Racism is an issue that continues to persist in our country because after centuries of slavery and oppression amongst the African-American population, it is deeply ingrained in American history. Every day, somewhere in the world, men, women and children are tortured and even killed because of their beliefs, their race, the way they look, or the way they live. And this will go on until the rest of the world stops being quiet and takes a stand against the hatred that causes these crimes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. The racial divide that exists in communities like Ferguson, Missouri, and the effect it has on the lived experience of white and black people, reminded us of a conversation from last week’s show in which poet Maya Angelou remembers how, as a little girl, she hated going to the white neighborhood in her hometown of Stamps, Arkansas, because she felt unsafe and unprotected there. While contemplating the train tracks that served as the physical boundary between the segregated neighborhoods, Angelou tells Bill: “This was more or less a no man’s land here… If you were black you never felt really safe when you simply crossed the railroad tracks… And I used to have to walk over here. Oh gosh, I hated it. I had no protection at all over there. I had an idea of protection on this side. I had my grandmother on this side. I had the church, my uncle, and all my people were on this side. So I had an idea of protection, but there I would be all alone and I loathed it, crossing those railroad tracks.” Those words were spoken by Maya Angelou in 1982, and sadly, not a whole lot has changed 32 years later, as evidenced in Ferguson this week. This week in Phoenix, Arizona an mentally challenged lady of 50 meet an officer with a hammer in her hand and she was shot by the officer... Again I think he had options other than a fatal shot... When you were born, you didnt hate anyone, but can you still say that? Hate is something you learn - and you can unlearn it, too. Maybe youre thinking that you havent learned hate, because, after all, its not a subject that you take in school. So, how do you learn hate? And how do you know whether you do hate anyone? You can start today by promising to live your life showing respect for all people, no matter how like you or unlike you they are. Take a tolerance pledge showing that you are a person committed to living with dignity and peace, someone who celebrates diversity and embraces differences among people.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:18:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015