Is America racist, or is it a country where racism exists

Is America racist, or is it a country where racism exists;
I know some of you are going to read that first line and say, is there a difference? I think there is, look there is no doubt that racism exists in our country, that is not something that is unique to the USA, racism exists all over the word, the question is does our country enact laws that suppress a specific race or people, the answer to that is no, you can spin it and bring up examples of racism but that is not the question.
There is no doubt that at one time in our country we enacted laws that targeted specific races. But again it is not unique to Black Americans, I remember my grandfather telling me stories about the great depression, he told me he once went looking for a job as an elevator operator, yes in those days they had those, he said when he got there, there was a sign on the door that read “Jews need not apply” could you imagine a sign like that today, or better yet a sign that read, Blacks need not apply.
I am not trying to somehow diminish the struggles of the civil rights era, I know black Americans were held back by not only evil laws but absurd cultural beliefs; during WWII it was believed black people could not swim so they were restricted to jobs in the Navy, like cook and steward, “are you kidding me”, how about this one, black people are better at football and basketball because of their African roots that makes them more prone to running and jumping, “wow”. Ok so for those of you that don’t know why so many Black Americans play in the pro’s let me clue you in, it is because sports is, in many cases, seen as the only way out of the inner city’s so they work hard at it to escape poverty and gangs.
Ask yourself this; why is there so many youth sports programs sponsored by government, and not near as many arts or advanced academics programs, I know why but we will get into that latter.
I want to share this with you first; back in the mid 90,s I was still a soldier and working as a leadership instructor at Ft. Hoods Non-Commissioned Officers Academy, I remember this one student, he was in the Air Defense Artillery, and a good troop, he was a black man, and after returning from a weekend pass he related a story to me about being pulled over the night before, when he asked the officer why he pulled him over, he was told “I was just checking you out, because we are not used to seeing Black Men in this neighborhood” can you believe that, I remember being so incensed I wanted to go with him down to the police station and raise hell, he talked me out of it.
I know now my anger came from a deep pain in my soul to think an American Soldier could be treated that way.
I want to just real quick tell you about Darin Elis, Darin was a 6’3” black man for Pittsburg Pa. we had nothing in common Darin and I, he was the gunner on my platoon sergeants Bradley during the first Gulf war, what I remember most about Darin, is our first contact with the enemy, I remember fear, I remember excitement, but I mostly remember Darin’s voice coming over my squad radio and saying don’t worrie Sarge I got your back, I’m not going to let anything happen to my brother, and to this day he still is. So you can see why I just could not believe one of my brothers in arms could be treated that way.
Ok we can all agree that racism is real in this great country of ours, I won’t argue that point, but look around, we have elected a Black American President, minorities serve at the local, state and federal levels of government, so come on can we stop with that, when do we get to all be Americans first. Look am proud of my heritage, I am not ashamed of being half Jewish, of half Bohemian, it’s who I am, but first I am an American, and I am not only proud to say that, I am humbled to a part of this great democracy, I am thankful to the Lord for putting me here, the greatest country in the history of the world.
So ask yourself this question; are minorities still oppressed, economically and socially in this great country, “well yeah” they are, the question is why?
Consider this the Democratic Party needs the minority vote to obtain power, maybe that is why they want to extend unemployment and welfare and spend billions on community projects, a lot cultural anthropologists believe these government help projects hold people down more than they help.
Look here is the deal, if every Black American in this country voted for the current president, and every non black did not, then guess what, he would not be president, so when people say he won because of the black vote, that’s a little disingenuous, he won on a progressive change platform with a message that resonated with all races, now has he done what he said he was going to do, that’s for another day.
Ok I know I rambled more than normal, (it is the name of the blog) my point is twofold, one is that this is not a racist country, it is a country where we still struggle with racism, but we have made great strides over the last fifty years, again look at the current president, and two, the party with the most to gain form keeping minorities oppressed is the democratic party, and oh by the way, most Black Americans I know are family oriented, church going and hard working, sounds pretty conservative too me.

Thanks for sharing your time with me
Rick