I recall back to a day many years ago while living in a small tobacco town here in NC my brother coming home from school one day with a KKK belt buckle on his belt. I saw my mother turn more shades of red than I thought existed. I watched this woman, who would kill you over her children, in a rage that scared me more than I would have thought possible. She looked at my then 15 year old brother and told him in no uncertain terms that if THAT was how he felt and if THAT was what he was raised to believe then he was no longer welcomed in her house. That she would actually help him pack JUST his clothes, because everything else he considered his belonged to her, and take him to where ever he chose to live from that day forward. I sat in my bedroom and cried at the helplessness I felt watching my brother being told to leave our home by a mother I would never have expected could show such uncaring and rage against one of her children. He left, with just the clothes on his back that day. Around 9 or so that night there was a knock on the door. Standing there was my brother, tear stained face, with the offending belt buckle in his hand. I was pushed off once again to my bedroom but was able to hear the discussion that went on that night. You see, my brother in reality had no clue as to what wearing that belt buckle REALLY meant. He just thought it made him fit in with a very small group of other impressionable teenagers and that it in some small way made him look cool. What he didn't realize was that wearing that belt buckle caused great pain to a young man that had been his best friend for many years and caused the loss of that friendship. A loss that took several years to mend yet leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of all concerned. They were able to mend a part of the friendship they had shared for so many years but there was still a hint of distrust and hurt that they never fully overcame. You see, we were not raised that way. My mother is a staunch believer in "there is no COLOR to determine the worth of a person". She tried her damnedest to instill that belief in both of us but we all know how impressionable teenagers can be and how peer pressure can make kids do things they normally would never consider. My brothers "racism" ended that night but at a great cost. He lost the trust and respect of a dear friend because he "followed a small group of people" instead of following his true beliefs. They speak, even to this day. They share the goings on of their lives as two "aquaintances" would. Not as the friends they grew up being. Even though my brothers friend KNEW that it wasn't really how my brother felt, the hurt that it brought with the thought that he could be swayed to even consider feeling that way never went away. My brother has mourned the loss of that friendship for over 40 years now. ONE STUPID incident took something from him that he can never regain.
What I'm trying to get at here is that many of us grew up in the times of REAL racial strife. Many many of us were NOT raised to be racist or bigots. Yet NOW, in our adulthood we're accused of being just that simply because we disagree with a person's politics. For NO other reason than the fact that the person we disagree with happens to be a few shades darker than we are. It doesn't matter how our lives have been lived, how very NON racist or bigotted we are, just the fact that we disagree with a man who happens to be darker than we are, we're immediately labeled racists and bigots. And we're being called such by people that have NO CLUE as to what's in our hearts or how we live our lives. By people who show their very own racism and bigottry due to where we live or the color of OUR skin. As much as I would have liked to see all the "Hope and Change" actually happen, all I can see is the setting back of race relations in this country 50 years. No longer is there acceptance of differing opinions as what they are.....simple differing of opinions. No longer is there the feeling of healing in this country. Yet if you look around it's really NOT the people that don't agree with the current administration that are perpetuating this. It's those that agree with it!! The term racist and bigot have never been used by so many to justify the dislike of a President in this country.
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? Where did all those adults go that embraced the coming of the end of the racial divide in this country? Did they all have some flashback they can't get out of? What the hell happened to it being acceptable to disagree politically simply because you disagree? What the hell happened to the realization that the majority of White people are in fact NOT racist but have the same hopes, fears, beliefs, feelings, etc of everyone else in this country? And the biggest question, WHY the hell do so many embrace this reversion to a time most would rather put behind them? Why is it so easy now for people that used to get along, with no thought of the color of a persons skin, to hate people simply because they don't agree with you?
Yep, "hope and change" we can believe in alright. Sad thing is, it's NOT "hope and change" for the better! Until so many can't get away from immediately calling someone a racist or a bigot because they don't agree with you or who you voted for there will NEVER be a healing in this country. What is happening is a return to times that were tearing this country apart. And many seem to be happy with that. For all the things I disagree with Obama about, there is no doubt in my mind that what is happening to this country is NOT what he had in mind in the beginning. Think about it people. Is this what so many of you really want to see happen to this country?
