Accusation of racism false
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Editor,
I didn’t bring racism here when I moved to the Flathead Valley; it was here waiting for me.
I grew up in the south part of our town, with most every race, religion and ethnic background represented; including victims of the great American dust bowl and people from countries that weren’t always countries … like Armenia. I thought a warm, buttered, rolled-up tortilla was a snack. We played in a smattering of languages, interspersing other language words with English, and we all understood the meaning. It was such a melting pot that the concept of racism had no foothold with us.
When I reached mid-teens, I encountered the Piute Indian tribe and added Native Americans to my personal melting pot of experience. The true concept of racism didn’t enter my picture until my junior year in high school, when the “Watt’s Riots” broke out and eventually spread out to our area, like a cancer. It had no rhyme, no reason, no constructive purpose, and it had no conscience; it was an infectious virus. I survived it, as did others. I survived two years in Vietnam, as did others, without racism.
I’ve watched our country, our people, morph from strong, self- supporting, morally self-regulating individualists into a blob of minions seeking minority status for advantage — a pretty disgusting concept. I’ve stood by and watched while celebrities who can buy and sell most of us sound the righteous trumpets for those of lesser status around the world, while maintaining their ethereal illusion of self-importance based on income and celebrity status. These bleeding-heart liberals encourage the concept of “minority status for advantage,” rather than “gain through sweat-equity.”
To be accused of racism is petty and the easy way out. I am anti-stupid, anti-lazy, anti-ignorance — but I am not racist.
Michael Gale
Ronan
