I had an evil thought
today. Not that it is my first mind you,
but I am generally a positive and compassionate person, give people the benefit
of the doubt and try to see the good in people.
But today is one of those days where my capacity to endure other people’s
hatred, especially racism, is hanging by a thread.
The following article, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/28/world/europe/italy-politics-racism/index.html?iref=allsearch, had my hackles up, (if I actually had any), as far
as they would go. And then the evil
thought . . . I wished all racists would slip on a banana peel and be gone
forever . . . and then the repentant heart of someone who doesn’t like to wish
evil things on others . . . and then I cried.
Idealism is a natural trait
of mine. When I was in eighth grade, I
actually believed that by the time I reached adulthood there would be no racism
and nobody would be smoking cigarettes.
Yes laugh at me, I do, but I really naively thought this could be so.I have had personal experiences with racism. I am a melting pot of ethnicity to say the least. On my father’s side, I am mostly Danish, German and Cherokee Indian. On my mother’s side, I am Spanish, French and Chinese. In addition, I am adopted with my dad being English and Native American and my late mother being Japanese. Most of my Caucasian friends assumed I was Japanese American. When my mother’s Japanese friends looked at me, they knew I was not Japanese. A lot of people thought I was Coastal Indian when I lived in the Pacific Northwest. When I was in Hawaii, I was thought to be a native islander. Now that I live in Oklahoma, many people ask me to which tribe of Indian I belong. In the past, I have been called “j-p”, slant eyes and had people talk to me like I didn’t understand English. I was born in San Francisco, California folks! Fortunately, I was raised the child of a military man and lived other places in the world and experienced other cultures so I didn’t grow up so intolerant.
Although I don’t consider myself racist or prejudiced in any way by the true definition of the terms, I won’t be so pious as to deny that I have ever judged anyone based on their ethnicity, what they were wearing, what and how they eat . . . the list is vast of ways in which we size up people but I am intelligent and rational enough to realize that I am not superior in any way to my fellow human being. I believe God created us all and I believe God loves us all and He gave His life for us all!
The hostility of one race
toward another, one culture toward another, one religion toward another, one
social class toward another is nothing but pure hatred. There are countless reasons people hate, but
hate is usually born out of fear. We don’t
live in a perfect world and we are not perfect people.
So the tears have been shed
and I ask myself, what will I do to make a difference? How will I be a part of the change I want to
see in the world? I focus on the fact
that there are many loving and accepting people in the world. I focus on being a loving and accepting
person myself. I don’t know much about Cecile
Kyenge or her politics, I just know she is another human being. I pray for the hurts to be forgiven and for
people like her to keep rising above the ignorance and hatred, to
keep on working for good things for all people.I know there are practical considerations to ridding our world of all its ills. However, I still believe that by being guided by my ideals, I will be a better part of the change.
Have you ever been the victim of racism or close to someone who has? How did it make you feel? How do you feel we can make things better for now and the generations to come?
