Mark Babbitt
Clayton, NC
I was born in 1954 in Western Massachusetts. I was raised to be color-blind. I still remember a friend of my father, who was black, came to our house in the late ’50s and had a reel to reel recorder. Thought that was the coolest thing ever. The color of his skin made no difference to me. When I went to visit my mother’s side of the family in Kentucky, I was always shocked by the way whites spoke to and treated black people. Then I began to see the same ignorance back home. Even the local newspaper would, when reporting in an article, always make note of a black person’s race., such as: “David Frye, a black man…. Never did they state someone was white. I felt uncomfortable just because, if I were black, I would be insulted. When I entered high school, 2 sisters, who were the the first blacks in our school, suffered daily attacks verbally, physically to thepint that they left our school before the second semester. My sister’s 3rd child was mulatto. I didn’t find out until late in my mother’s life, that she never told most of her side of the family that her grandaughter was of mixed race. Her deep-rooted prejudice really showed in her final years when my sister began a relationship and then married a black man. As a child, I was impressed with Dr. King. His speeches were always eloquent as well as inspiring. I too, belived we were on the road to the promise land, that we would one day all be able to not judge each other by the color of theor skin or by their religous beliefs. These, the media really seems to be fueling racial hatred. Even President Obama is enciting it, despite what he says in his speeches. Why does he insist he is the first black President? He is the first mulatto president with African roots, who also has caucassion roots. Why is ot so important for people to throw their heritage in our face (African-American, Irish-American, Italian-American). Unless you have dual citizenship, we are Americans. If you accepted citizenship here, that is what you are. Be proud of it, and stand together as one nation of people. I truly hate that there is hate and so much of it.
