Today marks the commemoration of 50 years since the march on Washington, D.C. and the "I have a dream" speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The videos and speeches that took place over the weekend prior show just how far we've come...and how far we have to go until there is true equality in our country. While there have been amazing strides taken, I can't help but feel like there are certainly situations that show how far things need to go before we can consider "all men created equal." To quote one of the speakers from this weekend (I'd specify who if my memory allowed it), "We live in a country where a black man can be voted President of the United States. We live in a country where a black man can be profiled for wearing a hoodie."
I remember reading a video game website, The Penny Arcade Report, where the writer describes the foolish things that they did in their youth. While he was mentioning how unjust the legal system had dealt with a young boy for comments made over Facebook, I couldn't help but be awed by the things that were okay for a young man to do by their standards. One of the comments under the article seemed to agree with me. The foolish things they mentioned doing would have been near suicidal for me to do as a kid. Fireworks in a neighbor's mailbox? The police would have treated me like an urban terrorist. Or worse.
To compound issues, there is this politically motivated concept that it now "sucks to be white in America." I just cannot fathom this viewpoint. I had to learn to pull my wallet and insurance out of the car and leave them in plain sight when pulled over to avoid being shot. I have to deal with the purse clutching and door locking that happens just because I'm walking past. Statistics also show that it does not, in fact, suck to be Caucasian. So this is an ideology that I cannot understand.
This type of thing is made even worse when you hear stories of the police trying to help a person get into their car when they got locked out and were trying to break in. I've been stopped while sitting in my parked car at my apartment complex to make sure the car wasn't stolen. Profiling is a very real thing and it perpetuates all of the racial stereotypes that are so divisive.
Yet there is hope. I can look at my kids and see a generation that is opposed to this type of hatred and bigotry. As time moves on, we may face a future where it is possible to truly see people judged not by their race, but by their actions and the "content of their character." So I do my part to teach my children to love and embrace differences.
Hopeful it resonates with the others they interact with as well.
Until next time, dear reader.
