I was busy last night running through random ideas and thoughts and the throught of racial and religious discimination in the United States came to mind and I began to feel sick. The thought of hate crimes and hate in general popped up next. Following all of these ideas came the thought of worldwide spread hate. The thought of all of this distanin and malaice throughout the entire Globe caught my attention and made me reflect on myself, and how I act, the memories of how I've acted since I was a child made me smile and made me proud to say that I'm American.
After going over everything in my mind I came up with ways to try to show people why discrimination is outdated are is no place for it in the United States today. Being caucassion, I realized that all caucassions trust me before they would trust someone African American or Arabic - American. After much thought I also realized that it's the same for every other race, they would trust their own race before trusting me. This is the reason that our country is in the terrible shape it's in. I began to winder if there was any way to get rid of at least some of the problems in this country. There was little discrimination against the Arabic - Americans before 9/11, and yes, it was a horrible thing that happened, and I hope that it's never forgotten. You can't judege an entire race on the actions of a handful of individuals though, no matter how unspeakable the actions are. If you are a person that discriminated against Arabic people after 9/11, I pray that you have matured and are able to see why those actions are wrong. I can understand anger and sadness as a result of 9/11, but to push that anger on people because they're the same race as the people that commited the act is wrong.
Why is there such a untrusting feeling between whites and blacks? If someone could give me a decent answer to this question is would be greatly appreciated. Any distrust should only come from the African - Americans, and only because most caucassions treat them like second rate citizens. However, once again, , you can't base the actions of an entire race on individuals. I can understand people not liking hip-hop or rap music, but not liking it because it's primarly a black medium, that's unnacceptible, and giving me a dirty look for listening to it is equally as bad. If you judge me on the fact that I listen to "urban" music, while wearing my hat backwards on chrome 20's, and not actually stopping to talk to me, then you have screwed up morals and really need to spend some time reflecting on yourself.
I'm sure that some people reading this don't know me, judged me based on what I just said as a "wannabe black gangster," this is America, so you're allowed to do that, however it's wrong. Based on that judgement you wouldn't guess that I spent 2 weeks in New Orleans helping with hurricane cleanup, or that I stopped in the ghetto of Kansas City (between Prospect and Troost) to jumpstart a vehicle for someone that I'd never met, or how I've spent the last 4 summers helping with youth sports. Now what do you judge me as?
This is the same reason you can't judge anyone based on apperiances. I can't count the number of times that I've recieved a dirty look from people because of my vehicle and my music, these looks are because people judge others before they ever meet them or actually avoid meeting them completely because of their judgement.
And for the white people reading this, if you're one of those "White Supremesists," you need serious mental treatment, the only reason you exist is because our race was good at being evil and hateful. Is that something to really be proud of? If you don't trust people of other races because of 9/11, or because of some deep seated hatred that you don't even understand, then you need to take a long look in the mirror. No one has commited more autrocities than the white race. Hitler was white, Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bomber, Federal Building bombing) was white, the Unibomber was white. White people slaughtered the American Indians, white people caused WWI, white people kidnapped blacks from their homes and made them work for nothing. No president was ever assassinated by anyone that wasn't white. Still think that the white race is superior?
If you're white, and you're mad at the Arabic - Americans for 9/11, then you have to mad at yourself for WW-I, WW-II, The Oklahoma City Bombing, the actions of the unibomber, and every presidential assiassnation in history.
The entire problem with racism and hate in America is that people only see things in one perspective. Many people don't stop to think how a story has 2 sides, and how each side will be slightly distorted. When people feel anger directed toward a race, they don't stop to think of what their race has done in the past to other people. Every race has had a murderer, a vandilist, a burgler, so why don't we treat everyone the same. Treat others the way that you want them to treat you, yes, it's cheezy, but it's true. How can you expect someone to treat you with respect if you're always disrespecting them?
I hope this has made you think, and reflect on your life. Can you honestly say that you've givben everyon an equal chance in life? Can you honestly say that you don't hate anyone becasue of their color or religion? Can you honestly say that you NEVER assume something about someone because of how they look, but instead of their actions or other personal experiance that you've had with the individual? I'm proud to be able to say that I make an honest attempt to give everyone an equal chance, I don't hate anyone on appearances, and I always base judgement of an individual on a personal experiances with that person, never on what I hear from other people. I hope that everyone sees the point I've tried to make with this, rant, so to speak. Most impotantly I hope that I've opened the eyes of anyone that discriminates against anyone.
Remember, no one should care who you were, because it's who you are now that people interact with. It's never too late to change if you're willing to put forth an effort.
Written by:
Denton Melvin
10/21/06 - 1:24 AM
