Can we be done with this shit now? (Racially charged and long)

DISCLAIMER: This only applies to a certian minorty/ majority of people. I am not classifying a certain race as all being this way.

I just read an article on MSNBC talking about the cover of Vogue Magazine. I think the author had the right idea, but I’m still annoyed.
Read the Article here
(Cover for the magazine at right)

From what I understand there is an outcry of racism directed at the "black" man and his stance and pose on the cover. What I read there is an uproar in the "black" community about it being racist, portraying all "black" men as being aggressive.

Seriously, WTF? Here is what I see portrayed on this cover: A basketball player running full court and holding onto a woman as he does it. To me the image shows balance. I am more annoyed at the portrayl of the supermodel stereotype... but whatever. I’m not offended by this cover at all.

From what I read, apparently the "black" community thinks that this is racist because it "depicts an image similar to King Kong". Uh, what? Can someone fill me in on what I missed?
I’ll be the first person to admit that I don’t see in color. In fact I was once given grief at work because I explained the process of a tattoo to a co-worker as "similar to a sunburn". She looked at me and said, "I’m black." My response, "Ok..." Hers, "I don’t get sunburned." Ah, duh to me. I really don’t see in color at all. I don’t use people’s skin color to describe them in anyway shape or form, I just never have, save for one time when I was describing someone to the police after a break in.

I don’t care what race color creed people are, but I guess I’m in the minority on that one.
Look, I’m goin to spell this out once and once only. I understand that there was a great deal of hostility towards certian races. It’s been going on for YEARS and YEARS... and not just to one race. If you look back at history, every single race, creed and religion has been discriminated against.

My heritage: Irish, Polish, French, German, and a little Native American.

Black Slavery: 1619-1865

Irish people were slaves between 1649 until 1839.

Polish: As late as 2006 Polish people were kept as slaves in Italy.

French: Were imprisioned and sent to the new colonies as slaves, and also took in slaves to their

country.

German: Well, I can’t justify anything for this one.

Native American: Had land stolen, culture destroyed, were raped, murdered, impregnanted, outcast. I could continue on...

Black voting rights in the US: Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th amendment granted non white men the right to vote. AND Voting Rights Act of 1965 granted blacks to vote.

Women’s voting rights in the US: Women: 1920 in the 19th Amendment of the US constitution.

(Yes, you read that right, BLACKS could vote before women!)

Native Americans were granted the right to vote in 1924.

As of todays date, women only earn between 70-80 cents per every dollar that men make.

Now I’m not trivializing what happened to the other races of slaves, but they seem to think that they were the only ones who suffered. My people suffered too. I rarely hear of other people running around blaming other nationalites that they were enslaved by. I don’t blame Italy for enslaving my polish "brothers and sisters" nor do I blame the English for the suffering of my Native American ancestors.

It’s a part of history, ugly history. And unless you can prove to me that MY ancestors were part of your slave trade process, then quit blaming me personally. What more do you want? I’m sorry you were slaves, but I’m also sorry that my people were slaves too.

Also,I live in the NORTHERN US- The majority of slavery was in the south. I can trace all of my ancestors to immigrating here in the north, almost proving that MY personal family NEVER owned slaves. So I don’t owe you shit. Period. When my aunt was a little girl in the 1950’s she was kicked off the school bus because she was getting off at the "colored" bus stop. When my grandfather got the phone call he marched down the school and made a big stink about her punishment and said that he supported her and if it was closer to her house, she could and should get off at that stop and he didn’t care what color the other kids were that used that stop.
I guess I’m just sick of people like Sharpton, Jackson (not you Jackson) and the likes of others claiming racism for every single thing.

One day at work, I was called a "cracker" by two ladies who were so shady I that I refused a policy to them. I didn’t refuse them the policy because they were a different color than I was, I refused them because they couldn’t tell me who was going to be on the policy... They kept changing who the policy was for, at first it was for the sister, then the mother, then the other sister, then the mother again, then the boyfriend... Nope, no dice.

They left the office running a string of cracker this, honkey that. Me, racist? No, did I refuse the policy because of the color of your skin? Not in the least, did I ever once utter anything about anyone as a person? Nope. No, I’m not racist, I would have done the same thing for anyone else that tried the same thing. In fact if they had been in an hour earlier, they would have witnessed me refusing an auto policy to someone who reeked of booze so badly, I could smell it in my office an hour later. He was the same color as I am...

The other day I read something on Imus... On how it made the basketball team look bad and not him. I’m so sick of the small majority of a certian race always using the race discrimination card. Being a certian color doesn’t entitle you to shit and if you’re acting like an asshole, you’re an asshole. I didn’t call you a bitch because you’re "black" I called you a bitch because you’re a race entitlement whore.

The world doesn’t owe you shit because of your history. It’s not everyone else making you look bad, it’s you. Get off your asses and empower yourself. Quit thinking the world owes you shit, because if we all thought that way, then nothing would ever get done.

It’s not everyone else making you look bad, you’re doing a mighty fine job of it all on your own.

Or am I not allowed to have an opinion on racism because I'm white?

-MetalRose