The world in which we live in is far from perfect. The streets are littered, the oceans polluted, the banks are corrupt, and our society is out to get one another. All of these topics have initiatives in order to help the cause. We attempt to clean our streets, clean our oceans and receive justice from economic executives, but the one topic we are hesitant to address is that which applies to our society. Which ironically enough, affects us the most. Everyday many Americans are harassed based purely on their skin color, though no real effort is made to aid this epidemic of thought and action. Maybe it’s because it is not profitable or seems unchangeable. This is the backbone of society though, acceptance and unity is key to the success of the whole tribe (humanity). We are strong as a whole, not as individuals, as much as we aspire to achieve individual greatness, it is the success of the whole, which defines us all. Once we come to recognize a common bond between one another we will be able to live in a world without race.
I recently read a passage from a the book “half + half,” in the passage it talked about a foreign girl introduced to a new neighborhood. Her first encounter with the other neighborhood children was a disaster. Her mother watched as her daughter approached the other neighborhood children, and was quickly avoided and even ran from by her fellow peers. This was obviously devastating to the mother so she went out of her way to make it comfortable for the other children to associate with her physically different child. This basis of fear has been witnessed throughout history again and again. We fear things that are unfamiliar to us and we cast them away until fully understood. Being children of predominantly white descent, the neighborhood children were unfamiliar with someone of that specific origin, so they were apprehensive like most would be. Unfortunately this is not the only case of this in neighborhoods around the nation, it happens more than we realize. Through media kids have learned to recognize stereotypes of cultures they have never even witnessed, deciding if they like these people before they even meet them. We need to begin to integrate cultures, instead of allowing unspoken segregation to continue among our youth.
It is a world that most don’t think exist, including myself. This being because I along with most white Americans do not suffer the negative consequences of race, so we assume it no longer exists. Yet it does, and though it is out of sight for some of us, it something that needs to be addressed for those affected by its negative consequences. For I along with others suffer from things that do not affect all Americans, and I would feel secluded if my problems were not addressed. So it is time we address a problem that has been lingering in our society for far too long.
We need to lose our stereotypes and our fear of those different than us, for like I said, a connection and acceptance between all nationalities is the ultimate goal and achievement. We must change our standardized and simplified viewing of one another, for our exterior identity does not tell the whole story. Once we dismiss the pictures we have conjured up in our heads about those different than us, will be the moment when we can accept those that are different than us for who they are. I don’t know about you, but I am more than my white skin, I am much more than my surface can tell you, and my white skin should not detour anyone from finding that out.
