Keep your bias to yourself, please

It must be really hard to be a racist here in America right now.

Think about it. To have to sit around watching large numbers of people rejoice over the first black president when you think people like him should still be picking cotton in chains. Tough times, right?

To see a black man become president and the country - hell, the whole world rejoice. You must feel pretty dejected and out of sorts right about now, hey?

Just to be clear, I don’t feel even an ounce of sympathy for America’s racists. It’s their own problem that they’ve opted to cocoon themselves in hate and bigotry while the rest of the world inches toward acceptance and equality (not that we’re there yet - I realize that - but any progress is good progress).

It’s just that lately I’ve seen some really malicious, racist stuff shuttled around the net and I have to assume it stems from all those disappointed racists trying to find a way to cope. Some examples:

- An image of the “new” dollar featuring a smiling man in black face in the center and “fitty cent” written in the corner.
- The Obama trap – again – this time from someone else.
- An e-mail pondering if it can still legitimately be called the White House and if legalizing marijuana and/or making fried chicken America’s official food will be among Obama’s first acts.

I have to scratch my head when I get stuff like this, especially when it comes from otherwise smart, respectable people that I know. People, who I’m pretty sure aren’t racist, but still seem unable to avoid hitting the “forward” button on their e-mail when this type of bigotry lands in their inbox.

I have to ask: Do you really find this stuff funny? Amusing? Entertaining?

Because honestly, I don’t.

And if you think I think like that, you’re really very, very mistaken. It’s not just about Obama for me. I was raised in a home where I learned, in the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr., people are to be judged, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

So please – PLEASE – stop sending me your hate. I don’t like it, I don’t want it. It doesn’t make me smile or laugh for even one fraction of a second, in fact, it makes me nauseous. Furthermore, it makes you look like an asshole.

If you do send it to me, you can be pretty sure I’m going to, 1. Respond to you with some choice words, and 2. Delete it immediately. The buck bias stops here.

And besides? I’m sure there are plenty of dejected racists in this country looking for something to laugh about right now. Go find them and you can console each other.

Don't expect any sympathy from me.