Racism still alive
Progress shows how leaders make a difference
May 7, 2015
Great people inspired a movement of equality. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and his brother Robert Kennedy, among others.
And over all those years, slavery was abolished and blacks could live freely among everyone else. Their movements would light the world but only for a few seconds and then people forget.
The purpose of what they did faded away. Not entirely, but to the point of “unless” — unless someone is willing to stand up and make a change.
Now, if we search “racism” and “are things better?” the answer may tell us “no.” But the answer is yes.
Why “yes?” Yes, because things are better. Better than chattel slavery. Better than legal segregation. Yes, because we have changed it all.
We are so used to ethnic slurs, hearing them every day, that they can lead to some dire and serious consequences. For example, violence. Racism serves as an emotional trigger toward fear, which then expands into a reaction of hate, to jealousy, to resentment, to protesting, to antagonism, and then to violence.
We can’t control what other people do, but we can control how we react to it.
A video of a racist chant lit up social media by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity home at the University of Oklahoma. The song’s tune took after “If You’re Happy and You Know It” with lyrics like “You can hang them from a tree but he can never sign with me…”
As awful as the frat’s behavior was, the response by others in the community was commendable. The university’s students protested about the racist comments.
Graffiti saying “tear it down” was on the side of the frat house. The university president expelled the two students who were the leaders of the racist chant. The house closed down.
It is rare for those who are being racist toward another to apologize. But the two students expelled for their role in leading the racist chant apologized.
One said, “I am deeply sorry for what I did Saturday night. It was wrong and reckless. I made a horrible mistake by joining into the singing and encouraging others to do the same.”
The other said, “Although I don’t deserve it, I want to ask for your forgiveness. There are no excuses for my behavior. I never thought of myself as a racist. I never considered it a possibility. But the bottom line is that the words that were said in that chant were mean, hateful and racist.”
Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race.
Unfortunately you have those who are just raised that way, and they don’t see it as wrong but, just as the two fraternity members who realized their wrongdoings and changed their perspectives on racism, a change of heart can happen with anyone.
It begins with us.
Race may be a short word but it carries a long history in the United States of America.
Racism is demeaning to a person.
We can’t eradicate everyone who’s racist. Attacking people with racist beliefs does not help solve the issue at all.
We’ve all witnessed racism. And many fail to believe that race is just race, not anything that determines one’s worth or being.
We’re all the same underneath, we’re all humans, and that’s our core of commonality.
We have changed and continue to in a positive way, away from racism. We just need to remember those like Lincoln, King, and both of the Kennedys who inspired and fought for a life of equality.
Racism still alive
First-hand experience has been terrible
When I heard about the video of the racist chant sung by the fraternity brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, at the University of Oklahoma, I was disgusted.
I couldn’t believe that people would chant something so negative and offensive and find it funny. Being a child of multiple races, predominantly black and white, it hit home. It reminded me of the times that I was faced with racism.
I’ve gotten the stares from people before. I’ve received them when I was alone with my white mother and my white grandmother. The confused looks I could kind of understand because there are certain expectations of what seems logical.
Still, in a world that is constantly evolving, it’s sad to see that something as simple as the color of someone’s skin automatically makes them an object of someone’s hatred.
The disapproving looks filled with hatred were the worst.
I was about 6 when I saw my first pair of dark eyes glaring at me. My mother and I were walking through the mall and the man immediately halted in our path. He looked us both up and down and as I cowered behind my mother I could see the disgust in his face. I could feel the animosity he had towards us for being together, a mother and child. My mother kept me behind her as we rushed away. This whole event took nothing more than a couple seconds, but it felt so much longer.
When we got home, my mom explained to me that some people still frown upon interracial children. I remember being confused by that because I felt being a child of multiple races made me unique, not possibly a target for someone’s distaste.
Sadly, though, I was. When I was at the zoo with my grandmother, I received the looks again. I got some of the confused ones, to determine whether she was my mother or indeed my grandmother. Then the disapproving look came into my view and a feeling of sadness entered my being. It wasn’t because they were successful in making me feel bad for who I am; it was for them. It was for the fact that some people still can’t see past color. As I walked past the person I smiled at them as their eyes watched me walk away.
There was one time when it went beyond eye contact and became verbal. I was about 12 when I was with my grandmother at the mall. We had stopped in the food court to get a bite to eat and when we sat down, we were next to a family where the father and the mother kept staring. I felt very awkward and just tried to ignore their unwavering, watchful eyes.
I heard as he whispered to his wife how it was so unnatural for a black girl to be with a white woman and how we should not be together. I was in a state of shock.
I didn’t want to believe what I just heard, but I had to. It happened, but I wasn’t going to let that decide my view of all the people in the world.
It’s only a select few, but I know people are capable of change because in my family I’ve witnessed it happen. My cousin’s grandfather actually used to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
He changed suddenly after his son had a child with a multiracial woman. Now he loves that little girl more than anything, even building on a room for her for when she stayed at his house.
I remember when I first went to his house I was a bit nervous, but he was the most hospitable person. He would check in on me and see if I needed anything and if I did to just ask.
My experiences don’t make me believe that everyone is prejudiced because in my life I have met amazing people who don’t see color, but character. It may have been a joke to the members of SAE, but intolerance is not a joke. I have hope that they will change their mindset and think about what they say before they say it.