Welcome to the fray, Tim!

Addendum: Sorry … I shouldn’t forget that Mark Welp and Meghan Fisher also have their own blogs.  My apologies.

Jeesh … you guys are bloggin’ fools!

She’s probably really regretting it now.  She has a post about the unfounded and extremely dangerous MYTH that autism is linked to vaccination. I, of course, went on a rant.

I have to agree with Eyebrows … being in the automated studio is a strange experience. It was just me, Jen Christensen, Ric Kearbey and Tim in the studio. They would occasionally talk to the air and things would happen … cameras would move, lights would come on and off. Pretty wild.

OK, now down to business. The disadvantage of the television format is that I only had a very short period of time to try to talk about a complicated subject … racism in Pekin. I also wanted to make sure we got another plug in for Jake Grys, so that took up part of our time. I feel I need to say more on the topic of Pekin and racism (big surprise, I know).

I took the opportunity of the “Connected” segment to take on a Tebben-esque roll … i.e. cheerleader for Pekin. Pekin is my new home, and overall I’ve been very impressed with the community. I absolutely meant what I said … I think Pekin is no more or less racist than any other town in Central Illinois, and it’s unfair that Dragonland 2007 is shackled with the image of a redneck and racist community.

HOWEVER …

There are some things that Pekin needs to change in order to finally dispel its negative image. I’ve outlined my thoughts before in the posts “Misplaced Pride” and “Thoughts On A Local Business Up In Flames.” Let me summarize my opinion simply and succinctly …

THE CHINK MUST DIE.

No more Chink, folks. No more T-shirts or other Chink memorabilia. Resign that ugly, nasty, racist symbol to the history books. Take pride in your high school. Take pride in your graduating class. Take pride in your old sports teams. But please, please, please quit attaching pride to an inherently racist and degrading mascot. It turns the whole community into the punchline of a very bad joke.

The other thing that needs to happen is that our community needs to ACTIVELY work to dispel this negative image. Killing off Chinkism is part of that, but not sufficient by itself. We need to see Pekin involved in more events like the dedication of the new grave marker for Negro League baseball player Johnny Taylor. We need to see Pekin city government and business leaders ACTIVELY courting minorities and inviting them into our community. We can’t just sit back, close our eyes and wish this image away.

I don’t think many locals realize how much this negative image hurts the community. We want to attract young educated professional people to locate here and build their lives here. This specter of racism drives people away. They look to Morton or Tremont or Peoria or Dunlap or Bartonville, even when Pekin might be closer to their place of employment.

Pekin natives need to get over the fact that this racist image is unfairly attached to Pekin 2007. Yes, our community now is overwhelmingly accepting of minorities, and this stigma, for the most part, no longer applies. Pekinites need to stop denying that this negative image hurts us and whining that the label is unfairly attached to our city. This perception is reality to everyone outside our community, and we have to deal with it.

If you haven’t signed the petition yet … what’s wrong with you???  Get going!