Racism in the 21st Century - still alive and kicking!!

The other day I stumbled upon an article of maybe 6 or 7 lines on a major Canadian's Sports network's website regarding a Nigerian soccer player being investigated for making the "Hitler salute" at a German Fourth Division match-up.

[FYI: To render the "Hitler Salute" is illigal in Germany and carries a jail term if convicted!!]

Adebowale Ogungbure was taunted and assaulted by fans of Halle FC throughout the match and when he left the pitch, Ogungbure rendered the straight arm salute in return .

When iI researched the subject I came upon an article from Italy about a star player from Lazio FC, their captain Paolo di Canio, who celebrated scoring a goal by flashing the "Hitler salute" to Lazio's far-right wing fans.

I also remembered an article I read about British Holocaust denier David Irving, a writer of Historcal Non-fiction, who has been found guilty in court of his crime of the Denial.

(I am sure there is trillions of other cases, incidents and stories about racism but those three are the ones that are good examples.)

We are all guilty of racism, no excuses here. We drive on the road and swear bad words at another driver, like "you stupid person from some pacific-rim country" or "you dumb woman" or "you stupid non-white idiot". WE have all done it in some way or other.

And as much as i do NOT condoan that kind of behavior (i am probably one of the worst racist drivers in the world) it does NOT compare to what is going on around the world when it comes to racism and intolerance.

Neo-Nazism in Europe, genocide in Africa, religion motivated wars in the Middle East, racial discrimination in North America, murder in South America. It seems the only continent not affected of racism is the Antarctic - but that is probably because its too friggin cold there!!!!!

Why is it that the Human race can not learn from Millenia of discrimination? Aren't 6 million Jews, millions of Gypsies, Homosexuals, mentally handicappe, Asian-Americans and other minorites annihalated and discriminated by the Nazis, Soviets and Americans during the 1940's enough?
Aren't millions of Tutzi's massacred in Africa enough?
Aren't the tortures and killings of those that believed in progress, practitioners of different believes or just plainly because they were there to be tortured and killed throughout the centuries enough?

What does it take for Human kind to wake up and smell the ovens?

It pains me sometimes to admit that I am racist. Being Jewish I have NO RIGHT to be racist! NONE! I should be ashamed and I am. But it has been engrained in my DNA throughout the existance of Homo Sapiens and as much as I try - I return to those biological roots everytime I drive my car!

So maybe it is time to try and change our DNA. Animal and plants will adapt to environmental changes as they occur. So maybe us Humans can do the same.

I have been trying hard to change my attitude while driving - both because my wife hates it (though like me sometimes she swears like a dock worker when we encounter a bad driver) and because when we are blessed with kids I want to make sure that they grow up NOT resenting anyone based on race, believes or societal status!

I am sure that if we start teaching our kids that a black person isn't a N....., or an Asian person isnt a C...., a Jew isnt a K..., an Irish isnt a Paddy, and a Pole isnt a Polak we will be changing the future! And if we teach our children the violent History of Mankind, we will at least have made an effort to teach them to LEARN from this History and maybe, just maybe NOT repeat it!

And by not repeating our mistakes, our children and their children will make this world a better place!!!

cheers