Ethnic Fest

We went to the Ethnic Festival in town yesterday. Started out okay, we were there when it started. We walked around the the circle of booths and weren't to surprised to see all the liberal booths, Democrat booth, Planned Parenthood, and the like. It was held down town. There were the same ol' booths with all the hippie clothes and food booths with "ethnic" fast food. There were a few good presentations. We liked the Kabuki dancers and the Taiko drums. But the rest seemed pretty average. My super conservative son turned 5 shades of purple when the bellydancers came out and insisted we go and get food instead of watching. It was funny. The fact that most of the women dancing were shaped like me...that was funny too. Nothing against them, I think it was kinda cool, but when I think of belly dancers, I usually have images from the old black and white movies.

It all was ruined when a man came out and did a poem, rap thing that blamed the old white people for "pushing us out of our neighborhood" that "we run back to" "where our mom's and grandma's cried at". Please. I really do have an issue with victim mentality. The reasons they were "pushed out" was because they let the neighborhood fall apart. Men dropped babies like Johnny Appleseed and left them for those women. Crime was rampant. The houses and yards weren't taken care of. No wonder the landlords got rid of the properties as fast as they could in that last housing boom. Now it is becoming a beautiful neighborhood again. In no time, I bet it will rival its old time grandeur when it was the heart of the city.

This mentality was what ruined this festival for me. Yes, we are all created equal in God's eyes. That I believe. What you do with your potential is what separates you from others. You don't deserve what others have unless you do what they did. You are not entitled to a lifestyle that someone else earned. In this great country, there is still prejudice. Coming from and being a multi-racial family, I recognize and acknowledge and have experienced that. But nowhere else in the world are you more able to overcome that than in the U.S.A. Stand up, be strong, believe in God's word and push. During the speeches in between some of the acts, what we heard was that it is all someone elses fault and that the government is going to change all that.

Oh well, at least the corn was good. And the weather was great.