Just about every week I see a headline where someone is calling someone else a racist.  It’s boring, tedious, and tiresome.  Those that bandy around the “R” word are just intellectually challenged.  First, they probably don’t even know the meaning of the word “racist” and, second, it’s much easier to stop a conversation in its tracks by calling someone a name (like many of us probably did on the playground when we were 7 years old) than trying to get your point across in a coherent, succinct, meaningful dialogue.

Of course you’re a “racist” if you don’t like President Obama’s policies.  That’s where my reference to boring, tedious and tiresome comes in.

Next, I remember reading years ago some nonsense that it was “racist” to teach students how to balance a checkbook because it wasn’t part of their life experience at home.  Although I don’t, I do know plenty of people who rely on their banks to keep their balances through online banking.  But when did simple adding and subtracting become “racist”?  Even if you don’t have a checking account, you’re still buying stuff.  If you go to McDonalds and the cashier says, “that’ll be $6.39” and you hand them a $10 bill, the cashier presses the right buttons and comes up with $3.61 change.  Don’t you count the change when it’s handed to you?  I certainly do.

Currently, there’s the big brouhaha going on about Voter IDs.  Requiring people to have photo IDs is somehow “racist.”  I don’t get this at all.  We carry IDs when we travel on airplanes, we carry IDs in our vehicles, and you even had to have a photo ID to watch Mrs. Obama autograph her book American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America.  This summer, Eric Holder, speaking at a NAACP conference said that the Texas voter ID law is “racist” but, yet, it was reported that the NAACP required all media in attendance to present a “government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) as well as valid media credentials.”  Does that make Mrs. Obama and the NAACP racist?  I don’t think so.  It makes security a top priority.  I don’t understand why providing proof of citizenship and that you’re a registered voter is racist and not merely insuring that those entitled to vote are voting and those not entitled to vote are not voting.  It’s that simple.

Then there’s the website MEDIAite’s report on a Mitt Romney political sign, “Obama’s Not Working.”  Well, to me that’s about as straightforward as it comes.  But the far left ignores Mr. Obama’s lack of leadership and chooses, instead, to deflect those shortcomings by playing the race card at every opportunity.  Here’s what they had to say, “The slogan is a multiple entendre, but one of those entendres, intentionally or not, is evocative of a nasty racial stereotype about black men.”  Can you believe this garbage?

Well, I thought I’d seen enough of the “R” word until my husband recently sent me a link to an article with the headline, “’White Privilege’?  Portland Principal Claims PB&J Sandwiches Could Hold Racist Connotations.”  When I first read it, I actually thought it was a joke.  I went to the truthorfiction.com and snopes.com websites to make sure this wasn’t made up.

In the article, the principal, Verenice Gutierrez, says that “using the example of a peanut butter sandwich in classroom lessons is technically a problematic and discriminatory move…What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?”

Is this nonsense ever going to end?  This is still the United States.  If someone living in this country can’t wrap their head around the fact that Americans eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then I have to say politely, “please leave.”

Right now, I’m following the adventures of family friends who decided to move to Uganda with their two children to do what I would consider missionary work with a Christian organization.  Their children are the only two white students in their classes.  They’ve posted on their website their meals and activities and never once did either the mother or father claim that their village is racist because they’re not providing “American”-style food to them.  The family has completely immersed themselves in the culture and they’re excited to be a part of it all.

In my own experience, I’ve never traveled in a foreign country and asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I’ve eaten whatever is customary in the country in which I’m travelling.  End of story.  If I wanted to eat PB&J sandwiches my whole life, I wouldn’t travel.

But that’s not good enough for the folks in Portland, Oregon.  Here are children who, I’m presuming, intend to stay in this country and the principal doesn’t think they should assimilate and understand that PB&J sandwiches are a way of life here?  If I were in a Mexican school, I’d expect to hear about tortillas.  IF I were in a Ethiopian school, I’d expect to hear about injera.  If I were in a French school, I’d expect to hear about crepes.  If you’re in America, expect to hear about peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on WHITE bread!

I don’t get it, but if you do, God bless you.