Who put the Crabs in the Bucket?

I'm going to try to write with a slightly upset tone this morning.  Maybe not upset, but serious.  There is a story that is told about Crabs.  If you put them in a bucket and one tries to flee, the others will pull the fleeing crab back down.  No, I'm not going to write a blog about escaping from the CARB bucket.  But I could.  It would be easy.  SO easy.  

This thing crabs do is very similar to what I've been talking about lately.  You do something to better yourself by removing something from your life that isn't good for you and when you are with someone that hasn't it can create an awkward situation.  Your friend wants to have a drink, you don't.  A neighbor brings you cookies as a thank you, but you are avoiding carbs and sugar.  Of course...these are all relatively easy things to break free from if you are trying to get out of the bucket.  What about the whole of people.  A whole community.  A whole race?

Who put the crabs in the bucket?  Crabs don't live in buckets.

There was a meme floating around that talked about black people as being like crabs in a bucket.  That when some people of color go on to be successful, you still have some that become or stay as criminals and disrespectful to society.  Last I checked...this wasn't just a black thing.  White people do the same thing too.  But white people don't get the bad rep.  Let's be honest.  When white guys do stupid shit, no one looks at all the other white people like they aren't any better.  If my white friend robs a convenience store while I fill out college applications, no one else going to assume I'm just like him.  In fact, they'll applaud me for pursuing higher education.  EVEN if I was still seen with my friend or visited him in jail.   There is a difference in how we are treated because of the color of our skin.

But this meme...WHO BUILT THE BARREL?  Think about that one.  I don't have the words to eloquently describe it.  I'm not a history buff.  So I'll just be honest.  White people put black people in a barrel.  A long time ago.  And there are still people trying to keep them there.  Racism happens today.  Profiling happens today.  If you keep looking at people and judge them based on the color of their skin, you aren't helping to break the barrel.  Stop it.  Stop making judgements and assumptions.  Stop the stereotypes.  Stop looking at whats on the outside.

Back to the crabs.  Maybe they aren't trying to keep each other in the bucket at all.  Maybe the ones pulling them down know that there is a huge fall on the other side and they are only trying to protect the one fleeing the bucket.  Who knows, maybe the crabs believe there is power in numbers against those that put them there.  So if they stay together they've got a better chance of survival.  Might not be be pleasant, but at least they are alive.    Because someone put them in a bucket and obviously they want to keep them there.

Get rid of the damn bucket.  All I can think of is in the town I live in and several close by.  There are designated places where there is a predominately black community.  Why?  Who decided that?  Did they?  Or was that determined by the real estate market and job opportunities?  There are still buckets for different types of people.  I don't have the answers.  All I can do is write about it and get people to think.