(Todd A. Smith)
Parental advisory my friends: Be careful not to make some White people uncomfortable because you might be breaking the law soon in the crazy state of Florida.
You truly cannot make this foolishness up.
The Associated Press reported, “A bill pushed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from making White people feel ‘discomfort’ when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation’s past received its first approval Tuesday…
“Democrats argued the bill isn’t needed, would lead to frivolous lawsuits and said it would amount to censorship in schools. They asked, without success, for real-life examples of teachers telling students or employees that they are racist because of their race.”
Since there seem to be so many slow people in the modern-day GOP, let me break this down for them.
Tell me if this makes sense.
As a journalist, I should not call someone a murderer if the courts found them not guilty.
With that said, football legend O.J. Simpson is a murderer in my opinion and a wife beater.
As a man that does not make me feel guilty because I have never hit a woman except for the time I hit one of my mother’s friend’s daughter when we were toddlers.
As a Black man, I do not feel guilty because although Simpson killed his former wife who was White and her friend who was also White, I never killed anyone Black or White.
Musical genius R. Kelly is a pedophile.
As a Black man and fan of his music, I do not feel guilty when someone mentions R. Kelly’s decades of child molestation because I have never molested a child.
Sam Little, a Black man, was one of the worst serial killers in United States history.
But when I watched the docuseries “Confronting a Serial Killer” on Starz, I did not feel guilty as a Black man because I am not a serial killer.
Bloods, Crips and other Black gangs kill people on a regular basis.
They cause mass destruction in the Black community.
But when I hear about gang violence or so-called Black-on-Black crime, I do not feel guilty because I am not a gang member or criminal.
On the other hand, I will admit that as a child and an adult I have gone to church, and it seemed like the preacher was talking directly to me as it pertains to the sins I struggle with.
I never blamed the preacher or wanted to make it illegal for preachers to talk about bad tempers, profanity and drinking Hennessey.
However, for some reason some White people feel guilty when instructors teach about America’s racist history or when companies make employees take diversity training.
While the feeling of guilt should make someone look inward, because the only reason a person should feel guilty about racism is if they are indeed racist, Florida Gov. DeSantis and Republicans from the “Sunshine State” are trying to make it illegal to make White people feel discomfort when discussing actual American history or when businesses seek to become more diverse and inclusive.
To put it bluntly, many Republicans and conservatives have completely lost their minds because of the advances made by minorities in this country over the past few decades.
The made-up critical race theory (CRT) issue and the entire Make America Great Again movement is just the byproduct of Black people and Brown people becoming more powerful in politics and everyday life.
With laws that would make it illegal to upset White people, Florida is trying to reverse all that racial progress that culminated with a Black family living in the White House from 2009-2017.
Unfortunately, it is par for the course and should be expected because it is just an example of American history repeating itself.
When African-Americans made political and business gains following emancipation, Jim Crow and terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan emerged to restore White supremacy and the status quo.
Now, the so-called CRT craziness and the former crazy commander-in-chief are just pushback from a party who would rather suppress minority political power temporarily instead of embracing the permanent change in American racial demographics.
Embracing the browning of America might attract more diverse voters to the GOP.
But instead, they are committing political suicide by alienating a demographic that will only continue to grow in the coming decades.
No effort to remove White discomfort will change the fact that the country will soon become majority minority and alienating many Americans cannot be a good strategy going forward for the GOP.
But back to the argument of discomfort.
Discomfort is a good thing when it comes to growth as a person.
Have you ever wondered why God makes people uncomfortable when He wants them to move or grow?
That is because people are creatures of habit and comfort makes us become stagnant.
If God wants something bigger for you in the workforce, He often finds a way for your boss or one of your co-workers to upset you so much that you start looking for a new job.
Who knows?
That new job might take your career to the next level and bring in much more money.
However, if you do not move away from your current job because you are comfortable, you might not ever reach the heights that God has for you.
Whenever a love interest is not in God’s plans for your life, He often allows that person to abuse you verbally or even emotionally.
He is doing that because He wants that person to upset you so much that you leave them behind.
God might have something better for you.
Or that person that you love so much at the time might hold you back from getting some of the blessings that He has for you.
That person that you were in a relationship with might prevent you from the growth that will get you to your heart’s desire.
Therefore, when some White people feel guilty when they hear about racism in this country, it should not motivate them to make it illegal for people to hurt their feelings.
First, those White people must realize that they feel guilty because they are guilty.
No innocent person feels guilty, and all White people do not feel guilty when discussing racism, trust me.
Secondly, that feeling of discomfort might just be God trying to work on their hearts as He tries to remove the ignorance and hatred from their hearts.
Therefore, let God work and stay out his way, DeSantis and Florida Republicans.
