I woke up very late today, I felt terrible after a long night.  At around 3AM in the morning, storms rolled in a woke my wife and I up from a dead sleep.  We had not gotten to bed much earlier, but it still messed up my schedule.  After waking up and immediately being a little upset with some business matters, I turned on the television and saw the CNN broadcast from Memphis.  I was quickly reminded that today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I watched a few minutes of the radio broadcast (Forgive me, I do not know the name of the radio show host--I'm sure if you're a liberal you'll label me a racist for not doing so--but you better hold on to your hat later in this blog, I'm going to punish you for that thought) and turned after I heard comedian Mo-Nique say, "Ya'll, I truly believe that equality can start when Barack Obama becomes the president."  I almost threw my computer at the TV.  My wife said to me with her amazing candor and insight, "And so this is what Dr. King died for."
Let me tell you what I know about Dr. King---more than you, period.  I know no one has read this blog yet(so the computer tells me) but for those of you who will, since this is the second entry on this blog, I will qualify that remark. 
I began to study Dr. King's work for the first time when I was 8 years old of my own volition.  We had one of those 2nd or 3rd grade reading projects about some figure in history, and I chose Dr. King.   I read whatever biography they had in the Alpharetta Elementary library, and began to ask my parents questions---a door I'm so very glad I opened, for it has been one of the most important discoveries of my life. I have given A+ reports on Dr. King in Jr. High, High School and College.  I have even given a speech in a black church(my church-where I received my license to the ministry) on Dr. King's birthday where I had people in my congregation tell me they did not know the things I said about him until I gave the speech.  Again, this goes back to my parents.
You see, my parents didn't just live at the time of the Civil Rights movement---they were inside the Civil Rights movement.  They were the Civil Rights movement.  My mother and father were a mixed race couple in Montgomery, Alabama and eventually Auburn, Alabama.  My father's family knew George C. Wallace and his whole family went to school with my mom and pop--the Wallace daughter had a crush on my uncle, who ironically for the idiot segregationist governor, was Hispanic.  Rosa Parks worked for my grandmother--NO BS--no exaggerations, I have the pictures.  My mother went to school and had Blacks and Whites asked her on a daily basis--"What the hell are you?"
The first black students in Alabama to integrate went to Sydney Lanier High School--with my mom and dad.  My father played with the first black football players at Auburn University-James Owens(LB) in 1969 from Fairview, AL and Thomas Garrison(S) from Birmingham--they came to Auburn of their own free will--they both got Graduate degrees and from all I know were or are successful young men--if you read this and are part of their families, I'd love to hear from you. My father and your fathers were good friends, and teammates.
Maybe that's why I am so passionate about this topic and putting it out there for what it really is.  I have been a football player since I was 8 years old also, and I've never, ever, even considered if my teammates were black or white.  All I've ever cared about is if they wore the same color uniform as I did.
Here's a secret America: All of us are on the same team--we all should be proud of wearing the same uniform--the uniform of the freest and most democratic country in the world.  Yet, what we see today, and what I heard from Mo-Nique, and other blacks in this nation, is not even close to Dr. King's dream.
I read another blog on townhall yesterday, the six things that are true about race we are afraid to say, and it was very on-point. So, the question today--of all days---is what is racism?  What makes you a racist? 
Here's what does not make you a racist
-If you are white(sorry, but many people think this is the first qualification--and it's as racist as ideas come)
-If you notice that people of different races talk, act, or think differently than you and you don't understand.
-If you are white or black and don't support Barack Obama--I'm sick and tired of this one-Mo-Nique, he's not the answer
-If you don't know every influential person in another's race's background or lore
-If you're a Republican--in fact--most Republicans are far less racist than Democrats

So what makes you a racist?  You make like not these qualifications, but with my background, I am qualified to make them:

-If you vote for a black, hispanic, asian, or any president solely because of their race, you are a racist.
-If you believe that 'acting white' or 'acting black' are viable terms, you're a racist
-If you call someone who doesn't agree with Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton's opinions an "Uncle Tom", you are a racist
-If you are Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farakahan, Henry Ford, Adolf Hitler, David Duke, Strom Thurmond, Maqmuhud Aminajhad, etc, etc---You are racist--without a doubt.
-If you look see a white kid with a black father or vice versa and have to take a second look-you're a racist


-Most importantly: If you would not let your daughter date or marry someone of another race because of their race: you are a racist.

Yes, I said that.  Don't like it? Well, you are what you are.

It stormed today in the south---it only passed by here in Texas--but the storm is pounding the deep south today, and that is not a coincidence--just like the fact that our worst hurricanes follow the tradewinds that brought the slave ships from Africa to the Southern US shores.  These curses must be broken-spiritually and physically.

The Bible puts it this way, "Anyone who says, "I walk in the light," but hates his brother, that person is a liar and still remains in darkness (1 John 2:9)

My pastor's version says it this way," You can't lift your hands and sing, I loooove you Looordd....but I hate that honkey(ni**er/spic/kike/guinea/yellow/etc---yes, all the ugly words are there...they are all equally ugly) next to me!!!"

Liar...not  from me...from God.  You stumble in the darkness, fall utterly.  Doesn't matter if you're black, white, etc...because you're still in Darkness.

So far, this political campaign has brought nothing but darkness in reference to Dr. King's dream--a majority of that coming from the candidate that supposedly is running on "Hope".

Dr. King would be appalled at how many times people have been called 'racist' by his campaign.  Especially with what he has said about whites in his book.  But such is the racism of this day.  Sen. Obama does it, my parents-in-law do it.  If you saw them in public, they'd never even hint to the fact they are racist...but if you saw them at home, you'd know. 
Not because they'd use an racial word, or wouldn't talk to a person of another race---but because they expect you to treat them differently because of their race.

This is racism, this is what Dr. King lost his life for.

Not for the KKK morons no one listens to....not for the Black Panther party who are the real "Uncle Toms" because they embrace the ideals of the very Islamic militants who began the slave trade...no...the masses of people who politely snub, talk down to, act differently, or won't go to church with those 'other' people.  These were who Dr. King was most angry at in his book.

Storms across the "Memphis Sky".. "Free at Last....They took your life...they could not, take your pride.....!!!!"

May we all take a hard look at ourselves, in the name of Love.




-