that Oregon will become the 11th state to declare the second Monday in October as Indigenous People's Day.

"Beginning with Monday, Oct. 12, Oregon will recognize that Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas is historically inaccurate and unworthy of celebration due to his voyage opening the door to “heinous crimes against humanity.”

He didn't even land here and we gained a holiday; so who, exactly, is complaining?  The photo above, from the Hulton Archive, shows the 4 voyages of Columbus, who was actually looking for a shorter passage to the Orient to save money over time; and who never made it to the United States.  Silly me, I thought Ponce de Leon discovered Florida but that's wrong, too, according to the Miami Herald.

I'm all for an Indigenous People's Day; but why must we choose a target?  Why can't we celebrate IPD on its own, without poking our growing population of White Supremacists, not to mention the Mafia?  If this is how I feel, just imagine folks in Idaho, Texas and Little Italy, to name a few. Don't we have enough to tackle after 4 years of Trump's promotion of hatred, still fueled by members of Congress?

We've got an ever-increasing list of Politically Incorrect icons of our culture, so I've got quite a collection without even trying.  I still own my Little Black Sambo book, please read my most popular post before casting immediate aspersions on my character.  I also own a commemorative tin from Uncle Ben's 40th Anniversary in 1983, holds 5 pounds of rice; and one from Nabisco, featuring Barnum and Bailey's circus with yes, shudder, an ELEPHANT.  I have some tortoise shell pieces I found washed up on a beach in Puerto Rico;  and should I toss the dollar-sized bottle of Aunt Jemima's yummy syrup still in my fridge, in case I break my diet and make a piece of French Toast? I have a DVD of Gone with the Wind without any special introduction and I read Huckleberry Finn as a kid.  I boarded Ruff Life on October 12, 1997 and will always associate it with Columbus Day; but I'd have done something similar with February 14th.  Does that make me a terrible person?

Ukrainians slaughtered my ancestors in 1943 (Dear President Putin); but now I'm expected to feel sorry for them because The Russians are Coming?  Well, I do; because I'm too old to become a racist.  But how should we reconcile such contradictions in our teachings and lives, without overloading fragile Senior circuits?  I'm at a loss.

Drink red wine, don't; eat chocolate, don't; support the Shah of Iran, don't.  How many of you are shocked by the Gates divorce, talk about a silly example to rattle the psyche; only because who didn't root for the story about a nice, philanthropic couple?  How much will this cost their foundations?  It's kinds hard to separate the two and as usual, the innocent will suffer.

I'm certain I'm wearing, thinking or ingesting something controversial, somehow; and now that the masks are coming off I'm afraid I'll open my mouth at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  Like I accidentally said to a woman of color while discussing the hypocrisy of something:

"That's the pot calling the kettle black."  She never flinched but I felt like I was wearing a white hood.  "Wanna see photos of me with my black friends?" flashed through my mind.

I looked it up and apparently I'm not the only person to question whether or not that expression is racist in meaning (it's not. ).  But it goes to show how leery many of us are to inadvertently say something perceived as offensive.

A balance will eventually be struck in society, this Libran continues to hope.  But hell, I've got other things to worry about.  I'm just thrilled to learn that my hot water heater DIDN'T have a crack; it's a long, boring story which didn't cost me a dime.  More proof there IS a God; Allah; Jehovah; whatever you call him/her/it, same difference in my book.