Racism in America

I’ve been seeing a lot of comments recently all over social media about racism. A lot of people are saying that racism no longer exists and black people basically need to stop playing the race card. I want to tell you a little story about an experience I had the other day.

I went to my grandmother’s house around the holidays to visit with her and a few other family members. They were having a conversation about my cousin who had apparently woken up early that morning to find two people peering into his window. My grandmother asks, “Do any colored people live nearby?” (My grandma refers to black people as colored people.) Now, I know what you’re about to say. She’s old and lived during a period of segregation. That’s a valid point. However, I want you to think about this.

My grandmother did live during segregation. She was raised to believe that white people are better than black people. She grew up with these misconceptions, biases and stereotypes about African American people. From the comment she made that day, it’s clear she believes black people are more likely to steal and essentially be more of a danger to our community. My grandma had 4 children. They were raised with the exact same misconceptions, biases and stereotypes she was raised with. Their children were raised with the exact same misconceptions, biases and stereotypes. Now of course there are exceptions to this. For example, even though I was raised to be prejudice against black people, I always had a mind of my own. I can’t personally fathom the idea of one race being superior to another. I can’t imagine my God would create all the different races just to hold one at a higher level of superiority. Sadly though, I’m the only one out of my group of cousins that chooses to think that way. My other cousins who were all born in the late 80's and early 90's are racist.

So if all these racist people who lived during segregation raised their children to be racist and their children raised their children to be racist, it makes perfect sense that racism is still very alive and well in our society. Racism isn’t just a part of our history, it’s a part of our present.