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The real fear of a black parent

Belinda Gilmore,
Maceo, KY

It was early 2016, and I was on the phone talking to a friend I had not seen in a while. We were discussing life since she had to leave work due to a health issue. We both have a son the same age that would graduate high school in August. She was telling me about her son and how he was working because he had just gotten his first car. She went on to tell me that he has some new friends that live in the next town over, but she was afraid for him to go there (she lives in Breckinridge Country, Kentucky). I was confused, so I asked her why. She told me about some Klan activity that had taken place in the area before. I proceeded to question her fear. I acknowledged that there were still equality issues, but in the last decade the country had come so far. I went on to point out that we have a black president which I never thought would happen earlier in life. She stood firm and told me I just don’t understand. I didn’t.
The 2016 election campaign began. As a society, we are all attached in some way through social media. I only used Facebook to stay connected with family. I began to see so much hate being shared. I stopped opening it completely. I would only access Twitter because you are not required to follow certain individuals. Violence was coming to light more than I ever remember previously mainly toward black people but not limited to them. Then the election happened, and people quit being politically correct which brought me to the realization of how many people were before. I naively thought society was truly changing. I thought of my friend and all the things she will fear that I will never have to. I called my friend one day late in the year. Before we got too far into the conversation, I got a bit emotional and said, “I need to apologize to you,”

Ever heard of “love thy neighbor”?

Mack Leonard,
Saint Louis, MO

p>My words I chose were “Ever heard of ‘love thy neighbor’?”. This is referring to the bible verse Matthew 22:39, in which Jesus commands people to treat others as you wish to be treated, and love everyone around you unconditionally. I think that today, religion becomes an excuse for hatred, and that is not what religion, especially Christianity, is based on. Christianity is built on love, respect, faith, and community. Unfortunately, today religion is morphed and twisted into excuses and inaccuracies. I think that especially in recent events in America, honesty and decency has been red-flagged as being “woke”, disguised in the media as a trick when it is just a part of the religion that millions of people practice. It scares me, as a member of a younger generation, that my generation will take these practices and continue them, not understanding that we are so harmful and set in destructive habits that only further destroy our nation and community as a human race. I am not religious, but I believe that loving those around you and understanding that we are all just people is important to building a thriving world. Equality cannot be reached in hatred, dishonesty, and corruption.

He stood. She sat. For equality.

Linda Leigh Hargrove,
Concord, NC.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the Lincoln Memorial and made a game-changing speech. More than 250,000 people stood in the audience that August day, including Rosa Parks who sat her way into civil rights history. It is because of their work that I have the freedom, as a black woman, to work, live, and eat wherever I want. Full equality have yet to be realized, though. We are still in this game, this fight for the level equality that they only dreamed of. I believe the solution lies in not only our ability to stand and sit for equality. I believe it is in our ability to talk to one another in mutual respect and sensitivity. To commit to talk until real equality is realized–the kind that creates a reality in which a black mother will not have to tell her sons to be afraid of white men. I’m not sure this will happen in my lifetime but I can dream.

Why can’t we all be nice

Misti Harrelson,
Meridian, ID

p>I would always shake my head at those I thought to be prejudiced and felt that many minority groups stereotyped Caucasians unfairly. What I did not understand was the impact that White privilege had on minority individuals. I realize now that equality is a lot more than just being nice to others.

Stop Living In A Distorted Past

Moonlight Lady,
Piedmont Triad, NC

I am white, and I am sick and tired of African Americans who continually live in the past, and shove their distorted and many times incorrect atrosities onto white generations of today. Blacks in America are doing nothing but continuing to divide the races by trying to inflict unfair blame upon whites who have had ZERO to do with slavery, past racisms, or past mistakes made by a HANDFUL of mean spirited whites. If you blacks REALLY look at history in a truthful way, you will find MANY whites who have tremendously helped blacks to have equality. Equality in education, social equality, healthcare, and housing. My word if you can’t make it in today’s America that has been practically handed to you on a silver platter, what on earth is your gripe? Stop blaming current whites for predicaments from decades ago that we had NOTHING to do with and certainly don’t condone. You have been given MANY opportunities to succeed. If you do not succeed, it would be your own fault and WORK, STUDY, DEDICATION, FAITH, and SOBRIETY are key elements to American success. You are a broken record living in the past. Make your own future and stop looking back.

I am more than 3/5ths person

Lynell,
Nashville, TN.

“We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, and a level playing field, but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity, however, gained.”
― Derrick A. Bell, Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth

Perception equals reality – OPEN YOUR EYES!

WeddingKathy Devine-Henry,
Smyrna, DE.

Prior to my twenty-seventh birthday, my eyes were not completely open. Up until this point I believed that Martin Luther King Jr. had solved all the race issues in our country and equality for all was the law of the land.
Then I began teaching at a Juvenile Detention Center in Wilmington, Delaware. It was very obvious that the majority of the students housed there were students of color. For many years I struggled with this state of affairs.
Now it is clear to me that poverty and misperceptions continue to foster the unequal treatment of our most vulnerable group, our children. My hope is that we all work to shed light on why certain children’s lives are not valued as much as others and build new perceptions, thus new realities, through this enlightenment.

I’m not proud of being a WASP.

Nancy MacLeod,
Philo, CA.

I have ancestors that came to America in 1630- among the 1st to take advantage of the indigenous people. What is to be proud of, is how your family lived, how you live. I can be proud of my family because they were hard working and honest- but were they compassionate and wise? Did they believe in equality for all? Or did they believe in making money at the expense of others? Those things I don’t know. But I can be confident in my own life that those are driving factors for me. As for fearing “the other”- immigrants, people of whatever race- those fears are false. It is not immigrants, or people of some other color that are making it “hard” on “white American males”. It’s our ever-more elite law makers who allow corporations to expand exponentially until only 8 men in the world own as much wealth as the poorest half- 3.5 BILLION- of the world’s population! The “powers-that-be” are very good at obfuscating the real reasons for peoples’ angst and struggle, making it seem like the “others” are making it harder for them, but the reality is we need to re-do our laws- like Citizens United; like anti-monopoly laws that have been eviscerated and/or not enforced; like the removal of Glass-Stiegal; like voting laws and educational laws and redlining and drug laws and all the other unfair laws our government has in place- they try to keep us, “the masses”, from realizing the truth: We all may look different, but we are all one family- the family of humanity! (I don’t think government is bad- just some of the people who are controlling it…but that’s another talk…)

Indian, European, past enemies collide kindly.

Photo-on-8-26-15-at-5.09-PMHarleen Thind,
American Canyon, CA.

The reason why I chose these six words are because my mother and father are of different races, my father is European and my mother is Indian. Indians and Europeans were enemies in the past, they despised each other in the worst of ways. My father decided not to care if my mother was indian or not, he cared about how her eyes looked when they met his. He cared about her personality and how good her heart really was, not about her race and their past differences. India was the jewel in Britain’s Imperialist crown; indeed Queen Victoria bore the title of “Empress of India.” The British East India Company had conquered the last independent Indian state in 1848, and although some uprisings occurred from time to time, British rule was complete. By 1858, India was ruled by the British Parliament in London and administered by a tiny all white civil service in India. Although, this racial occurrence occurred my father and mother still collided with each other in a yet kind way, Indians used to despise Europeans and now they are allies. This is hard cold truth that race does not matter. Race shouldn’t matter, race is only a name hovering over your head informing people what ethnic back round you came from, what race you are and what past history you have.

My race is human. I agree we all look different but so do dogs, their the same species though, but different breeds, its the same thing with humans, different breed but same species. A lot of “other” people might add to this by saying that there is no equality. Equality is a whole new topic but that is the whole point of race, to be identified and equal, the same. If your black (African American) you hang out with a group of them, if your white (American) you hang out with a group of them, if your Asian you hang out with a group them, its all part of a process that is never ending. Racism is always going to exist, it existed thousands of years ago, why wouldn’t history repeat itself? Sometimes, we all judge each other based upon what color our skin is, what color eyes we have, what color our hair is and last but not least what type of person we are. Judging people is what ties the string with race relations. Inequality is a big issue all over the world as well as race relations, race relations fits smugly in the folder of inequality. The world is struggling to realize that what matters is that we are just human, not Black (Not being racist in any way) , not White, not Mexican and not Asian, we are only…human. All in all, even with past collisions there can still be a peace between races.

You don’t want truth? Too bad.

Sammy Miller,
New Orleans, LA

It’s interesting that people say they want equality. What they really want is to demean. I hear people say that white people are so used to being white that they can’t stand advancement of another race.

We hear all the hurtful mocking of whites.
They can’t dance
They have no taste in music.
They are Karens
They think they are better.
They are trying to “be black”
They are stealing our culture.
They are trying to take over BLM.
On and on.

They say now whites know how it feels.

We have all been mocked, ridiculed, and hurt.
We were taught that kids matter what someone does to you, you don’t take it out on others. This doesn’t seem to apply to whites anymore. Society makes it ok to tell whites they aren’t wanted. That they shouldn’t lift their voices because they don’t know what it is like to be darker skinned. The ignorance of that is staggering.

The hate and vitriol directed at whites because of something someone else did is as irrational as being scared of black men for being black. It’s as useless as believing all black women are baby machines with 7 different dads.
Because you are angry and hurt you want to punish all whites and give them a taste of their own medicine.
While you point fingers at whites for their privilege ask yourself what it would be like to be subjected to the same scrutiny. You say you are invisible. Imagine everything you say and do being dissected, ready to be pounced on as racist or hateful. If a white woman ignores a black man who approaches her in the store then she is a supremacist! not simply disinterested. She is subject to constant scrutiny constant evaluation. You can forget complaining about a completely disruptive employee who happens to not be white because that results in instantly being ostracized.

I hear the seething “well white people deserve it!” But do they?

If dark skinned women yell, act rude, or even brawl in public, it’s accepted as “their culture”. It seems a lot like a “Karen” to think you can do whatever you want and that the rules shouldn’t apply to you.

No one bats an eye at black people promoting the exclusive patronage of black owned businesses. They do it out in the open. Promoting their own brand of supremacy.

Regarding reparations. I’m curious why people are not out demanding reimbursement from families of offenders for lives that have been taken by murder. Is it unfair to hold parent accountable for the actions of their children? If an entire race bears the responsibility for their ancestors or the ancestors of people that look like them, then why can victims of crime not seek reparations from the parents and grandparents of the offender? They are directly responsible for how that person behaves. Parents have a direct influence on how their children develop and interact with society.

Why are women looked down upon for accepting money as reparations for rape when that is exactly what thousands of black people Say they deserve deserve for something that happened to their ancestors.

If a woman Is a greedy B for taking money to make her life easier then what should she accept for a physical and mental violation? An apology? A jail sentence? The fact that it is illegal?

True equality comes from melding of cultures. Are you ready to accept that?

I gotta be better to be equal.

Andrea Canchola,
San Antonio, TX.

As a young, Latina, woman I feel that I have to be better than everyone just to be equal. I’m tiny, short and I will boss you around. Just because I’m a young Latina woman doesn’t mean that I’m not as good as you. I’m probably better because I had to work 10x as hard as you ever had to.

To be young, gifted, and black.

Photo-on-24-10-14-at-09.34Maynard Hearns,
Santa Cruz, CA.

The black story in america is very simple: we were slaves, and then we weren’t. We were never given freedom, or equality. When we begged for it, we were lied to. When we Marched on Washington and pleaded our case, we were shot in the back of the head. When we sang for it, we were passed over it for those who could sing it whiter. When we wrote about it, we were left out of the american canon. When we exhibited moral character and “married up” we were called rapists. When we created shows that displayed to our intelligence without compromising our reality, we were sneered out in editorials.
When we cultivate our own beauty, we are ignored, or worse: “exoticized.”

When we dare to like ourselves and not be subservient out of reflex, we are shot in the walmarts, in the streets, and our killers are rewarded with a paid vacation.

Success for blacks in america comes with punishment. Nothing is more dangerous than to be unapologetically self-loving, yet able to go toe-to-toe with your white peers. They have magazines telling them they’re beautiful, stories saying they’re courageous, and smart, and funny, and thoughtful. They have a culture that tells them that they are, in a word, perfectible. To be black in america is to be faced with the notion that you are naturally imperfect.
And to succeed while black in america is to succeed in spite of your society, in spite of your nation–not because of it.

Just call me a human being

Lily Campbell,
San Francisco, CA.

I am a Freshman in Highschool, and for the past month, my religious studies teacher has been teaching us what the meaning of race is. Race is a category that humans have created to tell each other apart from one another, but we are all apart of one race, the human race. We shouldn’t be placed into categories based on the color of our skin, everyone should be treated equally, and in the 21st century, we should not have to be fighting to gain this equality. No one deserves to be shown such disrespect and inequality based on what they look like or their “race.” There is no such thing as race; there is only humanity alone, for we are all human.

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