since the protests/riots in ferguson, missouri, racism has been on my mind. those events brought up several feelings for me. since then, i have been tuned into the oprah channel to see her shows commemorating the 50th anniversary of the selma marches. the movie, "selma" opens this weekend. her shows have focused on civil rights then and now. more on those shows in a moment.
i am not a racist. i don't judge a person by their skin color or origin, but by who they are inside. i told an 8th grade student this, telling her that we shouldn't have black/white issues in the 21st century (this was 2006). she told me i was naive. maybe so…
fast forward to 2014. as i watched the stories from ferguson appear on social media i got mad. i got mad because things haven't changed. i felt like i was watching Los Angeles in 1992. was the rodney king verdict just announced again? people were breaking into buildings, looting, and setting fires. didn't they learn anything from the Los Angeles riots in 1992? there are still people trying to rebuild in Los Angeles and it's been 22 years. wtf is that? what does all that solve? how does that make change happen?
i don't think violence solves anything to begin with. i don't know how stealing from local businesses of your neighbors changes the racism that exists. but, my opinion doesn't matter. let's just look at the facts. 1992 riots only destroyed businesses and lives. it didn't fix racism among cops and african american males because here we are in 2014 with a situation. so, why riot again? why not try something else? we need to change our (society's) behaviors to make change happen.
so, why do i care? i'm a white woman. why do i even have an opinion? this effects all of us--black/white, male/female. racism is learned. children do not use skin color to select their friends on the day care playground. we need to stop teaching our kids (we & our = society) to be racists. we need to equip our sons and daughters with ways to stand up against racism that doesn't include riots, fires, and stealing. we need change. we (productive members of society) should not leave this change up to the african american race. we need to ALL come together and fight. just like they did when they marched int he 1960s.
oprah's shows have featured many prominent african americans. she spoke to ruby bridges (first african american female to attend an all white school in the south). she lived through the struggle of the civil rights movement and recognizes that progress has been made, but she says it's not enough. oprah talked to maya angelou, morgan freeman, and several other african americans. the dialogues she is having with these famous african americans need to be held with the everyone. we (society) all need to hear about what we need to do to make change happen. everyone includes the people rioting in response to racism. (i can't do justice to oprah or the people she has interviewed. check out her channel during this month).
to wrap up this post, i want to take a moment to mention MLK. we are getting ready to celebrate his life with MLK day. i always enjoyed teaching his "i have a dream" speech because it is so eloquently written. his use of metaphor is amazing and he really gets makes a good point about where we as a country need to be. we have come a long way since the 1960s, but we have a way to go. i have a dream that one day the dream of martin luther king junior and all those that marched with him will come true.
(it was difficult to choose an excerpt to share. click on the text for the full speech)
"And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"what's on your mind today?
