Racial Double Standards
Bad Behavior Shouldn’t Be Tolerated
By Daniel Muniz

A paramedic that I am acquainted with once explained a particular incident that happened to him:

Unfortunately, I have known a number of first responders who have experienced similar situations.

Such individuals perform a tough job in a harsh unforgiving environments, yet they are often insulted and even harassed by the very people that they are there to help. And in the case of this paramedic, the sole reason for the insults and racial slurs; he is white.

In this incident, it was entirely irrelevant that this paramedic was there to save a life regardless of how it happened. And it also irrelevant that first responders actually save a lot of lives in those particular neighborhoods and are available for all emergencies regardless of what skin color you are. Certain residents of such communities just see themselves as perpetual victims even when others are there to help them.

Although I find this incident particularly disturbing, it is not uncommon.

As a kid, I grew up in a barrio and in my time I have known quite a few minorities who feel that most white people are out there to victimize them. They simply view a lot of institutions with great suspicion especially if it involves someone white. And they have no problem blaming white people for all of their problems even though some of them are self-inflicted.

But worse is the notion that in these neighborhoods, if somebody is white, then he or she is not going to try hard enough to help a minority in an emergency situation. For instance, a white police officer is not going to do his best to protect you or a white firefighter won’t try hard enough to stop your house from burning down or a white paramedic is just going to let you die.

This type of behavior is outrageous because it is borne out of ignorance.

Yet, many community leaders make absolutely no effort to dispel this lack of knowledge.

And as this paramedic described, many first responders are haunted by the faces of the dead, regardless of what color they are. Someone dying is a horrific experience to a lot of these professionals yet they still do their job to the best of their abilities. Contrary to the popular belief of many residents of ghettos and barrios, first responders are determined to do whatever it takes to save a life.

Unfortunately, such scorn is always going to present because it is being nurtured by local minority leaders as well as the national ones like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Such hostility provides the civil rights activists a wedge issue that they can easily exploit. And this kind of charged atmosphere also allows them to demonize their political opponents because nobody wants to be labeled as a racist.

But “racism” itself has a very narrow definition in the eyes of the civil rights activists. It apparently means, according to their viewpoint, that racism can only be committed by whites. As a result, everyone else cannot be a racist; only white people. Such behavior is just a shameful exploitation by civil rights activists. It accomplishes nothing except for creating deep racial divisions and racial strife in the incident experienced by the paramedic.

In addition, the press loves to sensationalize any racial incidents as long as it is a white person doing it to a minority. Anything else is just not news. Most news establishments would typically ignore such incidents like the one described here. Also, many civil rights activists are as indifferent as the media because reverse discrimination is not really an issue to them.

Even so, as time passes, fewer minorities will subscribe to such attitudes.

Times change and people change. I didn’t buy into this mentality and there are plenty of minorities like me who feel the same way. And the next generation will create even more people who refuse to be exploited by the racial arsonists.

It is truly disturbing that incidents like the one described continue to occur. However, I am proud of the professionals who are available for emergencies. Police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and many others, are true servants of the community and I know that they committed to doing the best job they can when the need arises.

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