Melissa Beth
Burlington, VT
The more we focus on NOT being racist, the more we are teaching children of this society that they must see people as skin color. Children must be carefully taught to be racist. We are not born treating others differently because of their appearance. They see the emphasis in entertainment, at home, in churches, in schools and all around them. We are all from the same parents, Adam and Eve. Our actual skin color is the same with only varying amounts of melanin. Mutation has created the facial differences over thousands of years. Cultural and religious beliefs however, are things we should discuss with children. They must be taught to think logically for themselves to make wise choices and discern if what they are seeing as the norm is really what is right and good. Terrorism and hatred against innocent people, like at the Boston Marathon is unacceptable. It doesn’t mean that if the guilty party is Caucasian that all Caucasians are terrorists, but if continued offenses occur people will become judgmental of a certain type of person or a certain state. It is in our nature to want to protect lives and when our freedom to be safe is threatened we have no choice but to speak out against it. So we should teach kids to be content with whatever the color of their skin may be and not see it as a curse or as a blessing. Each is unique and created for a purpose. Each has a wonderful mind that can be used to make educated choices that will impact the future of the world, for lasting freedom.
