God help me

So I was reading a news article the other day that was talking about a black fireman in LA who’s suing the city for racial discrimination after the other firefighters pulled a prank on him and put dog food in the spaghetti he was eating. He claims it was a malicious intent to degrade him the way his enslaved ancestors were because the firefighters wouldn’t tell him what was in the food after they started asking and he questioned the spaghetti’s contents. Now, I know that pranks like this are actually pretty common in those types of vocations where the guys just need to let off some steam, and are just playing around with the new guys; this particular black man being a newbie to the firehouse. I can understand people saying, “Fine, play the prank, but just choose a different one to do the black guys.”
Well, here’s what I have to say. Sooner or later, all the equality that people have been fighting for for so long is going to catch up to them. This is seen in the news story as illustrated above. The firefighters were only doing what they would to any newcomer: playing a prank because he’s the newbie, and they want to give him a hard time. And maybe they were a little rude to him in the off time, however, not once was any racial epitaph quipped, and not once did anyone of those men do anything that could be obviously viewed to be a racist act. The dog food. Yeah, it was dog food in the spaghetti. And they started to laugh when you started to eat, and didn’t tell you what was in it after you asked. You think you’re the first person this has ever happened to? No, buddy, believe me, you are most certainly not, and I can positively guarantee that you will not be the last to suffer this “great indignity”. To you, it was a malicious prank aimed at making you feel inferior because you’re black. To them, it was most likely just a prank that they pull with everyone who’s new. Don’t like it? Feeling out of the loop? Tough. That is the norm for everyone who’s new to a job, and firefighters are infamous for some of the pranks they pull on each other. What’s next, is some Irish guy who gets the dog food spaghetti from an English guy gonna say that he’s being “put in his place” by the English firefighter in a harkening to a time when the English viewed the Irish in the same way the blacks in America were once viewed? No. No one will say that, because you know what? The punches have been dealt and taken, but those groups who were abused have managed to claw their way up despite that.
Now there is no way I’m saying that this is not the same for African Americans here, however, this particular firefighter’s case illustrates something that is very prevalent in this nation: over sensitivity. You ask for equality? All right, I’ll give it to you. But that means absolutely no special treatment just because you happen to be of a different race than those around you. That also means that the same mean shit “those” people pull on each other? Gets pulled on you, motherfucker. Equality means tolerance of each other, and this tolerance means dealing with the same shit that others have to deal with. And when it gets tough, you may not cop out by claiming that all this “hardship” is falling upon you just because of your race, and the history of said race. In the end, it could be worse. Just because you seem to have lost your sense of humor, and can’t understand the fact that maybe those guys were giving it to you rough because of something you’ve done to make them do that does not mean that it was all racially motivated. Quite the opposite. It could very well be that you’re just an idiot, those guys didn’t like you because of it, and decided to pull mean little newbie pranks on you and be mean because they just didn’t like you. Equality, it can be a major bitch, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative, don’t you think?