By
Andrew DeMarco
Before reading this Rosy Glow, please take a moment to view this short video with Morgan Freeman and Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes in 2005. I promise the video is just about a minute long and is interesting.
It was this video that got me thinking that the problems we are having today might be able to be summed up in one word, adjectives.
That is right I said adjectives. Words that modify nouns by amplifying them or by creating distinctions. Let me give you some examples that will make this a little clearer.
The adjectives black, blue, police and all are the first examples. None of these adjectives should be used with lives in combination with matters. Simply put, life matters. Take away the modifiers that give lives a distinction and we have what truly matters, life, which is something I am sure we can all agree upon and that ends that debate.
The next examples of adjectives that in my opinion are unnecessary are Latino, Native, Italian, Irish, Korean or any other nationality used before American. Using these adjectives creates distinctions in something which we all have in common whether by right of birth or naturalization and that is being American. It does not matter where you come from because we are all Americans and part of that great melting pot. ‘E pluribus Unum.’
One example which I really do not quite understand is the adjective hate when used in front of crime. What is a hate crime? If I am bashing you over the head with a bat, stabbing you, assaulting you or killing you, I am quite sure it is not out of love. Murder is murder and assault is assault and they are crimes period. Using the adjective hate only exacerbates the crime and leads to further resentments and divisions.
Then there is the adjective systemic which is usually used with racism. In my opinion systemic is not necessary at all when discussing racism. No one is born a racist it usually comes from one’s environment or is subtlety ingrained into one’s nature. In a sense, all racism is systemic so there is no need for it other than to create the appearance that racism is worse than it really is and further fosters division. It seems that the very people and organizations that use these adjectives are the reason for the systematic indoctrination of racism. For instance, how many government forms have you filled out that did not ask for one’s ethnic background, I would say very few. Then there are all those groups which further fuel the flames of racism by using the adjectives black, white and any ethnic adjective. They are the ones truly responsible for racism by creating a system to instill it in others.
Finally, there is the one adjective that should be used and used frequently and that is human when used with race or being as it is the only adjective that matters. When we all take Mr. Freeman’s advice and stop calling one another black, white, Italian, Native, Korean, etc. and start using human being or human race then maybe we can do away with all the other adjectives. I am sure with less hate, color and ethnic distinctions, it will give us all that feeling that Cousin Bob would call that…..Rosy Glow!
Bob's Rosy Glow 