Equality?

These are some rants I have been harboring for the past few days:

1. Standardized tests aren’t racist

Just because blacks and hispanics can’t pass a test in Florida doesn’t mean they can pull out the race card. Some things are based on effort, not social status.
Ok, I understand the issue about the weight of the test, but students have five tries to pass it. I live in California where they recently mandated the California High School Exit Exam (CHSEE), but it’s not hard. I passed it the first time I took it and if someone can’t pass a similar test after five times, I don’t really think I want them working somewhere that requires a high school diploma anyway.
It all comes down to effort. If someone isn’t going to put the effort into learning this stuff, then they shouldn’t complain about not being able to pass. I know just as many white people that didn’t put forth the effort and failed, but they can’t do anything about it, even if they are now the minority in southern California.

2. Minorities are too quick to pull the race card

Don’t misunderstand me. There are some cases that have valid complaints, but the number of “racial” disputes is ridiculous. If you do not follow the rules or if you are not qualified, it’s not necessary to slap racism on the issue. Some minorities have to learn to deal with things.
This particular rant came from an incident at work. I work in a medical building that is associated with an area hospital and I was in the hospital department that I usually go to. While I was there, I observed a lady of middle eastern origin blantantly disreguard the rules. She was waiting impatiently to see her husband after a procedure and snuck back to the holding area after she was told to wait 5 more minutes for her husband to get settled. Although this was just rude, the staff in that department, who was racially diverse, did not say anything to the lady because they feared some kind of absurd repercussion.
I believe it is wrong to ignore safety in order to make minorities happy. There are some rules which we all must follow.

3. Alta Loma is not a city

Now, to shift the focus from hot issues and introduce some frivolity, I will complain about this city.
I live in a city called Rancho Cucamonga. However, this city is split into three distinct areas. Cucamonga is the poor ghetto on the south side of town, Alta Loma is the rich, preppy north side, and Etiwanta is the rich ghetto to the east. Why is this important? Well, 2/3 of this city’s inhabitants refuse to correctly identify the city in which they live. How can we all get along when those who live in Alta Loma beocme offended when someone reminds them they live in Rancho Cucamonga?
I know this is not significant to basically all of you who might read this, but it does carry over to the main theme of this rant session.

The point of this session is to question equality. How can we come together as one when we set up clear distinctions between our neighbors? Whether it is on the issue of skin color or where we say we live, it is impossible to eliminate discrimination and prejudices when we make clear our differences. We all belong to the one and only human race and live on the only planet in our solar system we call Earth. We must learn to live together before we destroy ourselves.