I know I said today was going to be my day off, but I just came home from visiting a friend that was telling me about her friend's daughter that is Asian, in first grade and attending a new school. Apparently, she is being ostracized by her peers because of her ethnicity. Isn't the age of a first grader 5 or 6? This just proves my theory that racism will never end. In fact, I think it's getting worse. I base my theory on me being an interracial child (Black, Mexican, Indian & White) that was in first grade in 1965 at a predominately white school; meaning no Blacks. This was my life through school until the last two years of high school when a couple of Black students came. If there were any signs of racism I didn't see it or hear it... don't you think I should have considering the era? So maybe that's it... we've become a society that thinks it's okay to freely express our opinion of another human being without any regards to the effect it may have on them. When I was growing up we were taught if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Obviously that's a thing in the past. This isn't the first situation where a first grader being discriminated against has been brought to my attention. My friend that is Mexican had to pull her daughter out of the neighborhood school because the kids told her they don't like brown kids. We all know where the words are coming from, but why is my question. Are we still not educated enough to see people for people and not judge them by the color of their skin? "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Dr. Martin Luther King
As I was sorting through pictures this morning I came across pictures of my seven-year-old granddaughter with girls that she met for the first time on a 2 day stay in Prescott. I was drawn to the smiles on their faces and the love in their eyes. They met, accepted each other, and acted as if they had been lifelong friends. Oh, how I had forgotten about the innocence of a child. The color of skin, the size of a body, the structure of a face does not matter. They are ready to accept and love unconditionally until we and society teach them differently. There was nothing but smiles and laughter as they danced, made beaded jewelry, and ate. They made sure that they all were a part of whatever they were participating in. They cared about each other's feelings and made sure that everyone was having fun and was happy. Why is it that we grow to become so obsessed with appearance and behavior of others that we miss seeing the light or the struggles in others? We're so q...
clear smart words here. I remember a lesson I did for my second graders about my growing up and seeing some of the "signs" literally of the times. It was when things truly began to change.. It is a good thing to remember' MLK and what wisdom he shared ..
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue! You would think that it would be changing for the better by now.
ReplyDeleteI agree that its getting worse. I also think that a lot of people have gotten courage because of our President! Now you know how much I respect him, even though you &I don't discuss politics(because you don't like to talk about politics, Hehe, thats not a bad rule to have) But I have actually walked away from a. (good?) Friendship because the election revealed what a racist she was. Sorry,my grandson is half Hispanic, so if you're going to start in with "The race thing," Im out.
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