It has to end.
It must stop.
People have to realize that all this racism, all this hate,
all this argument yields nothing. It
yields nothing but death, and more hate, and more racism.
Today, as I was walking into Wawa to get lunch, a black man
opened and held the door for me, a white man.
I thanked him, and he said, “It’s all about respect.”
I said, “Yes, it is really. And we need it more today than
we ever did before.”
He agreed and we went about our way. He to the drink counter, me to order my
BLT. And, it struck me, as I was
punching keys for a little mayo and a little vinegar, that the man had hit the
nail on the head.
In the past, I’ve argued that the Confederate Battle flag no
longer means what it did. The Sons of
Confederate Soldiers need seriously to take a look at what has happened to that
once honored symbol. It’s not about
honor, rights, or anything sacrosanct anymore. People, bad people really, have
consumed the flag; they dishonor it, they spew aspersions while waving this
once very honorable banner in the air.
They are attempting to do the same thing with the Red Wings
logo from the Detroit professional hockey team.
And, unfortunately, they will likely prevail in smearing that symbol,
too. They will prevail because there is
no way to stop it.
It’s my belief that, for the most part, race relations have
gotten better over the years. I think
black, white, yellow, red does not make a person better or worse. We are all made of the same stuff. A slight difference in genetic structure
doesn’t affect the result except by outward appearances. Outward appearances only.
How evil and insidious is racism? It can pervade our society, and it can do so
in a manner that we don’t even get until it’s too late. The communities we live in, the breadth of
our friendships, and how we choose to relate to one-another. It’s difficult.
From my own life, I know how undermining things can be. I did not come from a racist household. We did not sit around and talk about other
people in disparaging terms. We never
really spoke about race; a non-starter, a non-issue.
And yet, when I was 10 years old, I made a racist comment
while playing with a kid of color. It
did not dawn on me then that the comment was racist, but believe me it
was. Later, with some perspective, I
realized it. Ask me and I will tell you
the story, but I don’t think it needs to be here.
My point being that no matter how much we believe we aren’t
racist, race is an insidious thing. It
can and will insinuate itself in such a sly manner that we often don’t even
realize it is happening.
It happened to me when I was 10 years old. My family is not a racist family. We do not harbor such feelings, and yet. And yet, such a comment came out of my own
mouth, not in a hateful way, but hurtful none-the-less.
To me, it was a simple thing once I realized it. Take a look at yourself. An honest look. Not that kind of look where you spend a few
minutes and don’t take it to heart.
It’s time to put this evil behind us. We need to openly show that incidents like
the one in Charlottesville last weekend are not pervasive in our world, it’s
not representative of our country. We
need to move from here, and get to a point where we accept one another as we are.
A place where we realize that it’s all about respect: respect for ourselves and
respect for each other.
It’s time to wake up America. It’s time to show the world
what our country is really about.
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