Racism
Racism is still a problem. It's not as much of a problem as it used to be, but it still is.
Sometimes, old ideas don't really die out until the people who hold them die out. So it won't be my generation which finally rids itself of prejudice against black people--it'll be the younger generation, the people who are in elementary school right now, the kids who grew up knowing that the presidency wasn't limited to white people, that you could be a movie star or a doctor or a writer or whatever, and it didn't have to do with your skin color. We try to teach them that; but people as old as me and older are still operating on the old ways, still a little bit more scared if a black guy stops them to ask directions than if a white guy does.
Oh, it's not like we're consciously biased. For the most part, we're not. But look at it this way: If you had to wade through mud for an hour, no matter how much you valued cleanliness and how much you hated mud, you'd still get mud on you. Racism is in the environment. You soak it up and you have to consciously combat it. You have to get to know people of all different sorts, understand how they are different, learn to treasure the differences instead of being intimidated by them. You've got to stop idealizing or devaluing or stereotyping those people. And it's a life-long struggle, because the second you stop scrubbing mud off, you start getting dirty again.
Our kids--the people who are really little now--might not have to work so hard. Maybe the mud will dry up and they won't have to consciously tell themselves that the black kid who sits next to them in school, or the little girl with the headscarf, or the Spanish-speaking family
across the street, is okay just like they are. Maybe they'll just take it for granted that people are different. Maybe they'll see differences as a neutral fact, or as part of what makes the world interesting. I hope so.
Apologies for today's brief post. I still have six Q&As in the queue (keep sending them in, folks!), and I'll continue with those on Monday. School is starting soon, and I'm quite busy getting ready for it all. Wish me luck!
Sometimes, old ideas don't really die out until the people who hold them die out. So it won't be my generation which finally rids itself of prejudice against black people--it'll be the younger generation, the people who are in elementary school right now, the kids who grew up knowing that the presidency wasn't limited to white people, that you could be a movie star or a doctor or a writer or whatever, and it didn't have to do with your skin color. We try to teach them that; but people as old as me and older are still operating on the old ways, still a little bit more scared if a black guy stops them to ask directions than if a white guy does.
Oh, it's not like we're consciously biased. For the most part, we're not. But look at it this way: If you had to wade through mud for an hour, no matter how much you valued cleanliness and how much you hated mud, you'd still get mud on you. Racism is in the environment. You soak it up and you have to consciously combat it. You have to get to know people of all different sorts, understand how they are different, learn to treasure the differences instead of being intimidated by them. You've got to stop idealizing or devaluing or stereotyping those people. And it's a life-long struggle, because the second you stop scrubbing mud off, you start getting dirty again.
Our kids--the people who are really little now--might not have to work so hard. Maybe the mud will dry up and they won't have to consciously tell themselves that the black kid who sits next to them in school, or the little girl with the headscarf, or the Spanish-speaking family
across the street, is okay just like they are. Maybe they'll just take it for granted that people are different. Maybe they'll see differences as a neutral fact, or as part of what makes the world interesting. I hope so.
Apologies for today's brief post. I still have six Q&As in the queue (keep sending them in, folks!), and I'll continue with those on Monday. School is starting soon, and I'm quite busy getting ready for it all. Wish me luck!