8,000

So we hear over and over and over that the country is being overrun by racists.  That white people have a particular privilege that causes them to be racist.  There is simply nothing they can do about it.  We are told that racism only goes one way.  Whites generally exhibit racist behavior against blacks and other people of color and that's just the way it is.  

We also hear that our President is a white supremacist.  That he cozy's up to white supremacists and encourages this behavior.  And that is the spin no matter what the evidence is.  The other side repeats this mantra over and over and over again.  They obviously think that if they repeat it enough people will start to believe it.  And of course there are some who fall for it.  People I respect don't take the time or have the where-with-all to do their own research fall for it.  And to be honest, when those people accuse the President of being a racist, I feel like they are accusing me of being a racist.  And I'm not even a die-hard Trump supporter.  But I do respect the Presidency and do support many of the things he has done.  But anyone who knows me knows I'm not a racist.  So what am I to do?  Roll over and ignore it?  Fight back?  Move on?  I generally ignore it because there's no percentage in fighting this fight.  But it's sometimes difficult.  

So I heard an interesting statistic today that gave me pause.  Do you know how many KKK members there are in the U.S.?  8,000.  Yep.  8,000.  That's 8,000 out of 350 million.  But I get that there are plenty of people who are prejudiced and exhibit disgusting behavior towards people of other races besides the disgusting knuckle-draggers who wear the pointy-headed hoods.  So to be generous let's just say there are 20 times as many prejudiced assholes there are out there than are members of the KKK.  That's 160,000.  160,000 idiotic racists out of 350 million.  And that's just the whites who are prejudiced.  Let's just say that there could be (even though the media and celebrities tell us it's not true) an equal number of people of color who might be prejudiced against whites.  So that's 320,000 people out of 350 million who are on the fringes of society when it comes to dealing with their fellow Americans.  And let's just say I'm low.  Just for arguments sake lets bump it up to 500,000.  500,000 assholes out of 350 million.  That's a lot.  

But there are a lot more decent folks just trying to live their life, raise their kids, and make the country a better place.  Now I'm not advocating for some big brother program, but these people should be  identified and at least tracked.  We ought to be able to identify and shun those people.  We all should be looking for these knuckleheads and calling them out.  We all should educate our kids about the futility and shame that goes with racism.  We ought to stop the blame game.  We ought to recognize that there are as many racist assholes on both ends of the spectrum.  We ought to look for the best in people and not automatically believe that if someone has a different political belief then they must have nefarious, racist tendencies.  The statistics are actually sort of hopeful, unless you listen to and believe the media spin of how bad everything is.  So here's my recommendation.  Don't listen.

UPDATE:  I sometimes write something and wonder if there are a lot of others who think the same thing.  This post is one of those.  After all, any mention of race in this day and age is a powder keg.  It is conventional wisdom that venturing outside the lines of the PC view can doom one as an irredeemable bigot.  Of course, it's my blog so I'll say what I want.  There is that.  But I'm not a guy who wants to offend unnecessarily.  But sometimes things are so logical to me and it's a bit maddening that others can't or won't see what I see.  And then sometimes lo and behold along comes another view that is incredibly aligned with mine.  I just saw an article over on FB by Victor Davis Hanson that is so aligned with this post, but much, much better written that I have to share it.  VDH hits the nail on the head and you can read the article here.

For me, here's the pull quote:

"...more than 243 years after its independence, the current longest-lived democracy arguably is also the world’s most racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse nation and unmatched in its efforts to promote equality."