Racism

I guess this has really come to a head recently. I have people in my life that I love dearly that are racists. I am not talking about the full blown KKK type racism but the subversive and hidden kind of racism. I am struggling with how to deal with it. No matter what I do they just don’t realize what they are doing. I realize that at one time their lives were influenced by someone or some event that made them racist. I only hope that my children can avoid and or ignore this ugly part of our culture.

What do I mean by hidden and subversive? I think it is hidden to some but obvious to others. Do you laugh at racist jokes? Do you ever say anything like, “If wasn’t for all of these illegal immigrants are taxes would be lower” or “The illegal immigrants are the one’s destroying our social security system!” Do you still use inappropriate terms for race like oriental or rag head? Do you call Sikhs Muslims? Do you think a turban is something associated with Al-Qaeda? Would you let your children play with an Iranian child? Would you stand up for a co-worker who was denied a promotion due to her race? These are examples of verbal and social decisions that are related to race. Some of these are deliberate decisions while others are through inaction. I think all of us must avoid racism through not only action but inaction as well. My dad used to tell me that you can lie even if you do not say a word. He called it lying through omission. That hits everyday for me and relates here as well. If you stand by and allow racism to permeate our world, are you committing racism through omission?

So what is the negative effect of all this to our world? Well I have to say that I think even the little things add up. The little bits of racism that come up in our lives are cumulative in nature. This is why I can’t laugh at a racist joke, email, or text? I think these types of things build up without you even knowing it. The joke you laughed at a year ago will enable you to be numb to a progressively more obvious form of racism.

This post is not about political action items or whether Obama is better than Bush. I do however think that a lot of the reason race is more of an issue recently is related to our president. The amount of emails, media, etc that I have seen that are vilifying the president are vast. It is expected but also sad that so many untruths are out there regarding Obama. The fact that we have an African-American president is simply a sign of progress for our nation. Regardless of his Democratic Party affiliation and the reflective poor decisions that have been made during his tenure, I am happy he is our president.

In closing, I am simply asking all of us to think before we speak. All of our families were once called “immigrants” and “minorities”. Let us all take a moment to realize that we are all minorities in some part of the world. If you and your family were suddenly transplanted to Afghanistan you would be a minority. This planet is too small for us to be so close minded.