This one really makes me sick, and not for the reasons you might think. I am neither homophobic nor a gay basher; who you do the do with is your business. However, I do have a MAJOR problem with gay people acting like their alternative lifestyle is something that the rest of us have to celebrate or honor in some way. That kind of thinking causes many homosexuals to somehow find the AUDACITY to compare the hardships that may come as a result of their lifestyle choice to the oppression of my people.Excuse me?
This idea of gay being the "new Black" is not in and of itself new, but with all of the upset over California's failed Proposition 8, it is beginning to resurface, and I'm wondering where all the Black leaders and interest groups are now. I understand that homosexuals are often the victims of hate crimes. That's messed up. However, so are women and a number of other minorities. I also understand that everyone doesn't agree on the definition of marriage, which therefore makes it illegal in most states for homosexuals to enter into a legally recognized marriage.
That is NOTHING compared to what Black Americans have experienced in this country! ARE YOU SERIOUS? IS NO ONE ELSE HEATED ABOUT THIS?
Things like this are why I started this blog. Hypersensitive Black America who is offended at everything has let this one go by without so much as a word. Why? You aren't offended that people have reduced the suffering of our forefathers (and even many of us still alive today) to a sexual preference? Those who promote this ideal are a group that wants to force their freakish sexuality on society by making others recognize and/or celebrate what is clearly against their religion or beliefs. When they don't get what they want, they're oppressed now?
NEWS FLASH: No one is stopping gay people from being gay. Have a ball (no pun intended).
No one is enslaving gay people or forcing segregated society upon them. Gay people may experience prejudice and discrimination, but that does not compare to the 400+ years of slavery, Jim Crow, and the subsequent aftermath facing a ravaged and crippled community. Gays can't get America to concede that marriage means what they want it to mean. Boo hoo. That is not the same as being Black.
Now don't get me wrong, good old I.C. Jackson isn't one to make Black America the perpetual victim, either. I am all for accountability and blame where blame is due (just like credit), but that doesn't negate or minimize the suffering that took place.
Instead of getting mad and bent out of shape over stuff that really isn't about you being Black (like the overturning of Affirmative Action), why won't you get upset over something that really IS about you being Black? It's demeaning and disrespectful to try and put the gay experience in America and the Black experience in the same boat.
I sympathize with anyone who has been truly victimized because of what they believe or how they live, but that still doesn't justify such a comparison as this. If gay is the new Black, I'm Chinese or German, or something else. Maybe Dutch.
I don't know...
