Good morning, everyone!!!
This is a deep topic and one I've been contemplating all week since reading a few posts and comments on social media. I was informed through social media that if I didn't believe in white privilege then I was racist. This set my soul on fire. Yes, I'm a white woman and yes, I'm proud to be one.
Now with this said I am going to delve into this topic of not privilege for any race, but a topic I feel so strongly about that I just need to get it out. I grew up in a time when crosses burned in yards, not somewhere hidden away in people's yards, but right out front where all could see them when passing by. The first time I saw one of these crosses it was still smoldering the next morning when the school bus picked up my friend from her house. She was so embarrassed and not for the reasons you would think.
We were third graders. Just little people. Her sister was married to a black man and they lived an hour away from our area. They had a beautiful little girl, whom my friend loved with all her heart. The message that cross sent her was she wasn't supposed to love her niece. She couldn't understand why people didn't want her to love that innocent little girl, that baby. She wanted to know how she was supposed to stop loving her niece, because society said, don't love her.
I held her why she cried. I told her she had every right to love her niece. I told her I didn't know why people were so mean.
That morning impacted my life in such a way I swore to myself I would never base anything about a person on their color. Plain and simple. People were people.
I look back on those days and see how far we have come as a society. I went to school with a wide variety of races. We learned so much from one another and about culture. We embraced one another even if our parents didn't. We learned from one another, but we also heard society scream out all the time, stay within your race. This seemed shallow and petty back then to those of us growing up in the seventies.
I raised my children to embrace the differences in human beings, not to judge people by the color of their skin, or their religions. I took color out of the equation.
No, I am not blinded by the fact that society as a whole will categorize people based on color. I consider those people blinded by their own ignorance. To me friendships and relationships, even the casual every day should not be labeled. We should not say oh this is my black friend, my Indian friend, my Asian friend. No, color should not be a factor at all. They should be just 'my friend.'
Until we stop labeling things in this Country, things will remain divided. Because we as a society have made them this way. We push the mark to encourage racism by labeling. Until the day we can wake up, smell the coffee, and say, It's time to stop putting a stigma on someone based on their color, we will always be stuck in this place.
Since that morning all those years ago I have smiled inwardly knowing that couples today can be happy regardless of their race or intermingling of races. The majority of people today do not give snide looks when an interracial couple walk in, if they do, it is sad. You don't see the whispers like you did in my day. You see people going about their business, doing their shopping, or walking in the park, or whatever they may be doing, without interruption. Very unlike the old days.
Yes, I may very well be closed minded on this topic. However, that is how it should be, because frankly, human beings are human beings, skin color should not factor into this at all. There are good and bad in all races, the statics are out there, research them. However, as long as we label people their will always be racism, because frankly, we're too arrogant to see past our own selves.
When we can learn to embrace people as people, respect one another's cultures, learn our own cultures and be proud of who we are and who they are, then maybe the words race and racism will be a thing of the past.
You say it can't be that simple because...
List your reasons. Do they include color in there anywhere? If so, who is racist? My line of thinking does not factor in color anywhere. So if my choosing to base people on their deeds in this life versus their color makes me racist then so be it. I would rather have love in my heart and soul for all human kind than to put stipulations on other human beings. Because at the end of the day, we are all human beings, we have all gone through something in our lifetime whether it was based on someone's prejudices or just the color of our skin or our sex.
Contrary to belief, this world has come a long way since 'the good old days' so to speak. I've witnessed it first hand. I've watched us silently grow as a society and recently I've watched our society go back a fifty years in their way of thinking.
Take it from someone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, you don't want to go back there. It was an ugly dark time for race. There was a time when the words 'white privilege' did ring true. A time when the KKK held power and were the things nightmares were made of. A time where people stood up for something and that something needed stood up for.
Today, the only thing that needs to change is how we look at other human beings. Our society has very little respect for self much less those around them. If people can take a drug knowing that it killed their best friend and then yell and scream at a cop or EMT for bringing them back to life because it killed their buzz, this is where the problem lies more so than who has what in this life because of the color of their skin.
When did we stop teaching our children to respect life in general? You want to know why things are happening, shootings, overdoses, the likes, just look at how society doesn't respect human life in general, then you will have your answers. If they can't respect their own life, don't expect them to respect the lives of others. No one is taught how to handle feelings and emotions anymore, they're just given a pill and told to go on their way. It doesn't matter the color of their skin in these instances, society just stopped caring about caring. So they quit raising their children with emotions and stifled these emotions. We've become a society of entitlement and no responsibility.
Everyone have a lovely day!!!
Blessings to all!!!
This is a deep topic and one I've been contemplating all week since reading a few posts and comments on social media. I was informed through social media that if I didn't believe in white privilege then I was racist. This set my soul on fire. Yes, I'm a white woman and yes, I'm proud to be one.
Now with this said I am going to delve into this topic of not privilege for any race, but a topic I feel so strongly about that I just need to get it out. I grew up in a time when crosses burned in yards, not somewhere hidden away in people's yards, but right out front where all could see them when passing by. The first time I saw one of these crosses it was still smoldering the next morning when the school bus picked up my friend from her house. She was so embarrassed and not for the reasons you would think.
We were third graders. Just little people. Her sister was married to a black man and they lived an hour away from our area. They had a beautiful little girl, whom my friend loved with all her heart. The message that cross sent her was she wasn't supposed to love her niece. She couldn't understand why people didn't want her to love that innocent little girl, that baby. She wanted to know how she was supposed to stop loving her niece, because society said, don't love her.
I held her why she cried. I told her she had every right to love her niece. I told her I didn't know why people were so mean.
That morning impacted my life in such a way I swore to myself I would never base anything about a person on their color. Plain and simple. People were people.
I look back on those days and see how far we have come as a society. I went to school with a wide variety of races. We learned so much from one another and about culture. We embraced one another even if our parents didn't. We learned from one another, but we also heard society scream out all the time, stay within your race. This seemed shallow and petty back then to those of us growing up in the seventies.
I raised my children to embrace the differences in human beings, not to judge people by the color of their skin, or their religions. I took color out of the equation.
No, I am not blinded by the fact that society as a whole will categorize people based on color. I consider those people blinded by their own ignorance. To me friendships and relationships, even the casual every day should not be labeled. We should not say oh this is my black friend, my Indian friend, my Asian friend. No, color should not be a factor at all. They should be just 'my friend.'
Until we stop labeling things in this Country, things will remain divided. Because we as a society have made them this way. We push the mark to encourage racism by labeling. Until the day we can wake up, smell the coffee, and say, It's time to stop putting a stigma on someone based on their color, we will always be stuck in this place.
Since that morning all those years ago I have smiled inwardly knowing that couples today can be happy regardless of their race or intermingling of races. The majority of people today do not give snide looks when an interracial couple walk in, if they do, it is sad. You don't see the whispers like you did in my day. You see people going about their business, doing their shopping, or walking in the park, or whatever they may be doing, without interruption. Very unlike the old days.
Yes, I may very well be closed minded on this topic. However, that is how it should be, because frankly, human beings are human beings, skin color should not factor into this at all. There are good and bad in all races, the statics are out there, research them. However, as long as we label people their will always be racism, because frankly, we're too arrogant to see past our own selves.
When we can learn to embrace people as people, respect one another's cultures, learn our own cultures and be proud of who we are and who they are, then maybe the words race and racism will be a thing of the past.
You say it can't be that simple because...
List your reasons. Do they include color in there anywhere? If so, who is racist? My line of thinking does not factor in color anywhere. So if my choosing to base people on their deeds in this life versus their color makes me racist then so be it. I would rather have love in my heart and soul for all human kind than to put stipulations on other human beings. Because at the end of the day, we are all human beings, we have all gone through something in our lifetime whether it was based on someone's prejudices or just the color of our skin or our sex.
Contrary to belief, this world has come a long way since 'the good old days' so to speak. I've witnessed it first hand. I've watched us silently grow as a society and recently I've watched our society go back a fifty years in their way of thinking.
Take it from someone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, you don't want to go back there. It was an ugly dark time for race. There was a time when the words 'white privilege' did ring true. A time when the KKK held power and were the things nightmares were made of. A time where people stood up for something and that something needed stood up for.
Today, the only thing that needs to change is how we look at other human beings. Our society has very little respect for self much less those around them. If people can take a drug knowing that it killed their best friend and then yell and scream at a cop or EMT for bringing them back to life because it killed their buzz, this is where the problem lies more so than who has what in this life because of the color of their skin.
When did we stop teaching our children to respect life in general? You want to know why things are happening, shootings, overdoses, the likes, just look at how society doesn't respect human life in general, then you will have your answers. If they can't respect their own life, don't expect them to respect the lives of others. No one is taught how to handle feelings and emotions anymore, they're just given a pill and told to go on their way. It doesn't matter the color of their skin in these instances, society just stopped caring about caring. So they quit raising their children with emotions and stifled these emotions. We've become a society of entitlement and no responsibility.
Everyone have a lovely day!!!
Blessings to all!!!