Olympic Camaraderie

I watched the July 27, 2012 opening ceremony of the London Olympics. What a wonderful thing to see people from all around the world together; a little country of 9,800 people in the same place as those with billions. The athletes were proud and smiling even though their leaders have differences of opinions as to how we should each live our lives. I thought what a wonderful world it would be if we could get along like these athletes. (Yes, a Swiss soccer player was expelled for insulting South Koreans on Twitter.) The Olympic cauldron was made up of 204 copper leaves representing each of the nations and was lit by 7 young athletes to show the next generation and each leaf was raised to form a single torch. It all reminded me of the Star Trek premise that we are one people of earth; no one was rich or poor and we not only learned to live with each other but with those from other planets – a United Federation of Planets; would it really be so bad. I thought that this concept would have to start in the US because I could not tell an American apart from anyone else in the Olympics. We have people from all over the globe and I love being able to taste food from all over right here in our own backyard. We need to stop hating one another before people in other countries will learn to stop hating us. I believe that the only thing stopping this from happening is the evil (those violating the Commandments) in our country as well as in other countries that causes the struggles and desire to take over one another through pompous righteousness or jealously. I think it was Martin Luther King (MLK) that said bigotry and hate fuel wars. Now I’ll talk about the US.

African Americans need to understand that their relatives, friends, and neighbors sold their ancestors (they were not taken) to Whites for slaves (in 1808 Thomas Jefferson made the importation of African slaves into the US illegal). Without this atrocity, their ancestors probably would have remained in Africa and they would have experienced the violence and starvation that has occurred throughout African history. Without the original contact who knows if Whites would have supported them in both the fights in their new countries or in Africa. But I am pretty sure that if slavery did not happen there would not have been a US Civil War, the Freedom Riders, MLK’s march or even Obama’s election that were all conducted by Blacks and Whites together. And, without it there would not have been the Oprah we all know. African Americans with generations of American heritage need to stop using slavery to hold their anger. Whites need to forgive and forget the Civil War. We still have people who don’t like Asians because of the wars we’ve been in; get over it. We all need to stop yelling foul because of our ethnicity; perhaps we just annoy someone with our behavior. FYI – Blacks come from Africa, West Indies, Haiti, Australia, and other countries.   

When I first became a supervisor I had a Black employee that was not performing. My lead and best people were older Black women and they said I had to do something about this girl because she was ruining everything they had fought for. During the process of terminating the young woman, I was accused of having a cultural misunderstanding (other words to say I was prejudiced). Because I believed that my older employees were right, I continued to fight for them and she did eventually get fired. In another incident I was not alone in attempting to do the right thing. During the time when Equal Employment Opportunity required that we have a percentage of ethnic groups equal to the population, a group of us trying to get the right people for our jobs were told we were doing the wrong thing and management moved our hires around. When the people weren’t making it some of us tried to save them by getting them put in the jobs we originally felt they were suited for. Years later I learned from a Black co-worker that Black Americans that believe in MLK’s ‘I have a dream’ are called Oreos. Because she expected all workers to do their jobs, she got as much crap from the Black workers and management as Bill Cosby did in 2004 when he wanted Black people to be better. When I considered hiring this co-worker for a second time I was told by my Black manager that I would have to be personally responsible for her. I again hired her because she was one of the best supervisors I ever had, she knew her job and wasn’t afraid to do it.

An acquaintance asked me why only White people say they are color-blind. Perhaps it’s because others are not. On one occasion when I was interviewing I had to ask the secretaries what color the person I had just spoken to was because I didn’t notice; I was surprised to find out that the woman was Black. On the Talk in 2011, I heard that fans of Essence magazine (aimed at Black clientele) were upset because a White man was hired as its Managing Editor which is a financial position. And, the Native Americans were insulted that the Navy Seals that took down Bin Laden used the code name Geronimo. Perhaps it wasn’t used the way they thought. Geronimo was saving his people from hostiles just as the Seals were. In any case, we need to move on with such use of names (sports teams included) as I’m pretty sure there is no intent to disgrace. If you think about it, no one would want to use a name that didn’t make them feel strong or proud. We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to embrace our differences and we need to become a single group of people; no longer using the terms Black, Asian Hispanic or Native American. We have plenty of blended families (per O magazine – 4 in 10 adults are members of a blended family) and we can’t have equality until we all say we are American without a preface. In today’s America you are not a fighter for human rights if you only fight for what you consider your own group of people.