Dem’s Arizona Spin

Our liberal elected officials are the most dangerous threat to our national security than anything Vladimir Putin could have possibly imagined. Witness the recent spat over Arizona GOP representative Eli Crane, a military veteran, attempting to make a point that our military must be held to standards of preparedness not woke ideology. In his statement, he, unfortunately, used the phrase “colored people.”  Not in a derogatory fashion, but referring to “people of color.”  Cue the outrage from the left. He quickly apologized for having misspoken and asked that the phrase be amended to “people of color”. But no, that’s not enough. Rather than address the actual issue of military preparedness, the conversation naturally devolved into race and white nationalists. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, you know that inclusive group of African-American congressional members that suggests there exists a Congressional White Caucus…..which there isn’t…..immediately asked that his comments be “stricken from the record.” And of course, the amendment passed. Another sideshow to distract from the actual issue at hand that truly affects America. Now hold the phone. Somebody has to step up and clarify this word salad for the rest of us White Americans. Perhaps issue a handbook. Now I know it somehow is, but how exactly is “colored people” offensive but “ people of color” is not?  Really, I’m asking. Isn’t your representative organization the National Association for the Advancement of …….Colored People? Sorry, that doesn’t make sense. And the goalposts keep moving. Black was acceptable, then it had to be capitalized, then it moved to “African-American.”  But even that doesn’t make sense as it implies all Black people come from Africa. What about Caribbean islanders or Black South Americans? Do we just default back to our supposed origins? Should we recognize Neanderthal-Americans?  And to broadly label people of African origin African-Americans, we are casting a net that includes Elon Musk and Charlize Theron. African yes, but notably deficient in melanin. But isn’t that like calling an Englishman and a Hungarian European-Americans?  Africa is a big place, made up of a lot of countries much like Europe. Should we get more specific and use Nigerian-American and Ugandan-American?  That seems accurate but unwieldy. And that brings me to a recent article about what Europeans find irritating about Americans. Not that I care what Europeans think about us, and frankly they would all be German if it weren’t for us, but they found it ridiculous that we identify as hyphenated Americans or by the origins of our family name You’re not an Italian-American or even Italian they opined, you’re just an American. Maybe of Italian descent, but American nonetheless. You don’t see Europeans gong about referring to themselves as German-Belgians or Italian-Scottish. Point taken. And what if a Black man, born in England emigrates to the United States?   Is he British-American, or does he suddenly become an African-American?  All so very confusing, this labeling. But back to my original discussion. Negro was at one time acceptable and even widely used by Booker T. Washington, but is thought to be offensive. Why is that?  Isn’t it essentially Spanish for Black?  Perhaps it is too closely associated with the dreaded N-word. But if the N-word is so repugnant, then stop using it yourselves. Why is it so prevalent in pop culture? You certainly don’t see people of European descent calling “yo, my spic” or “what’s up dago” to their compatriots, do you?  Stop it. It sends the wrong message. So what I ask for us is consistency. Pick an identity and stick with it. Stop using a constantly changing fluid state of self-description as a starting point for more discussions on racism, tribalism and that which divides us. Relegate outdated words you find offensive to history’s trash heap and don’t keep recycling or rearranging them to suit the narrative. Finding the term “colored people” offensive but “people of color” acceptable is absurd wordplay. Explain it, and don’t use that race-baiting, huckster Al Sharpton to do it. It’s confusing and only divides us further.