An Essay on Race and Racial Education

If you've been following the latest news, then perhaps you've heard of something called Critical Race Theory, or CRT.  This is an academic concept that attempts to discuss the issue and history of race (as it applies to America) (1).  

CRT has ignited a firestorm of sorts; many parents have engaged in heated debates with educators over its teachings.  Frankly, I share the concerns of these parents.  Personally, I have no problem with Connecticut schools teaching the history of race and racial relations.  I think that this is a subject that should be examined under a critical light.  

The issue, then, is with the specific ideas that CRT advances:

• America is a racist nation, and has been from its founding.  

• Being black or having black skin makes you better than others who are not black.

• The best way to address racial issues is to practice Communist principles.  

Yes, this is what is currently being taught in our public school systems (2).  And it's not so much of a new concept as it might seem to be.  Unfortunately, the idea of division based on race (as well as other factors) was being discussed a long time ago.  

Twenty-some years ago, I was a senior at what was then known as Fairfield High School.  At the time, there were certain classes that the state required students to take.  One of these was a course called "Islamic Studies"; it included lessons about the history and religious beliefs of Islam.  

As surprising as it might be that this was a state-mandated course, what was taught in that class was even more shocking.  I can still clearly recall something that my teacher, a female Dr. Kelly, once said (in the process of lecturing the class):

"Islam is a religion of peace, and Roman Catholicism is a cult" 

The really scary thing is that as a student, you were expected to agree with statements such as this.  If you questioned them, you would likely find yourself with a failing grade.  And sure, you could perhaps opt out of the class; just not if you ever anticipated graduating.  

I fear that this sort of thing is still happening in our schools.  That is, students are being told that if they want to pass a course, they must say what the teachers want to hear (3).  

These days, that is most likely "all cops are bastards", "(only) black lives matter", and "America was never great".  

Maybe it's time we taught our children not to judge people based on the color of their skin, but instead on "the content of their character" (4).  

Random Thoughts: Another Election

 A few random thoughts for today.  

- Another election year, another big defeat in my hometown of Fairfield.  The GOP lost the majority on the town's legislative body, the "Representative Town Council".  To make matters worse, it also lost the town Board of Finance (1).  

What does this mean? It means that going forward, every new big building project proposed will be approved....except for the ones that go against the "woke" agenda (Chick-Fil-A, anyone?).  And don't get me started on how the town will see higher taxes.  In short, Fairfield will continue to devolve into "Little Bridgeport", so to speak.  

Is this what we really want? Do we want a sky-high level of crimes such as car thefts and burglaries? Do we want Democrats to be able to "deny and deflect" any responsibility for the fill pile scandal (started under the previous Democrat First Selectman)? Do we like the fact that town Democrat "leaders" frequently use scare tactics (such as calling all Republicans "Nazis", which they did this year) to intimidate Fairfielders into voting for them?

And do we want our children to be taught that if someone has black skin, that alone makes them superior to anyone else (see Note 1)?

Think about it!

- Lately, it's been rather difficult to "keep the faith".  

It's always the same old story after elections; we say we're going to win big, and then we don't.  Don't get me wrong, I like the direction that the Fairfield (and Connecticut) GOP is going in.  What greatly disappoints me is the final outcome of major races; they haven't really developed in our favor recently.  And seemingly, one can't blame me for being disheartened.  

Take a quick look around you.  Fairfield is becoming urbanized, and losing the small town New England charm that has served it so well.  And every day, we lose a little bit more of our rights and freedoms.  This is true not just for Fairfield, and not just for Connecticut, but for the entire nation.  

There is a song that I sometimes listen to which speaks to this rather well.  

If I may, here's a small excerpt of "Broken Dreams" (as written and performed by "Shaman's Harvest"):

"Almost to the mountaintop

You slip and fall just like a stone,

Rolling ever faster

To this nightmare you have sown.

You had it all right in your grasp,

But in a breath, your minute passed.

Now at last the end has come,

You are all alone"

Maybe I'm a bit too traditional in my beliefs, or perhaps too old-fashioned for my own good.  Nevertheless, as I see it, people are no longer living the "American dream", but an "American nightmare" (apologies to wrestler Cody Rhodes).  

"Don't you look behind the curtain

No one's there, the end is certain" (2)

Random Thoughts

 And now, some random thoughts on random people.

• Mindy Porten:

        Hearing about her death has broken my heart.  Mindy was one of my earliest and dearest female friends; I can still remember chasing after her in elementary school.  

        To some extent, I feel to blame for what happened.  Perhaps if I had kept in contact with Mindy, she wouldn't have come to such a tragic end.  That's a feeling that I have to deal with, I guess.  I haven't felt this sad since my father died, six years ago.  

• Rob Maresca:

         Good friends are hard to find, and even harder to keep.  Robbie and I are polar opposites on basically every political issue known to man.  Nevertheless, we've somehow managed to not tear each other limb from limb, LOL.  "Mucho respecto" on that one, my man!

• Courtney Claytor:

         Happy to see she's having success in the real estate business.  Personally speaking, my father worked with Courtney's grandmother for many years in that same industry; it's obvious the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.  Maybe I should've taken up the family business...oh well!

• Julie Sherwood:

        Well, here we go again with "all the feels".  Julie helped to lift me out of one of the darkest times of my life.  And then, I fell totally in love with her.  I can't adequately express how much Julie means to me. 

         The unfortunate reality of being a man is that every now and then, you have to watch your dreams die..."and never breathe a word about your loss" (see Note 1).  That's the way life is, and that's the way that this has gone for me.  Even so, I'll never ever stop loving this woman.  

• Beth Jastroch:

         Allow me to attempt a bit of "full disclosure" for a moment.  Years before I met Julie Sherwood, I fell pretty hard for Beth.  However, as sometimes happens in this life, we eventually grew apart.  

        Now, Julie is the love of my life, but this woman is also very special to me.  I don't exactly know what happened between us; perhaps I said something that I shouldn't have, making her upset.  If that is the case, then I sincerely and completely apologize for doing so.  I'm not one of those people who gets a rise out of getting on someone else's nerves; that's just not me.  

        Anyways, to make a long story short, my feelings for Beth are...how should I put this...very strong.  It's hard to love someone when you've already given your heart to another; somehow, I manage.  

• Jacqueline Honulik:

         Maybe it's just me dreaming, but it looks like this woman's got it going on.  Pretty, talented, a good head on her shoulders (seemingly), AND a Mets fan? I know I've said this before, but "be still my heart"!

         Now, to quote former pro wrestler Lance Storm, "let me be serious for a moment".  

         It has come to my attention that a few years ago, Jackie hit the romantic jackpot (so to speak), but had the situation fall apart.  Honestly, that's kind of a downer for me.  A woman like her deserves to be happy, as far as love is concerned.  

         As far as heartbreak from failed relationships goes, "I've been around (that) block a time or two" (to paraphrase singer Don Henley) (see note 2).  You know the deal; "lucky in cards, unlucky in love".  

        To this, I've sort of thought that perhaps we could help each other out.  Maybe I could help heal her heart, and she could heal mine.  Then again, maybe I'm just having one of my pie-in-the-sky dreams.  

        Anyways, it is what it is.  Life's weird like that, isn't it?

Time Warp: 1997

On September 29 1997, I turned sixteen years old.  Here's a quick look at some of the big headlines for that year.  

1997 Recap

• April 13: Tiger Woods wins the Masters Golf Tournament, finishing a full twelve strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Kite.  At the age of twenty, Woods is the youngest person to ever win the competition (1).  

• May 11: IBM's "Deep Blue" computer defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game series, taking the victory by a score of three and a half games to two and a half games.  The achievement is a major milestone in the development of artificial intelligence (2).  

• June 28: During a heavyweight boxing title fight, Mike Tyson bites the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.  Tyson loses the bout by disqualification; subsequently, his boxing license is suspended for a year (3, 4).  

(Note: The following video may be difficult for some to watch...discretion is advised)

• July 5: Scottish scientists announce that they have successfully cloned a female sheep.  "Dolly" becomes the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell (2).  

• August 14: Convicted of the Oklahoma City Bombing, Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death by lethal injection.  The sentence will be carried out on June 11, 2001 (5).

• August 31: Diana, Princess of Wales and companion Dodi Fayed are killed in a Paris car crash.  At the time of the accident, the car that Diana was traveling in was being pursued by press photographers.  The Princess was thirty-six years old; Fayed was forty-two (2, 6).  

• October 26: The upstart Florida (now Miami) Marlins win the 1997 World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians four games to three.  It is the first of two world championships for the Marlins; they will also take the title in 2003.  With the victory, Florida becomes the first wild card team to win a World Series (7, 8).  

Next up, we take a special look at 2000; the year that saw my nineteenth birthday, as well as the turn of the millennium.  

Time Warp: 1991

Continuing with my birthday series, here's a look at what was happening in 1991; the year that I turned ten years old.  

1991 Recap

• January 17: War begins in the Persian Gulf, as a coalition of forces led by the United States attack Iraq by air.  The military action, dubbed "Operation Desert Storm", is taken in response to Iraq's invasion of neighboring country Kuwait (1, 2).  

• January 27: The New York Giants defeat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV.  With the game on the line, Bills kicker Scott Norwood misses a forty-five yard field goal try wide right.  New York's win gives the Giants their second Super Bowl victory (3, 4).  

• March 3: In Los Angeles, African-American motorist Rodney King is severely beaten by white officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.  King was being arrested for the alleged crime of driving while intoxicated.  All four officers involved were later acquitted of assault charges in the incident; this subsequently touched off the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.  (Note: Due to graphic content, I've chosen to not include the amateur video of King's beating here) (1)

• June 25: In Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Croatia each declare independence.  These events lead to beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, and a long period of bloodshed (5).  

• July 10: Change comes to the Soviet Union, as Boris Yeltsin is sworn in as the first elected president of Russia (1).  

• November 23: Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the British-based rock band "Queen", announces that he has AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).  Mercury dies from the disease a day later, at the age of forty-five (6).  

• December 21-26: Eleven Russian republics (including Russia itself) declare independence, and form the "Commonwealth of Independent States", or CIS.  Subsequently, the Soviet Union is declared dissolved; Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev resigns his position on December 25 (1, 7, 8). 

 

In my next entry, I'll take a closer look at what happened in 1997; the year of my sixteenth birthday.  

Time Warp: 1986

On September 29 1986, I celebrated my fifth birthday.  Here's a quick look at some of the things that were making headlines that year.  

1986 Recap

• January 28: Just seventy-three seconds after its launch from Kennedy Space Center, the space shuttle Challenger explodes.  All seven astronauts aboard the spacecraft lose their lives (1, 2).

• April 26: In what is still considered the deadliest and costliest nuclear disaster in history, a reactor facility at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explodes.  The nearby town of Pripyat Ukraine is evacuated and abandoned; today, it is a ghost town (3, 4).  

• April 27: A Home Box Office (HBO) broadcast of "The Falcon And The Snowman" is interrupted by broadcast pirate "Captain Midnight".  Instead of the scheduled movie, viewers in the eastern half of the US see color bars, and a message protesting against what the intruder believes to be unreasonably expensive access fees.  The interruption lasts for four and a half minutes (5).  

• October 27: The New York Mets win the 1986 World Series, defeating the Boston Red Sox four games to three.  It is the second world championship for the Mets, who also won in 1969.  New York will appear in two more World Series (2000 and 2015), but lose both (to the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals, respectively) (6, 7).  

• October 28: The one hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty ("Liberty Enlightening the World") is celebrated (8).  

Next up, we'll take a look at 1991; the year that saw me turn ten years old.  

Time Warp: 1981

With my fortieth birthday fast approaching, I've decided to take a look at some of the big news stories for certain years of my life.  Let's take a look at a couple of these years, starting with 1981.  

1981 Recap

• January 20: Just minutes after new US president Ronald Reagan is sworn into office, Iran releases fifty-two Americans whom they had held as hostages.  In total, the hostages spent four hundred and forty-four days as captives of the Iranians (1).  

• March 30: Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr., an obsessed fan of actress Jodie Foster.  Hinckley believed that the assassination attempt would impress the actress, thereby winning her favor (2, 3).  

• April 12: Columbia, the world's first reusable spacecraft, is launched on its maiden mission (STS-1) by NASA (4).  

• May 5: In Northern Ireland, Irish Republican Army ("IRA") member and political activist Bobby Sands dies while on a hunger strike.  Sands was attempting to secure better prison conditions for himself and his fellow inmates, many of whom had been branded as terrorists by the then government of the United Kingdom (5).   

  

• May 13: In Vatican City, Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca (6).  

• May 18: Reports begin to emerge surrounding an "exotic new disease" occurring in gay men.  This disease is later named "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome", or "AIDS".  By the end of the 1990s, it is estimated that five to ten million people (worldwide) are living with HIV/AIDS (7). 

 (Note: The following video may be difficult for some to watch....use your discretion) (8)

• August 1: MTV makes its first broadcast, promising that "you'll never look at music the same way again" (9).  

Next up: 1986, and my fifth birthday.