Her first Drill Competition

Yesterday I was able to watch my sister's first drill team competition. Technically, this is really her fourth one in two years, but this was her first time actually commanding the team. She kind of wasn't expecting to command it, but she found out the day of the competition that they needed another commander for the second team. If you saw her, you could tell that she was really nervous. I told her I was like that when I first commanded a team. All she had to do was basically block out the audience and pretend like it was just a normal day of practicing. When it was her turn to march them, the team gave her some encouragement by yelling that they love her. I think it helped, cause I think she did well. From my eyes, she only made two mistakes, compare to some of the other schools who made 4 or more. But I'm not the judges, so I wont know what the actual score was until she finds out. Either way, I told her that she did a good job. She gave me a hug and said, "Oh my God, I was shaking so hard..." To be honest, I'm not sure if I want to know how she placed. To me, she already won when she went out there and controlled the team. She didn't sweat bullets(at least not til she was done), nor did she pass out. That is the accomplishment that I'm proud of.

Man, a lot has happened over the week or so. I watched as an black head coach(Tony Dungy) became the first ever to win a Super Bowl, and it was during Black History month no less, so that made it even more special. But unfortunately, or at least in my case, every time February comes around, there has to be that select few that either try to get attention or are really hateful of the month. My sister told me about how one of her classmates keeps standing up and saying Hitler was a good man and all he wanted to do was to kill the Jews. Also, my girlfriend(who is white) told me that a group of black people in her class keep saying that white people get better things than black people. One went so far as to call everyone in her group(which included whites and blacks mind you) racists. Now I'm not one to immediately jump on the "Oh he/she said that so that makes them racists" bandwagon. I usually see if their actions show that. I do know one thing. I used to go to that school that my girlfriend goes to, and if that statement was true, then all the black people that I know should not be driving Escalades with 20" rims on them. And if they feel that way, then they should do something about it, like work hard to get what you want. I'm pretty sure that people of all races dont end up with nice things just because of race. As for Black History month, it is meant to celebrate the achievements of African-American figures, such as Langston Hughes or MLK Jr. I think there are other minority figures who are remember for what they did as well. I dont think it was meant to bring up injustices and basically cause everyone to feel sad or mad. If you feel like you want to celebrate it year-round, then you can; dont force everyone to do it. The same goes for anyone who doesnt want to celebrate it at all. As for my sister's classmate, she told me of two things. One, she thinks he's just trying to get attention. The second was when he asked everyone else(including the teacher) half of them ignored him and the other half said no they didnt and that he was stupid.

Am I a racist?

I saw this posted bullentin on my myspace titled "I'm not a racist, but it's true." The bullentin was talking about how minorities are saying things like "I'm black and I'm proud" or calling white people different racial slurs like "cracker" and such, but when white people say "I'm white and I'm proud," people automatically think they are racist. Now I am black myself, but I dont recall ever saying that my white friends are all racist because they say that they are proud to be white. There were some other things they brought up, like Black History month and MLK Jr. Day, but for the most part, I thought it was trying to prove a point that was already proven, that not all white people are racists? That was probably the main reason why I was a little angered by the comments. I'm from the South, and I've had my fair share of racist people of all colors and creeds, from whites to blacks to mexicans, and even a middle eastern person once. I dont really think that they had to tell everyone that they are not racist. I think it's like being classy. You dont have to say you are(Tomlinson); your actions show it for you. I can't represent the entire black race, but I would like to believe that I'm not racist and I hope that I never become one of the people that that bullentin was talking about.