I have a dream...of an all Black rodeo???

I am on Ticketmaster's email list. From time to time, I am notified about special events coming to my area. Just the other day I received such an email. I opened the email hoping to find out that my favorite band was coming to town. Well, it was not my favorite band and quite frankly I didn't know what to think. The Arkansas Black Rodeo (brought to you by the Real Cowboy Association) encouraged me to hurry up and get my tickets for their event. My first reaction was - this is can't be right. I thought it was some type of comedic performance or some performance in poor taste. After further research, I concluded this was indeed a rodeo that featured and was ran solely (from what I could tell) by African-Americans. I just shook my head in disbelief.

In my opinion, we as a society are taking two steps back when we keep segregating programs based upon race. I don't think it sends a message of unity and progress. I would venture to guess that IF this was the Arkansas White Rodeo, you might have heard about this on the six o'clock news and every media outlet in the country. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Either way - white/black/green/mauve, it's not appropriate. Is it not our goal as a country to eliminate racial barriers? If so, why should we on our own free will raise barriers based upon race?

Our civil rights leaders fought very hard to tear down walls of segration. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once dreamed when people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Obviously, the Arkansas Black Rodeo wants you to know that race is an issue.

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Why can't we just have a rodeo?