I was wondering if anybody’d’ve posted anything about today…but apparently not.
I have to confess that as a very pale white person, I’ve never been discriminated against because of the color of my skin, so I never thought MLK was more than a day to get off of work and school and sleep in.
This year’s MLK day is different, though, because last year my cousin was born black.
Some of my family is racist, and they’ve already called him nigger, even though he’s only two months old, but when I look into his bright little eyes, I just can’t understand how a person could be so heartless.
He’s still too little to understand who MLK was, or even what racism is, but I’ve felt like I should at least do something today.
So I am making it a point to take today to explain to my 6 year old brother and my 4 year old cousin about racism and hatred and tell them why they don’t have to go to school today.
I think everybody should do the same thing with their kids.
Growing up the child of a Kennedy Liberal, I saw King’s face among other icons in my father’s study every day. I never really understood either, despite his lectures to me… then I married into an Afro-Cuban family and now I have a beautiful biracial son.
The state of Florida, where he was born, sent someone to record the birth certificate and they required us to choose a race for the child – biracial is apparently a foreign concept to the state. So my son is officially Black according to the State of Florida.
I wonder when we’ll ever move beyond these things.
rh (who lives about 4 blocks from MLK drive in Chicago)
As pernicious as the issue of race is to the world (and the USA in particular), King really became a threat to the power structure by addressing the issues of poverty and war… issues which cut across racial and ethnic divisions. I think a lot of people – especially people who are poor and NOT African-American, some of whom have family members who join the military for an opportunity for a decent education and benefits and who then are killed in wars – don’t realize that King was fighting for them as well.
I agree. Poverty and ignorance and racism all go together. I just wrote an essay, actually, discussing the issue of rural poverty in America and how it ties in to lack of focus on education (which in turn leads to racist views). I may post it here later.
I know my cousin is biracial, but for all his life, he is not going to face bigotry because he is biracial. The world will see him as black, for better or worse. Look at Colin Powell. He’s nearly as white (in complexion) as me, and yet he’s still always referred to in terms of race. For some reason, it is something we (as a nation) can’t seem to really get past.
Another issue that upsets me in regards to race is how when people adopt children, they always want healthy blonde white newborn boys. I don’t have anything against healthy white little boys at all (I used to be one!), but I think there are other children who need adopted, too.
I agree that they’re too little to understand it, but they’ve been exposed to it their entire lives (stupidity from their families, plus the KKK and other such groups are active here). They need some explanation and I am the only person who will even discuss it.
I think, if I were to be terribly honest, I don’t always have the greatest affection for Dr. King, and that is because I disagreed not only with some of his methodolgies but also his theology, but I do believe that much of what he fought for, namely the equality of all men regardless of race, were good causes.
It is indeed sad that we have to worry about children simply because of their race, or admixture. Sadly, I can’t say it’s any different in my home state.
There are those who will use racial nicknames or slang, maliciously, and those who do it without malice, some from ignorance, some from their idea of humor, and there are those who probably that’s the only language they know. But we can learn from what we see in others and continue to try to set a good example for the next generation.
I pretty much agree with what has been said so far. I do think that sometimes the remembrance of the discrimination against African Americans goes too far. I can’t ever remember seeing racial discrimination. In school we study MLK and Rosa Parks and all of them, but rarely do we even look at the discrimination the Jews faced in WWII, or the terrible things the Romans did to the early Christians, or any other groups. Pretty much every group in history has faced some sort of discrimination.
I’m also pretty mad at some of the reverse discrimination going on. In my area, minority groups have it no worse off the anyone else. Yet, on standardized tests they get bonus points for being a minority. I’m applying to a math and science academy (it’s a public HS, but you have to be admitted) this year, and minority groups and those who do not speak English at home get extra points in the application. I saw a list of factors colleges consider for applicants, and race was on there. My mom’s office needs to have a certain percentage of “diverse” employees, so they hire people who are diverse instead of qualified.
I really don’t have anything personal against anybody for their nationality or race, and I do not doubt the importance of days such as this. I understand that years ago there were very serious problems with discrimination, and that people like MLK are very important to history, but some of this is just going a little too far.
(I’m sorry - I seem to make these “multi-response” posts lately…)
On the adoption issues - the bureacracy here prohibits cross racial adoption. It’s fine to have foster children of another race, but you can’t adopt them! Now, because of the circumstances, this usually means that a white family can’t adopt an African-American child (I’ve not heard of stories the other way, at least). The reasoning is that a white family can’t “teach” an African-American child their culture. I think it’s a bunch of crap, personnally. It’s fine to keep a child in the “uncertainty” of foster homes, but not have them adopted, just because of “culture”?
As to poverty, rural America, and racial issues - while we weren’t poverty, I did grow up in a rural area. I was aware of some that were racists (I knew several that belong to the KKK) but on the whole, I’ve found a LOT more racially prejudiced people in large towns than I did in the rural area I grew up in. I also know that in some areas, it’s not a racially motivated prejudice, it’s a motivation of hating and distrusting everyone that isn’t “from home”.
Come to southern West Virginia and try to get a job while black. You’ll see it.
I really don’t have anything personal against anybody for their nationality or race, and I do not doubt the importance of days such as this. I understand that years ago there were very serious problems with discrimination, and that people like MLK are very important to history, but some of this is just going a little too far.
Likewise, it is legal for gay couples to have foster children in Florida, but absolutely prohibited for them to adopt them and make them officially part of their families. A gay or lesbian couple could have a foster child for 18 years, but still be unable to adopt them. I’ve never understood that.
As to poverty, rural America, and racial issues - while we weren’t poverty, I did grow up in a rural area. I was aware of some that were racists (I knew several that belong to the KKK) but on the whole, I’ve found a LOT more racially prejudiced people in large towns than I did in the rural area I grew up in. I also know that in some areas, it’s not a racially motivated prejudice, it’s a motivation of hating and distrusting everyone that isn’t “from home”.
I would agree. The KKK here is racist, but I know (of) some of the people, and they’re really just quite stupid and don’t like ANYBODY from outside their own little group. There is another white supremacy group with its headquarters here, too, although I can’t remember what it’s called. It’s on the news a lot…an old bald man heads it.
"This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, August 28, 1963
Try being black and walking around a store in certain places without being followed.
Try being black and male and driving in certain neighborhoods at night without being pulled over. Or try getting a taxi.
Try being black and buying property in certain neighborhoods. Or even rent an apartment.
It’s there, whether you see it or not. I never experienced these things myself, I had to have people (wife, in-laws, etc) point them out to me. It’s easy to miss, unless you have to live with it all the time, and then it’s as plain as day.
Okay, sorry, nevermind to everybody. I tried to make it clear that I realize that in some places at some times there have been really terrible things done to minority groups. Here, nobody is treated differently because of race. I just think that people sometimes generalize too much, and try to force diversity. Sorry, nevermind, pretend I didn’t say anthing.
In my area, minority groups have it no worse off the anyone else. Yet, on standardized tests they get bonus points for being a minority. I’m applying to a math and science academy (it’s a public HS, but you have to be admitted) this year, and minority groups and those who do not speak English at home get extra points in the application. I saw a list of factors colleges consider for applicants, and race was on there. My mom’s office needs to have a certain percentage of “diverse” employees, so they hire people who are diverse instead of qualified.