Have we legalized racism?

I think they were embarrassed that a Hispanic knew
the song better than them

I was on vacation and completely disconnected from what was happening in the real world for a good amount of time. When I came back, I was a little disoriented with some facebook posts. Yes, facebook has become my source of topics to research, since most people "news" or extremely manipulated data. I read "so, apparently puerto rico is not america" and "who cares if he's puerto rican?". These are all posts referring to Marc Anthony singing "God Bless America" during the All-Star Game. This was on the news; many fans were angry that Marc Anthony was chosen to sing "God Bless America" posting angry tweets protesting that a non-american should not sign "America's song" at an American event.

I can't make this stuff up

First of all, what the hell kind of elementary school news show are we stuck with? Are news really referring to twitter for sources? Was it the President who tweeted this? A member of Congress? Somebody who's opinion has any sort of relevance? The news compiled a bunch of racist and ignorant comments from twitter and made a NEWS STORY!!!

Second, why even reply to these comments? I'm not going to even defend Marc Anthony or explain why the comments are ignorant, why this must stop, etc. I believe racism is probably one of the stupidest feelings anyone can express. However, acknowledging this feeling is equally pathetic and a complete waste of time. Racism is the feeling of hatred on a specific group of people based purely on the color of their skin. I think that it is a lost cause to "convert" someone away from racism. This feeling is based entirely on ignorance. But making racism illegal is just as stupid and, ironically, very racist. Affirmative action laws themselves imply that there are disadvantages among races and/or gender. By setting a race/gender quota for universities, job places, etc., these laws tell blacks, hispanics, asians, gays, and women, that they don't have to be the best candidate, they just have to be the best among their protected minority group. That's the most subtle of racisms, and we live with it every single day.

At my university, Blacks, Whites and Asians clap
together ... because we care

Personally, as a Hispanic, I feel these laws are insulting. I wanted to be accepted to a university because I was among the top candidates, not because I was the best hispanic candidate. I remember checking out colleges in high school, and the back of the brochures said "Look how diverse we are", right on top of a pie chart separating enrollment by race, like a produce aisle at the supermarket. And when getting a job, I don't want a law telling my boss that he needs to hire me to fulfill a hispanic quota, or that he cannot discriminate against me based on my race. If my boss discriminates against me for whatever reason, I simply will no
t work there; I don't want to work somewhere I'm rejected based on my race, on top of that, I don't want to work somewhere that the laws forces someone that doesn't like me based on my race to hire me.

You want to end racism? Stop talking about it. Don't do special favors to someone based on the color of their skin. I went to Engineering school, and among the top students I was able to point out Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, Asians and Middle Easterns. At graduation, students receiving their PhD's also had a vast variety of races represented. Look into sports; there are players with immense talent and they come in every shade of color. Look in the work place, look in every aspect of life and you will see that success and failure does not see skin color but rather ability, determination and discipline.