Ok, this is not so much of a rant today as it is a diary now--at least for today.

Was up surfing the net last night and found out a guy I know is playing the comedy club in El Paso today. His name is Freddy Soto and he is funny as shit! He's the first comedian from El Paso that I know of to have made it somewhat "big." He's not one of these polically correct pussies, he tells it how it really is. He had done the Three Amigos Comedy Tour a few years back. I hope that he remembers who I am, then again I hope I remember who I am. Check him out if you get a chance. If racial humor offends you, then don't go. He's not racists-it's kind of hard to be racists when you grow up poor, especially in a town like El Paso.

Believe me I never knew what racism was until I was in the Navy. Sure when I was a kid we'd tell black and Mexican jokes, but mostly we heard them from our black and Mexican friends. When you hear a racial joke from the race it's about, it's not considered racist. If I had told it, I would be called a racist, just becasue I am Caucasian. Never mind that part of my family came here from Mexico, to most people I am "white." I feel that humor is a way to see what is wrong (and right) with our society today. The funny thing is that the majority of "white" people are not racist, buit yet we are told we are by the "minorities" in our country. I think Chris Rock had it right when he said that black people are more racist than whites. I don't hate a minority, sure I can hate a person, but not based off of their ethnicity or color. I treat everyone equally--I hate them all. No not really, I treat everyone the way I want to be treated. You're cool with me, I'm cool with you. Fuck with me, sure and I'll fuck with you.

People in America are too damn uptight. No wonder kids are going into schools killing anything that moves. Our society, the alleged "melting pot," is more segregated than ever. If we want to eliminate racism, we need to look at each other as people, not as a color or ethnicity. Sure those of us who are in a minority still need to remember our heritage and our culture and celebrate it every chance we get. But, we should never use it to keep us apart from the rest of our society. Before you stereotype someone, get to know them or at least learn about their culture and heritage. Yes, there are people out there who live up the stereotypes we have, but these people are the minority for the most part.

I have friends who are Mexican, Puerto Rican, Nigerian, Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and even Vietnamese), Indian (native and Asian), Irish, English, German, Scottish, Black, Chech, Polish, Italian, Bosnian, Palestinian, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Jewish, and even "white," whatever the hell that means these days. Never in all the time that I have known these people have I looked at them as being anything other than a person. Never once have they looked at me as anything other than who I am. I may tell them a racial joke, and nine times out of ten, they have a better one about their ethnicity.

Trace you family's heritage and a guarantee that most of you "white" people will find that you are made up of many different ethnicities. My mother's heritage is Irish, Mexican, German, Iriquois, Tarahumara, and Dutch (that I know of). My father's heritage is Irish, Welsh, English (unfortuantely), German, Austrian, Cuban, and maybe a few I don't even know about. But yet you can look at either one of them and see them as "white." I sometimes will tell a joke about any one of these groups and peopel get offended that I am telling a racists joke. I tell them, "It's not racist, becasue I'm not offended." Sometimes I have to let them know a bit about my heritage afterwards, which lessens these people's being offended, but that takes away from the joke. Jokes are just that, a fucking joke. Like I once heard, "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."