You have to understand, I guess, that I, your author and guide, am mixed. Christina is black, and Don is Latino. All of us have had the experience of being in that awkward conversation with that one racist we all know who talks about how we are “one of the good ones.” That’s not the compliment that racists think it is. Believe it or not, we don’t all want to be white, and our self-esteem is definitely not dependent on someone else’s opinion. We’re all former Marines, after all.
“But Chuck,” you say, “‘the good ones’ is not a blasphemous phrase. It’s just a term.”
Well, how’s that term working out for the minorities of this nation that suggests “all” are equal, and endowed by certain “inalienable rights”? Those rights are being trampled on every day, and so far, “the good ones” have been locked up with the bad ones. And by what I’m seeing, there are an uncomfortable number of people who claimed that they wanted “the bad ones” gone, and also are not standing up for “the good ones.” It’s terminology without a distinction. By actions not taken, we’re seeing that there’s no difference between the “good” ones and the “bad” ones, by their standards.
So there are no good ones.
And no bad ones.
Just abused ones.
