Ketchup? Catsup? BBQ Sauce!

As you may have noticed, most of my recent posts have been about movies. Well, this BLOG is going to be a bit different today.
Earlier this week Jeff and I went to see Glory Road, a movie (it gets different later, I swear. Keep reading!) about a college basketball coach in Texas who recruits some black players and ends up starting most of them for the entire season, taking them to the national finals and starting five black players in the game, which was a first at the time.
The movie, I will say, was good. For fans of the TV show Smallville, Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) has a role as one of the basketball players, and he is pretty good. In the final game he has a sweet play. The movie, of course, is about racism and working to overcome. All of the actors did a fine job, especially the guy who played Coach Haskins, an actor by the name of Josh Lucas. He is really good, especially when he has to look intense and angry (which is quite often). It is also based on a true story, and seems to be quite accurate. At least, I haven't seen anything that said otherwise.
I'll be honest with you, though. Given the subject matter, there was a good chance that I was going to like the movie pretty much no matter what because those sorts of movies really get to me. You see, I hate racism. I'm not going to sit up here and say that I am perfect, because I am not. It is possible that I have acted in a manner that could be construed as racist. However, in every way I try to avoid such actions, and, super-especially, such attitudes. I absolutely hate racism and racists. It just drives me around the bend when I hear people talk about other people in disparaging ways. In my mind, a person's colour has nothing to do with anything. It's like saying a red car is faster than a blue car. Well, that's only true if the red car is a Corvette and the blue car is a Chevette. But if the cars are the same, then the colour makes no different. And people are the same types of cars (more often than not they are the Chevettes, but perhaps that's a rant for another time).
Really, I'm not sure that I should go to those types of movies anymore because they get me angry. At everyone. I'm mad at the white folks especially (cuz these movies are always about white folks being racist towards people)(which is, historically, pretty justified) because I don't like baseless smug superiority. Just because I'm white doesn't make me better, and just because you're black doesn't make you worse. In this particular movie, the notion that black folks are dumber and less suited to handle pressure was raised a few times, and every time it made me angry. Angrier when I realised that these weren't necessarily made up lines, but were basically quotes. And I was even angrier still when I realised that people still think that, especially in certain regions (I want to say notably in the Southern USA, but I have no proof of that. It was just a historically bad area for that problem, and stereotypically a bad area still). That sort of thing just boils my blood. I want to grab people by the ears, lift them up and shake them until they smarten up. I don't care how long it takes. I've got time!
I'm not just mad at the white folks, though. It bothers me to hear, even in movies, the black folks talking about how bad all white people are and that they never get a chance. For instance, in the movie, one of the black players gets beat up, so in the next game, the black players refuse to pass it to the white players. After the game, the black guys are talking about how all white people are racist and against them. They're mad at their teammates because they are white, not because they have done anything wrong. They are mad at the white coach, even though he gave them the only opportunity to play that they ever could have had. As far as I'm concerned, that's racism too. They are judging all people of a certain skin colour as being the same based on the actions of a few. The white guys on the team never showed any sort of problem with the black players (after the initial getting to know you stage where this was a weird idea to everyone), and Coach Haskins treated them the exact same way he treated everyone, and that was very respectfully. But because some white people treated them bad, immediately all white people were bad.
This is an attitude that comes across in the movies quite often, and in real life, perhaps even more often, and it bothers me just as much as the reverse attitude. I will agree that non-white people have been treated like crap by many white people in the past, and that there are still areas where it is hard for them because of their colour. That is sad but true. However, that does not give non-Caucasians the right to hate and discriminate against all whites. It means they have to work harder than I do for some things, and they have to be more careful about who they can trust than I do, and for that I am sorry, but it does not mean that they have the right to treat me like crap because I am white. Just like I can't treat them right because they are latino, black, or whatever.
I think the problem is getting smaller as time moves on, but it is still out there. I will say this clearly, and to anyone who asks. EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT! You don't have to agree, you don't have to like, but you do have to respect. Sometimes I wish I was blind, because it would be so much easier. Then it wouldn't matter at all, because I couldn't see differences.
I am angry right now.
Gar!
*Deep breath*
Okay, I'm feeling a bit better. Just disappointed that people are so stupid sometimes. Oft-times.
Respect.