OVERCOMING RACISM & DISCRIMINATION

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Mike Russo

Doesn’t it make you angry when someone treats you unfairly just because you’re black, brown, white, a woman, a man, homosexual, transgender, older, younger, disabled, bald, long-haired, short, fat, poor, wealthy, national origin, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. ? Doesn’t it make you angry? What would Dr. Martin Luther King say?

In 1790, George Washington said “The government of the United States …gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution, no assistance….” In fact, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and a few other pieces of civil rights legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, outlaw discrimination based on: 1) race, 2) color, 3) sex, 4) religion, 5) national origin, 6) age, and 7) handicap. However, there are many other bases for discrimination which are not illegal and are not obvious and therefore are much more difficult to deal with than those which are illegal. Because I’ve had a lot of experience in this area I thought I’d share my views on how discrimination works and how best to deal with it.

My understanding of discrimination began in 1975 when I became a collateral-duty (side-job) Hispanic Employment Program Manager for my Federal bureau, which took about 20% of my official work time. For the other 80% of my work-time, I was a Environmental Planner. With help from our Field Office employees, we were able to increase Hispanic-American employment in my small bureau from one person to 32 Hispanic-Americans so that my 500-employee bureau was 6% Hispanic-American when I left it. I received awards for my work from the Director of my bureau as well as from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

When I went to work for another bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior as a Program Analyst, I also took a collateral-duty (side-job) as my bureau’s Collateral-Duty EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) Counselor, counseling about a dozen Equal Employment Opportunity complaintants, and received my bureau’s first “Outstanding Counselor” award in 1985. Finally and importantly, at age 25 years, prior to both of those experiences, I had a large brain tumor removed which resulted in 1/2 of my face being paralyzed and numb. Suddenly I looked physically challenged and was easily-identifiable. This situation gave me the unique experience of being able to compare how I was treated when I looked like most other people versus how I was treated when I looked differently and was easily identifiable as being physically challenged.

HOW EXTENSIVE A PROBLEM IS DISCRIMINATION

In the past, discrimination has led to lynchings because of race, national origin, religion, and other differences; it has led to the torture and slaughter of six million innocent Jews by the Nazis and the murder of 3000 innocent Americans by Al Qaeda; and to many other atrocities through the ages, including right up to the present with “Flash-mob” attacks and the “Knockout Game.” Today, however, allegations of racism have become politicized and therefore many, though unfortunate, are false, like Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin. A quick and easy way to determine most bogus allegations of racism is to first check if the accuser is a politician or a political adviser or pundit or works in the “accusations of racism shakedown” industry…and if she/he does, then you can assume the allegation is false. Racism and discrimination do still exist today but it’s a tiny fraction of what it was back in the 1950’s and before, though many people, especially politicians, exploit racial differences in an attempt to gain votes and with it the power and money that can accompany political positions.

HOW DISCRIMINATION DEVELOPS

I believe that discrimination evolves because of three phenomena: 1) quick and easy identification of the group being discriminated against; 2) mind set; and 3) selective perception.

Easy identification is the reason why African-Americans, as well as women and other minorities, still are the recipients of discrimination, though nothing like the situation was even 50-years ago. The same is true of the fat, bald, unattractive, elderly, disabled, and political minorities.

“Mind-set” I believe is the second phenomenon that enables discrimination to occur. It develops when one’s mind, because of stereotyping or some other reason, thinks along certain lines or is “set” to the extent that, even when new contradictory information is brought to light, it is discounted or simply not considered or even not perceived. Another name for mind-set is “paradigms”.

Once a mind-set exists, selectively perceiving phenomena within the area of the “set” is called “selective perception”. With discrimination, one would selectively perceive only those phenomena that reinforced the mind-set.

HOW TO HANDLE DISCRIMINATION

What should you do if you experience discrimination? Getting angry at the injustice is a common reaction. Some may even think that they now have the right to retaliate. I can recall a number of massacres motivated by feelings of persecution and self-righteousness in seeking revenge. However, when the retaliation avenue is pursued, all parties become victims, especially those exacting the revenge. To cite just one example, if you discriminate against me, and I become angry and/or vengeful, you would actually now be controlling my behavior by changing my attitude, becoming a criminal and probably hurting someone who turns out to be innocent., A much healthier approach is to say to yourself, “People make the most absurd assumptions based on very superficial and erroneous analyses. They aren’t thinking intelligently.” Also, “people can think anything they want about me but if they act on their beliefs, then I’ll take appropriate action, from simply shrugging it off to considering the entire range of legal actions and implementing whatever is appropriate for the situation”.

FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE

I have seen firsthand how easy identifiability, mind-set, and selective perception work. For me they are not simply theories you might read about. Up to age 25, when I looked like most others, I was treated one way. After 25, when I looked obviously disabled, I was treated differently, except from my family and friends. And even though most people were not even aware of what they were doing, their being unaware of what they were doing didn’t help much.

CONCLUSION

Dr. Martin Luther King has told us to “judge people on the content of their character”. To prevent doing otherwise, we should remember how discrimination works so that we can prevent ourselves from unwittingly engaging in it. Anyone who looks or talks differently is at risk of being the victim of some discrimination. The healthiest way to deal with discrimination is to try to understand and forgive those who wrong you. This will make you a bigger person as well as add years to your lifespan. To quote Mahatma Gandhi, “Hatred can be overcome only by love”.

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MUGGED: racial demagoguery

Posted on October 8, 2022 by Mike Russo

I read Ann Coulter’s book, Mugged, and learned a lot of new information from this lawyer and best-selling author. None of the information surprised me but it was insightful reading Ms. Coulter’s relentless array of facts.

Basically, Coulter contends that very few of the racial incidents in the last 50 years have been racist (civil rights battles were mostly won before the seventies); instead, they were racial hoaxes, perpetrated by demagogues for various reasons and motives.

One of the most important facts that Ann Coulter shows in her book, Mugged, is that all segregationists were Democrats and that the Democrat Party fought against Civil Rights legislation for 100 years going way back to Abraham Lincoln’s time when Lincoln and his Republican Party ran on an anti-slavery platform. This is not news to us who know American history but it is big news to millions of Americans that have been brainwashed and now believe the racist propaganda politicians spout off.

Another very important and horrific fact brought to light in Ms. Coulter’s book is the fact that a major consequence of every racial hoax is the slaughter of whites by young black hoodlums seeking revenge for what they hear and believe to be true about the (phony) racial incidents (Google: “Blackout Game,” “Polar Bear Hunting,” “Flash Mobs”).

Why do I believe the aforementioned to be true? First, because I trust Ann Coulter in accurately portraying the facts. Second, because I not only worked for many years assisting minorities in combating discrimination as a Federal collateral-duty EEO Counselor and then as a Federal collateral-duty Hispanic Employment Program Coordinator, but also have closely followed many racial incidents, including Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

“Mugged” gives the details of many racial incidents, such as the Tawana Brawley rape hoax with Al Sharpton’s involvement. I believe that some racism still exists, but there are many politicians and race hustlers exploiting race simply to get your vote, and use the very toxic “Critical Race Theory” (which contends that all whites are oppressors and all blacks are victims) and the”1619 Project” (which contends that America was really founded to further slavery, contrary to what the Declaration of Independence says).

CONCLUSION

Ann Coulter’s book, Mugged, ends with Barack Obama. The United States has made fantastic progress since it left British rule in 1776, which back then had slavery. Eighty-seven years later President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves (in 1863). One hundred and thirty-seven years after the slaves were freed, the U.S. elected its first African-American President (Barack Obama in 2008). In the 1960’s, significant Civil Rights laws were passed to help combat discrimination. Today, many politicians are unethically using race to create racial strife to further their political agendas. It’s no coincidence that 90% of African-Americans vote Democrat, though Democrat Socialist policies are preventing them from achieving their dreams.

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FERGUSON: Did Michael Brown Receive Justice?

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Mike Russo

On August 9, 2014, 18-year old Michael Brown, was shot to death by Ferguson, Missouri policeman Darren Wilson. Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, were walking in the middle of the street when officer Wilson, in a police car, asked the young men to walk on the sidewalk. Officer Wilson drove on but the young men stayed in the middle of the street. Wilson’s police radio told about a recent robbery at a nearby convenience store and mentioned that the perpetrator wore a red cap and white shirt, which is what Mr. Brown was wearing.

After hearing the description of Michael Brown on his police-car radio, officer Wilson backed up his vehicle until it was in front of Mike and Dorian, blocking their path as well as traffic coming from both sides of the street. Before Wilson was able to get out of his car, Mike punched Wilson in the face through an open car window and tried to get officer Wilson’s gun. Wilson was able to shoot twice, once hitting Brown in the thumb. Mike and Dorian then ran away with Wilson running after them telling them to stop. Mike stopped running when he reached a light pole. Then he turned, and charged Wilson. Wilson started shooting but stopped shooting when Mike stopped running. Mike began charging Wilson again and was only stopped by the final bullet which hit him on the top of his head (which is because Brown bent forward as if to tackle Wilson). Mike’s mom, Lesley McSpadden said that her son would have followed the policeman’s orders. Mike was so high on Marijuana, however, that he couldn’t have been thinking straight. According to the Toxicology Report, Mike’s blood level of Delta-9-THC was 12 nannograms/ML, which is twice the legal limit that the State of Washington (where pot is legal) allows for determining that someone is impaired.

These are the facts. The first account of what happened was by Mike’s friend, Dorian Johnson, who was arrested in 2011 and lied to the police about his name, address, and everything else he told the police. However, he was believed by everyone in the community until the very thorough Grand Jury’s report was released on November 24 which provided forensic and physical evidence proving Johnson was wrong . If any one individual is responsible for all of the agitation and violence, it’s Dorian Johnson, whom I believe should have been indicted for lying to the Grand Jury (as well as to the police, the community and to the world which consequently led to the violence where many people were hurt).

Rather than calming the situation in Ferguson, agitators whipped up the crowd into a frenzy and looted and burned down 25 businesses in the area the night that Robert McCulloch, prosecutor for St. Louis County, explained what the Grand Jury did and how they reached their conclusion that there was no “probable cause” for indicting Officer Darren Wilson. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon had mobilized the National Guard and explained that their job was to protect the businesses, but he did not deploy the guard to do their job and many businesses were consequently burned downed after Michael Brown’s stepfather, Louis Head, shouted to the crowd, “burn this mother f—er down,” and “burn this bitch down.”

Mainstream Media, instead of keeping everyone informed and critically analyzing the event, made the situation worse with its usual incompetent and sloppy reporting and analysis. I’ll just give one piece of proof for my allegation of their incompetence: look at the recent photo of Michael Brown at the top of this page. Have you seen anything other than Brown’s 13-years-old “sweet-child” photos from mainstream Media (Michael Brown was 18)? The Trayvon Martin case all over again, where the media showed only his photos when he was 12-years-old rather than the 18-year-old that he actually was. However, beating out all other media outlets for malfeasance and irresponsibility once again is the New York Times which listed Darren Wilson address in one of its November 24, 2014 articles (Doxing).

Some politicians used Ferguson for nefarious purposes. Attorney General Eric Holder, racist, did so. Al Sharpton, another racist, as well. President Obama, on the other hand, appeared to be helpful, trying to defuse the situation. Who am I to say someone is racist or not? I worked for many years getting fair play for minorities and women and received awards for this work. I believe I can know.

After looking at the facts that I presented here as accurately as I can, do you believe Mike Brown received justice?

Although most murders of African-Americans are committed by other African-Americans, situations like Ferguson will continue to happen unless everyone does three things: 1) do not assault police officers, 2) do what police officers ask you to do…you can always get a remedy later if you were treated unfairly, 3) if you use illicit drugs, do so at home where it is relatively safe (except for Fentanyl which will kill you quickly) and you do not have to be level-headed and reason your way out of tricky situations that can get you hurt or killed.

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