My father had the right idea when he donated $50,000 to the Special Olympics every year. It always filled my heart with joy to see disadvantaged people enjoy life. Although we did not have any handicapped people in our family when I was growing up, my father naturally had a soft spot for disabled people and this is where I learned the concept of compassion.
In contrast, my dad had a dark side. He also helped fund the KKK and other racist organizations. Because my dad was a very racist man which he probably took with him to his grave, I used to be very racist myself. It wasn't until I was halfway through my first marriage (to a dog) that I started to become enlightened.
Whenever I would see someone of another race come into my neighborhood when I was young man, I would make a threatening gesture such as waving a baseball bat or a stick. I firmly believes that I was doing the right thing. I used to think that people of other races were not as valuable as caucasian people.
In 1975 I married a beautiful pit bull. I didn't stop to think that I would get a lot of flack for it because Lucie was not even human. Our inter-species family experienced a lot of bigotry from fearful residents. Old words like "miscegination" were used to try and make me feel like my wife and children were not worth it. So many of my former neighbors moved out at the time because they could not stand us just because we were so different. Rocks were thrown into our windows, and there was even a time when the KKK came on our street in a Tank! The national guard had to come and straighten things out. I never thought I would experience the same amount of bigotry that an African-American in Mississippi would go through. It was very ironic and I'm sure it was bad Karma. I might have been paying for my dad's racism since he always lived the good life.
The neighbors who did not move out started using hard drugs or otherwise went insane. The property values had taken a steep fall all because of my family. The neighborhood in Michigan which we lived in at the time had become very rampant with crime, even though the houses were pretty nice. We minded our own business, we were very introverted. My wife would only bark if people or dogs tried coming into our yard. She once clawed a bigots face apart because he tried to attack us one time and it gave him permanent scars and brain damage from a loss of blood. I am so proud of Lucie for brutally defending our family like that and even though I'm in my second marriage now to a Doberman named Sarah, I still miss her dearly.
Unfortunately some of my former racism probably rubbed off onto Lucie. Back in 1980 an interracial couple walked by our house. Lucie was the first one to notice as I was reading a newspaper on the drive way. She started barking loudly, and when I saw I started to bark also. Our hybrid children were in the house at the time, thankfully. The couple continued to walk and did not say anything to me or Lucie, they probably figured we were crazy. They were minding their own business. This was the start of the end of my racism. I realized that I fell in love with a dog and married her because I loved her and it didn't matter what anyone else thought. I also realized that people are people, and color is not relevant. In my profession I noticed people of all races, creeds, ethnic background, and religions had the same struggles. I had always felt some of their pain, regardless of their background and I did not realize this until after the interracial couple walked by. It hit me all of a sudden, that bigotry is not the way.
Dustin Diamond ("Screech") from saved by the bell said some racist comments a few years ago. To my knowledge, he has yet to make a full apology to the people he offended.
I am proud of Michael Richards for giving a sincere apology for his racist rant. At first he went on David Letterman to apologize, which wasn't good enough. He apologized like a man eventually as you will see in the video below.
