Telling It Like It Is (UPDATE)

From reader Lissy comes this gem of a comment recently submitted in response to this post.

Probably the best and most heartfelt comment ever received in this blog.

UPDATE: Lissy has started a new blog. Looking forward to reading her thoughts and opinions.

All I have to say is: Amen. A-MEN.

Here's a harsh truth, but someone has got to say it.

First of all, let me tell you I'm a black Cuban-American. My grandparents were Batista sympathizers and they fled with their children. My father finished high school here in the States. He then went on to serve in the Army as there was a draft. When he was done with serving the country he became an electrical engineer. To this day he has yet to call himself an African-American. According to him and the rest of us, we're all Cuban-Americans.

We have a very large family of black Cubans and through the years they've married white Cubans, black Cubans and even some black Jamaicans, as some of the family fled to Jamaica.

Now that you know where I'm coming from, let me tell that Anonymous and any others something that nobody has brought up.

There are very little or no black folks that are immigrants in this country that would ever call themselves African-Americans. They're Cuban, Jamaican, Haitians, Dominicans, Bahamians, or Puertoricans. The truth is that anyone from South Africa whose white can call themselves an African-American too. So looking for a politically correct label other than calling a spade a spade has turned out looking stupid.

The reason for that is while the blacks in the U.S. have decided to keep the chip on their shoulders and play the race card at every turn, blacks everywhere else have used the cards they've been dealt to make themselves a better future and haven't griped about racism at every opportunity.

That being said I know that there are plenty of black Americans that are successful. I don't understand why the black American continues to let extremist groups speak for them. Those groups are the true racists. They are the ones who continue to try to make rifts and canyons between the races

The Cubans came only 47 years ago, without a penny to their names, without welfare and without the language and look what they have accomplished. They didn't form a coalition to force people to accept them. They made lemonade out of lemons. They mopped floors and waited on tables, all the while instilling pride and hard work in their children. Teaching them that the only way to get ahead was to get an education and work hard. Who cares what people thought about the loud and rowdy Cubans. Let them point and let them move away, we're different, so what. Now look at all of those who laughed and moved away. They're moving back like nuts trying to get a piece of the pie the Cubans baked in South Florida.

Blacks from other countries don't want to be called "The Successful Black Man" They want be known as the "Successful Man", period. They don't want special treatment. They know that if you've got it, people are going to want it, regardless of your skin color or ethnicity.

I take offense with anyone who tries to treat me with kid gloves because I'm black. I don't want people around me walking on eggshells because they may insult me and start a riot.

Groups that pretend they're there to help the black man have other agendas, and helping is not one of them. Stop being so blind. Stop seeing everything as a black vs. white issue, it is not. The world does not revolve around us. Life is not about "black", "white", "red" or "yellow" skin. It is about proving you're a good human worthy of respect. Respect comes automatically, if you deserve it...