"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
today finds me pondering just how far we've all come, in terms of racial equality.
from my own personal standpoint, not far enough. ask yourself-how often do you hear racial slurs from the people in your life? or from your own mouth? even here in "progressive" california, i hear and see things that sicken me. sometimes the racism is blatantly ignorant. more often, it is quietly hidden, and just below the surface. parents teach their children to distrust and hate people they will never have an opportunity to know. it goes on and on, from generation-to-generation.
here in my small (minded) town, most of the residents are white. you can count the minoritites in my child's school on one hand. i am coming to the conclusion that this prevents children from understanding the diverse world around them. in a protected bubble, where they experience no cultural differences.
about ten years ago, my family and i left the san francisco bay area. i thought i was doing the best thing for my kids...that they would be safer, and get a better education in a small town.
sometimes safer isn't better. i have begun to think that insulating one's self from the reality of life only serves to maximize paranoia and distrust of everything that is different. but that's just me. we've been here for almost six years now, and there is no emotional connection. newcomers are never fully accepted, unless they are just like the lifelong residents. we are not like them, and thankfully, we never will be.
these conclusions are leading me to think that (another) change is ahead for us.
my father lives in the city. so do my brother, uncle, cousins, and friends. older daughter wants to finish college there. so why am i here, with little opportunity for economic or emotional advancement? because it's beautiful and peaceful. these things have always been hugely important to me, but sometimes changing one's way of looking at long-held beliefs can open up unforeseen possibilities.
i don't want to be just another frightened white person, hiding from other races and cultures. and i definitely have doubts about raising my youngest in this manner.
the down sides are crime, crowds, noise, and the concrete jungle. quite the contrast, for sure.
these are the thoughts that fill my head on martin luther king's 78th birthday. am i raising my child to honor diversity, here in a small town where there isn't any?
3 comments:
Annie, we have roughly the same situation here. At my younger kids' school, there are a handful of Other Than White children. Granted, almost every child, regardless of race, is being raised by white parents. Elder Eena's best friend is African American, with one white sibling, African American sibling, one mulatto sibling, one asian sibling -- all adopted. Get this: they were not told they were adopted until they reached ten years of age! They had no idea, and yes, there were mirrors in the house, and yes these are bright kids!
Anyway, point being, I'm pleased for my kids to be attending a school where racism simply wouldn't be tolerated. I'm pleased about her choices in friends. We are hardly a diverse community, and I've always worried moving here, away from a more diverse area, was a mistake.
I posted on a similar topic (used the same quote even). I am happy my kids are exposed to far more diversity than I was growing up (although probably not enough). I didn't really know many African Americans until I moved to Chicago. At first, I had trouble enough deciphering the accent of the older folks who had roots down south. But I think I was open minded because my parents raised me to be that way. There are a multitude of racial tensions in Chicago but living here is also a growth opportunity for us all.
And like you, I would like to see Reverend King's dream come true in my lifetime.
I was exposed to lots of diversity growing up - and I passed my childhood in the 60's - surrounded by upheaval and division. Still - there were so many different ethnicities where I lived (Northern California). I was surrounded by peoples from all around the globe - Asia, Mexico, The Philippines - we were quite a mix. Though most of the children I attended school with were of one ethnicity (Italian Catholic – I was Irish) my neighbors came from everywhere. That doesn't seem to be true these days (except for certain pockets of diversity scattered throughout the country). So I can understand your wanting your children exposed to differing cultures. It better prepares you for life outside the bubble. Dr. King spoke so eloquently about that. His death was a tragedy in so many ways. I think America would have been a much kinder and gentler nation had he and Bobby Kennedy lived.
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