Race in America
This is Obama's full speech from March 18, 2008 addressing race in America, sparked by the comments made by Rev. Wright and their backlash. I have to wonder about people that won't hear what he's saying, especially those that claim to be christian.
Click to viewI've mentioned this before (if I haven't, I've meant to) but I think it would be appropriate to mention it again.
I've been subbing in various districts in Oakland and Macomb counties (whose southern borders meet Detroit); fourteen districts. Within these districts are a variety of concentration of ethnicities that vary from district to district.
I've seen students of various ethnicities hanging out together without any concern for their ethnic differences. It's like a Benneton ad without the obviousness or pretentiousness; there were no token representatives. They acknowledged their differences, but they weren't being judgmental or acting superior.
Any jokes made about differences were jokes between friends, no different from the jokes I made with my friends when I was in high school. This was often what brought my attention to the group. Someone makes a comment about blacks, whites, Hispanics, Chaldeans, Asians, or whatever and I have to take note (in the current thin-skinned environment, I have to make sure no one is being racist). What I almost immediately see are friends having honest and open discussions. Sometimes the object of the comment laughs the most, without the laughter seeming false.
When I do take note of these exchanges, I see who's taking part. On most occasions, almost all of the ethnicities were represented.
Seeing these students interacting with each without judging each other by their differences, but not ignoring these differences, gives me hope that racism is on the decline. The -Ists will become the exceptions.
During the Civil Rights Movement, some people, such as Malcolm X or the Black Panthers, thought that Dr. King was not achieving results quickly enough. They wanted change now! This is understandable, one can only take so much. Unfortunately, this view is short-sighted. They weren't going to change the views of the people that were (are) oppressing them. They need to confront the legal system and show the next generation that what is happening now is wrong and needs to be changed. The advances that last are the ones that are built on a solid foundation that brought about that change, not a sudden "let's shut them up" concession.
It's often too late to change the views of those already in power; they were raised in conditions that promoted certain views, that's not easy to overcome. It's the young people that are going to make the changes stick. And, by young people, I mean anyone in their (roughly) mid-20s and younger.
I am very proud of Michael for many reasons. One of the recent ones was when he said that he hopes Barrack becomes president because it's about time we had a black president. When we watch movies or TV shows that deal with -ist issues, we would need to explain that there are people that don't like certain types of people just because they were different. He couldn't understand why people would feel that way, never mind the things some of them actually did!
That's enough rambling for now. Gotta go walk the dogs.