It just burns me up!!!!
I was reading a book, Ya-Yas In Bloom by Rebecca Wells, and there is a chapter in there about this self righteous mother. Well she is run off the road by these two young black men-according to her. Of course the police lock them up and let her just go free. No real investigation. All this after they get her to the hospital. Just ridiculous. I had to put the book down and collect myself.
When I was little my favorite uncle said the "N" word. I didn't speak to him for a long time after that. He never said it around me again. I also don't think it should be used by black people referring to each other either. It is so demeaning. For me it is the same as calling a white person, "white trash." But for me it is far worse.
But you know the cookie crumbles both ways! Black people are just as racist against white people for being white or lighter skinned colored people. That's not right either. A very good friend of mine who is light skin once told me that darker skinned colored people treat her awful sometimes- when they don't even know her!!! How absurd is that! One time while shopping with her daughter who was so light she looked Caucasian was harassed by some darker skinned girls. What's up with that?
I just don't understand why we are going through all of this STILL today. I do know that some prominent people, ie. Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, like to add fuel to the fire. For instance the Imus catastrophe. (Understand I have never liked him and very much disliked his show.) Yes, what he said was very wrong, and he should have apologized to those young girls. ut But so should a lot of people to a lot of others.
Someone once asked me if I thought the problems in Iraq would ever be resolved. My answer was, "No." How can we ever think that we can help them fix their problems when we ourselves cannot forgive, forget, and move on?
Why can we not love each other, without double standards, even though we were created with different opinions, skin, religions, etc?
I tell you today, I love you even if we don't see eye to eye on everything.
My Peanut and I fly SWA
Noel Mignon
8 comments:
Mary~ You should have been in church with me yesterday. Our pastor is doing a series of messages on "Justice and Mercy". Oh how we all have so much growing and learning and forgiving and understanding to do...just to scratch the surface sometimes! Hurt- especially racial hatred, goes deep. Oftentimes for generations. I'll link you to the sermon when it gets posted...I think you'll like it.
Also, I DID go to the Memorial while at Pearl Harbor on my honeymoon. It happened to be a special annivesary going on that day...thus the 3 hour wait to ride out the the sunken memorial. I went...but feel terrible now- years later, and after watching movies about this horrendous event, and after experiencing death on a personal level. I know I would be moved by it in a whole different way if I were to go back for a second visit. I have respect, which replaced my ignorance. I'm finding that "growing up" is a very good thing in my life much of the time. Thanks for your little note. And good luck on your Simple submissions! =)
Wow Mary - I so feel the same way! We just watched the movie "Crash" this weekend and it covers all the stereotypes you could imagine and I just thought - why are we still here after all this time? I don't get it at all! It seems crazy that we still have to worry about it - why can't we all just get along?? I get very frustrated with this exact thing and even more frustrated at the people in my life that still live with the thoughts of the old days and the old ways. In the fourth grade class I'm student teaching in - we've been learning about segregation and it was horrible what people went through, but at the same time - I see parents and students acting in ways that would shame and embarrass those who fought for their rights. It's crazy. It's nice though to read someone thoughts and see the same things I feel! I love the blogging world!!!
Hi Mary
well said girl... I totally agree with you... I see it here in the netherlands too.. But not black and white kinda racism. Turkish (that's what i am LOL) and morrocan people are a lot of times victims in many ways... We don't get the job we want etc.
So it's hard...
I hate racism... Truly
Thanks for posting this
I am sure we will be dealing with this in due time. I mean it's not somethng tha twe want to deal with but given tha tmy DH is black and my children are biracial, I'm sure at some point we ill deal with racist comments toward our children. I know it would jus tbreak my dd's heart. She loves everyone regardless of what they look like or where they come from. She is a heart of gold, truely.
It's a tough discussion to have- like opening a can of worms every time it's brought up but I do agree thaat there are just as many incidents of black on black hate crimes as black on white, white on black and white on white. See? It's really makes no difference what color our skin is- it's who we are on the inside that matters.I wish everyone could se eit that way. Gosh, some of my best friends, including my own husband are Black or Hispanic and I don't even think about it- I see right through what's on the surface.
I should read that book. I will have to search it. Thanks for the reference! :D
Thank you Mary for broaching a subject that most would not even discuss. My children learned early on in life that we should be one with each other no matter what. They have been accused on many occasions of being "white like". Their response has always been that they way raised to be themselves. Marc and I were just talking yesterday about how important it is that we include friends of all races within our circle because it adds value to our life. It adds value to our childrens life, and we hope in some way that we add value to our friends lives. I don't agree with what Imus said, I don't agree with the fact that he said he thought it was ok because he has heard it in the black community. As a member of the black community I do not use the "N" word, the "B" word, the "H" word or any cuss words, nor do my children or many of my family members and friends. I do not want to be judged based on the ignorance of some and I would hope that I don't judge in that way. Yes, its sad that we are still dealing with this at this point and tme in life...am I surprised...No. I try to live my life based on my faith, my committment to being a true child of the King and by passing this on to my children, I can only hope that we lead by example so that when confronted with ignorance ( by any race...even my own people ) that I display the same love that Jesus Christ displayed for me when he died for my sins.
This is a great entry Mary. I have a dear friend who has a bi-racial child. She is single and when she is dating, is constantly worrying about how people will accept her child. I feel so badly for her that that is something she should even have to worry about. Why on earth would someone not accept her beautiful daughter? But the sad thing is is that much of the world works that way. We are judged by our ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, etc. It isn't right and I'm glad you so openly state the facts. The wonderful thing is that we have the assurance that Christ died for each of us...rich, poor, black, white, old, young, man, woman. And we can be thankful that there are people out there like yourself who truly look only at people from the inside.
Giving you a standing ovation. Very well said. I could not agree more.
raunda
Amen, sister Mary (and to all the commenters, too). I have to believe that it will get better with each generation. I say "have to" because otherwise it is too depressing to think we haven't learned anything and are thus doomed to go through the same cycles over and over.
One thing that struck me in reading the comments is that part of the answer lies in how we are teaching children to treat other people. If I recall correctly, about 10-15 years ago, there was a program in Northern Ireland bringing Catholic and Protestant children together for some sort of after-school program. Mothers had organized it so their children would hopefully see each other as people rather than religions and end the strife they were then living through.
We all need to deal with racism we see every day, but I firmly believe that teaching children to look to the inside rather than the outside is a positive step forward.
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