Point of Reference

Yesterday I slightly introduced the subject of prayer into my daily "article." I don't think I went overboard on the concept...instead simply relating how important it is to have a method of centering one's thoughts down into a calm internal moment with no interference.

However you achieve that moment is no where near as important as being able to do it....there are so many directions to reach the core of a circle....and the circle of life is not a phantom expression.

The circle of life is a broad "summary statement" used when trying to explain why one thing follows another and so on and so on.....

All things are accountable and all things seem to matter....no matter how insignificant one might think they are.....and that brings me to this point.

Racial jokes are not a form of humor but instead a point of reference.

A point of reference

Now, how one defines a point of reference is very important.....because a point of reference has to be applied from the originator to the recipients of the action which allows for a point of reference to be establish.

Racial jokes are not a form of humor but instead a point of reference.

A very good friend of mine( which is a point of reference) told a racial joke in my home last night using the "N" word. The response was a slight nervous laughter and a few...."so did you see Transformers yet?"

Of course the Transformers statement was not made but the point I'm making is that the response didn't elicit laughter....it elicited a.....

POINT OF REFERENCE

I don't know very many people who ever say the "N" word so I wasn't surprised when I woke up this morning and the mist of the moment still hung in my home......it must have been hanging around because it was the first thing I thought about when I woke up, got my coffee, read the paper and tried to think about today's subject.......and after reading the paper and finding numerous topics that should be addressed...the only thing that rested in my frontal lobe was the "N" word joke.

Perhaps it suck with me because this week there was an official burial of the "N" word by the NAACP. I should have covered that story at the time but since I thought the word was already dead and buried....I didn't think much about it....until my very good friend choose to use the word in my living room.

There are so many reasons why a person uses the "N" word and I'm FAIRLY certain that none of those reasons have anything to do with....HUMOR.

It's a point of reference that I don't like to have regarding a friend of mine.

We all have to figure out why we do certain things and say certain things and what we really mean when we say certain things.

As an individual I can only truly control what I do and what I say.

I can tell someone that I don't appreciate something they said and I can ask them not to say it again in my presence. I can ask someone to respect my viewpoint and respect my environment but I can't stop them from saying or doing anything outside of my presence.

The point of reference that people create regarding their personalities cannot be changed except with another point of reference.

I believe using racial slurs is simply a matter of upbringing...and either one was taught that it had no place or one was taught to tell jokes in order to mask a certain type of prejudice.

There of course was a time when I was younger that I probably told a few of those jokes....but each time I did it....I noticed a point of reference was created and didn't like how it made me feel.

The respect that Anglo-Americans should have for African-Americans in regards to not using the "N" word is a respect that can't be earned because of someone writing a blog about it.

The respect has to come from learning, reading, understanding and empathising with the history of how African-Americans were treated in this country for 400 years.

Slavery, in America, did not happen 1000 years ago.....it did not happen 500 years ago....it did not happen 300 years ago and it did not happen 200 years ago.....THE CIVIL WAR WAS FOUGHT IN 1860

1860 IS 147 YEARS AGO.

147 YEARS

THE CIVIL RIGHTS VOTING ACT WAS PASSED IN 1964

1964

43 YEARS AGO

THE EXPERIENCE THAT AFRICAN- AMERICANS HAVE ENDURED IS

FRESH

AND YOU EITHER GET IT AND SHOW EMPATHY AND DISGUST AT THE ACTIONS OF ANY SLAVE OWNER....NO MATTER THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN....and you understand that the development of their position in American society is just now reaching a level of inclusion....

OR

YOU MAKE JOKES AND USE A WORD THAT ONLY CREATES A POINT OF REFERENCE FOR YOUR PERSONAL IDEALS AND MORALITY

and no one is going to stop you from doing it....except

YOU
but I would appreciate you not saying it in front of me or my children, or my children's friends.

IT CREATES A POINT OF REFERENCE THAT IS NOT INDICATIVE OF WHO YOU REALLY ARE....

I HOPE

I THINK IT'S TIME TO ONLY CREATE POINTS OF REFERENCE THAT ALLOW PEOPLE TO THINK GREAT THINGS AND BE STIMULATED BY GREAT THOUGHTS

YOU HAVE BOTH QUALITIES BUT YOU CREATED A POINT OF REFERENCE THAT LEAVES SOME DOUBT IN THE MINDS AND HEARTS OF PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU.

and although this blog turned quite personal and is directed toward one incident, I would hope that anyone reading it would absorb some of the content and be very aware that creating a point of reference is extremely important....and point of references is all we have.

One goofy moment can off set lots of great work....and boy oh boy....haven't we all learned that at one time or another.

practical application of racial injustice is Genralow Wilson sitting in an Atlanta prision for ten years because he received consensual oral sex at the age of 17 from a 15 year old girl.

TEN YEARS IN PRISION .....and if one doesn't think this is racially motivated injustice then one doesn't give a shit about racial injustice and nothing is going to change regarding how one feels.

it's not ok to use the "N" word......and it's not ok for African-Americans to use the "N" word...but if anyone has the right to use it then it must be that group....

but each and every time some privialged Anglo-American uses the term.....it sounds
ugly....
and creates a point of reference that hangs around long after the moment has passed.

Important things are suppose to be happening in our lives.....in all of our lives.

UGLY THINGS HAVE NO PLACE IN THAT HAPPENING

POINTS OF REFERENCES SHOULD BE SHINING BRIGHT POINTS
NOT
POINTS
THAT
ARE

DULL AND UGLY



Michael Timothy McAlevey