| I went to a children's party on Saturday for the kids of people of death row. I can honestly say that the party was the first time in my life that I felt embarrassed to be white. The party was organized by caucasians, thanks to the racial disparities of the death penalty, the attendees were black. As such the event was marked by lots of white adults trying to get black kids behaving the way that they thought they ought to. Miss Teen Louisiana was there complete with Tiara singing lots of songs. I'll wager that she's already worn more makeup in the 16 years of her life to date than most octogenarian ladies. It was all "Aren't we so lucky to have Miss Teen Louisiana here?" These children have grown up in atrocious conditions and some day, not far from now, there fathers will be killed by the State whilst they stand outside holding a candle. Tell me - why is Miss Teen Louisiana (twinned with the French town of Clinique) the centre of attention here? The kids wanted Dr Dre and pizza, instead they got Miss Teen Louisiana singing "God Bless America" and Spinach dip finger buffet. Then a TV evangelist called Ricky came on. He was filming for his show and saying lots of highly offensive things. "I'm here to spread the word of Christ our Lord to all of those poor kids on death row" (they all heard this) He read from the Gospel of Luke and then made them all pray. Some of those kids could have been Muslim or whatever - how dare he shove religion down their throat. The most offensive part was when he made them put their hands up if they had accepted Christ as their Lord and saviour and then proceeded to give these kids presents. The message was "say you believe in Christ and you get rewarded". The TV evangelist had been in prison for drug smuggling or something which was where he saw the light. He said to all the kids "To look at me you wouldn't think that I was a criminal now would you?" How offensive is that? I saw a four year old get pulled aside and shoved in front of a TV camera. Ricky was asking "Have you given your heart to Christ? You have one sister, do you minister to her?" He's four years old for Christ's sake. As mentioned earlier, Ricky is a former drug addict and seller. I spent a long time trying to work out whether he served society better as that washed up junkie rather than his current incarnation. I still haven't decided on the answer. He was kind enough to give me a signed copy of his book, about redemption in prison. Thanks Ricky but if you're going to heaven I'll take my chances in hell, it can't be any worse than what I picture your version of heaven to look like. Fortunately all the kids just thought it was really boring. They were all showered with gifts which was a wonderful sight to behold. This one mum kids wanted bicycles but she had no money for food even. We rigged the ballot however and hey presto 2 bicycles for the nippers. She cried literally. It was wonderful to see that. All of of the kids got great presents and all looked happy. I also had a great deal of fun walking around with a balloon dog, sticking it in front of people's heads and saying "Can I get an AMEN?" You know me - how to make friends and influence people. The party was a success - it could just have been so much better if Caucasians did not feel a God given right to project their ethos and views on African Americans. Slavery may have gone in the physical sense but a sense of "let's teach this savages how to act civilised" appears to be left over in many white Americans. Gary December 17, 2001 |