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The Villages
Monday, March 18, 2024

The Power of One

Nancy Jordan Blackmore

Villager Ed McGinty for example. This old guy has ruffled so many feathers it makes me laugh. Standing on his convictions even in unpopular territory he is persecuted for exercising his First Amendment right.

Poor old Ed rides around with his free speech signs and parks at the opposition marches and stirs up a firestorm. Just demonstrating how delightfully more cunning he is than his “white power” shouters.

The Villages with a population of 98 percent white folks, is it a surprise someone yelled “white power?” Really?

Villager Ed McGinty

Who has not heard the undertone of a racist comment here? Really? Simple joke or old slang word. Or how about the guy my husband golfs with who straight up said, “I won’t drink with that xxxxxx.” Of course my husband called him on it, but that was blatant racism. Yup, really. Right here in America’s Friendliest Hometown.

I wonder how many people in our little hamlet of 120,000 white people have friends that are people of color? How many people believe all crime is perpetrated by black people. I think if you take a real close look at yourselves you will find you have not had a “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” moment.

At one time I thought The Villages was trying to promote themselves to a more diverse following. My preacher told me years ago that, “The Villages wants to create a welcome environment to black folks.” Really?

Oh yes, my preacher is black.

Not one mention in the Daily Sun paper about a presidential retweet of a scandalous “White power, White power, White power.” You can no longer sit back and not take a stand on this issue. WE can no longer let that racist comment slide. Speak up. Because if you are not part of a solution, you are the problem.

No longer is it cool to say, yeah, I got a black friend. Yeah, my neighbor is black, really have you had them for dinner. Talked about your family or learned about theirs?

I heard on NPR the other day a man called in and said, “I am a racist and I don’t want to be anymore. What do I do?” Is this you?

I love that Villagers for Trump have denied the WHITE POWER GUY saying he was not a member, really? How many other members secretly think like him? Down deep where they worry about people of color having greater advantages that white folks. They get special treatment affirmative action and all. All crime is in the black neighborhood. When the truth is most crime is in poor neighborhoods, poverty breeds violence. Not nationality or color.

Sad to say my father was a god-fearing man, he was a good man he and my mother were racists. Yup, in 1960 they moved our family to the suburbs because the (blacks) were moving into our city neighborhood. He was not a card-carrying KKK member. He was like most racists today.  A Christian who has no clue their thoughts are racist. Cannot seem to walk a mile in another’s moccasins. Hiding in plain site with racist murmurs and racist thoughts.

Thank God, I was fortunate to travel the country and the world. We lived in diverse places and have friends of many ethnic and religious faiths. When we lived in Buffalo my husband and I hosted a fresh air child three years each summer we lived there. He was African American. I remember when my neighbor called and complained about the black kid. I remember going to the car dealership with my white baby and my fresh air child and not being waited on. To make matters worse we bought our Honda from a black car salesman. It was the closest I have felt to being discriminated against and I did not like it.

We moved to Pulaski, Tennessee where the real estate salesman took us to the place where the KKK was born, he was proud of it. For the year I lived there I feared they would burn a cross in my yard.

When we moved to Vegas our neighborhood was like Sesame Street, every nationality under the sun. The family next store was black, we became best friends. What an education I got that year.

When we lived in a lily-white region of Kentucky, I would call the university each Christmas to host a student from other countries. Each year our visitor was from the African continent. They stayed at the house and my children saw no difference with us and them.

You are not born a racist you learn how to be one.

This man was videoed chanting “white power” in a golf cart parade in The Villages.

There is a coward here in The Villages, one who had been betrayed by the club he belongs to. Secretly, do other members think like him? Go educate yourselves. Pick up a book and read about the Groveland 4 murdered by the lake county Sheriff Willie McCall. Learn about the Jim Crow south and why Confederates where traitors of the United States of America. The only reason any Confederate statues went up was to intimidate Black folks. Who puts up statues for losers and traitors? History has proved they lost, they only fought for slavery and they succeeded from the Union. They had a choice what side to fight for. The right side win and the wrong side lost.

So, getting back to old man Ed McGinty. Now there is a man, a real man. Says what he thinks and does not hide and let others hide him. This guy stands up for his convictions, because if you do not stand for something …you fall for everything.

Nancy Jordan Blackmore is a resident of the Village of Caroline.

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