The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Jerrid Crumo,
Minneapolis, MN.
Race is something that has been going on for the last 2000 years and will continue to go on for the next years to come, but God says Love everyone and says love your neighbor, if he can love and forgive the people that hung him on the cross why can’t we love all.
Carla Brady,
Peachtree City, GA.
The internet allows us to share our lives and hearts. Why do we not see ourselves in each other and understand, forgive, support, and grow close?
Brent Pappas,
Cooper City, FL.
Normally, I feel it is prudent to forgive others when they wrong us, and to remember their previous actions in order to predict how they will act next and best prepare for it. Increasingly however, I have begun to feel that perhaps it would be for the best if everyone one day woke up and forgot all their preconceived notions about other cultures as well as all the injustices committed to others based upon race, gender, sexual-orientation, nationality, religion, or any other discerning cultural factor. I just wonder what the world would be like today if we could all suddenly see each other anew with no frame of reference; like starting from a blank slate. I’m not sure if this would create a world of complete racial equality or one of the opposite, but I assume the former would be established. If racial prejudice is not inherent (and while I believe trepidation about interacting with other cultures in general is, I believe that prejudice to other cultures is not), then this hypothetical scenario would naturally create a world lacking prejudice.
The key takeaway from this idea is that it can simply (though not necessarily easily) be realized. Each of us must simply try to forget all the stereotypes, notions, and stigmas surrounding other cultures and instead base our opinions solely on our own interactions with them. If we would all do this, then I believe that the world would truly become a better place.
LaKeisha Vereen
Ann Arbor, MI
Victoria Long,
Seattle, WA.
I have experienced racism at a young age, but no matter what they said, I forgave them in the end.
Donna Hanson
Bella Vista, AK
My ancestors were slave owners and themselves indentured servants and sharecroppers. I’ve worked on my family genealogy for over 14 years and find both the goodness and harshness of humankind interwoven throughout the generations.
Gary Dunn,
Brooklyn, NY.
I find it extremely hard to forgive those who where responsible and benefited from the enslavement of us.I want to punish them the way they punished us. Make them strip naked, beat them, separate them from their families, deny them education, jobs,businesses. Make them feel inferior and back it all up with “LAW”. Thank God they are “few” and of even less courage then they had then. I just can’t forgive…
Linda Robinson
Philadelphia, PA
All of us are shaped by the culture and historical period in which we developed as children. That culture almost becomes a part of our DNA – it’s that imbedded in us. The white slave-traders of centuries ago in Africa were shaped by the cultural idea that dark-skinned peoples of Africa were inferior to White, Europeans. That idea was a very dangerous and immoral idea, as it set the stage for much bloodshed and suffering (white and black alike) continuing into present times. Most white folks here in the 21st century America were not descendants of the slave traders of yesterday. So, why the hatred that exists in your hearts for something that some of our ancestors perpetrated on your ancestors?? So, please forgive us for the atrocities committed by our ancestors…and some of the atrocities that continue today. White folks: ask some of your black colleagues, neighbors, etc. for their forgiveness; even though we weren’t responsible for what happened in the past, we too carry some of the ‘sins of our fathers’ with us. Can we replace our fear with love for the ‘other?’ Let us try.
T. Parker
Dallas, TX
I pray for the day when I can walk into any store and get the same treatment as the people who walk in behind me.
I pray for the day that I can proudly be taken home to meet any man’s family instead of being told that I will never be accepted.
I pray for the day that the assumption is that a woman who look likes me is a good wife and mother.
When others can let go of race as a negative attribute I will be ecstatic because it will finally give me an opportunity to never talk about it as an issue again!
Bill Rowe
Bucks County, PA
It was 1971 and I was ashamed the moment I said it. Jeff was a friend and to impress the wrong person I said something terrible. What impresses me to this day is the way that he responded. He just said “you don’t mean that” and never said another word. If I read the situation correctly, Jeff forgave the unforgivable. I have never been able to forgive my behavior and I am ashamed to this day of what I did. I moved to another school the following year and we lost contact. I never apologized and wish that I could.
Jeff, wherever you are, I have two 6 word sentences for you. You are the epitome of grace. I’m sorry beyond power of words.
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