Racism Part III, Why I said it...

Like any trilogy, I will now go back to the beginning and give information missing from the first 2 installments, thus exposing the previously unknown motivation for the series...

At my office we get a lot of mail from shareholders from all over the country. A few days ago, while my boss was opening some mail she comes out of her office in a state of shock saying to no one in particular "That is SOO racist! That is sooo racist!" She wasn't shouting it, but she wasn't whispering either and this is a small office. Then she goes over to copier which is 5 feet from me and says to "James" who sits in front of me that she is going to fax this to her husband because he won't believe it if he doesn't see it. She shows a copy to "James" and a few others, then goes back in her office and nothing else is said. After all the hoopla dies down, I notice that she has not shown it to me or the one other Black person in the office. I quietly asked "James" to let me see it. It was a free "Back to Africa" ticket, with every degrading racial slur and stereotype imaginable. Comparing Blacks to monkeys, calling us dirty, useless and criminal, the whole gamut. Basically telling us all to hop on a boat and go back where we came from. One of our shareholders included it in with something they sent us. I guess they thought it was funny. Who knows how many unsuspecting businesses received this?
I put it in the shredder. Later, I think my boss realized that maybe she could have handled it better, cause she comes over to my desk and starts making conversation and being really nice (she very rarely comes to my desk to chit chat). It was almost funny. I don't think my boss is racist, I haven't gotten that vibe from anybody here (well, not strong vibes). I would never make that accusation against any of my coworkers. Just seeing that ticket ignited some emotions I haven't felt for a while.

I want to make it clear that I don't walk around with a chip on my shoulder shouting at the wind, complaining about the "suffering of my people." I don't hate white people or think that every white person is out to get me. I don't feel I need to tear down another race to uplift my own. I believe there is room for everybody to achieve we should all have pride in our individual and collective histories.
I recognize that many nationalities of people have been oppressed and abused. I acknowledge that this country we call home was once the land of Native Americans, or better the indigenous people of this continent. The name America comes from Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine explorer who was a navigator with Christopher Columbus in 1499, and the first geographer to realize that the Americas were separate continents. It has also been argued that America was named after a wealthy Bristol merchant Richard Amerike. So, calling them Native Americans is no more accurate than calling them Indians. Yes, I've read a book. This was their land and we robbed, killed and terrorized them into near extinction. There are tribes that still remain, but we don't want to take the time to show them respect of learning who they are, so we cover them all with a nice P.C. "Native American" blanket.
It was not my assertion that Blacks are the only people in history to have experienced difficult times. It has been the nature of man throughout history to pick out those that are different, blame them for our own problems and punish them for it. The Irish, Italians, Chinese, Polish... have all been victims of systematic and institutionalized racism at various times.
The point is, I am Black in America, so that is the struggle I identify with most. I would never minimize the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust or the discrimination they still face today. I don't make it a habit of comparing racial struggles for equality or saying one race's pain is more tragic or significant than another's. I can say, however, that one has more relevance to ME.