My 11 year old Grandson, Terrence, is half African American and January 14th is his 12th birthday. I look into his smiling face and beaming eyes when he calls me "poppy" and I know that love has no boundaries or colors. His mother took him to live in Mexico 10 years ago to escape the biracial judgement and stigma of American society. Down there he blends in with the local population. (She also hates the snow.)
He speaks beautiful Spanish and he holds my hand when we go shopping and interprets for me. At the local restaurants he orders for me. I hear him tell the Mexican people that I'm his poppy.
It makes me sooo proud.
The Mexicans talk to me in Spanish and I smile and nod. (I usually have no clue what they are saying. I think my grandson answers and tells them I'm deaf or something).
Yet... he struggles in many ways. And I dream too of a brighter future for him. It is for him that I write this diary on a day of dreams...a birthday for a man of peace and hope. A man of action... of non-violent action.
Ten meditations for you to ponder
First, as a society we need to accept the fact that race is still an important aspect of American culture and it will not go away regardless of how much we pretend it does not exist.
Second, our society has to be real with itself that there are many historically disenfranchised groups of people who have been suppressed and excluded from the successes and benefits of our culture and we need to do something to change this.
Third, we need to understand history for what it really is and not try to cover it up and make it out to be something that it is not. Once upon a time, the Baltimore zoning laws of 1916 stated:
"Blacks should be quarantined into isolated slums in order to reduce the incident of civil disturbance, to prevent the spread of communicable disease into nearby White neighborhoods, and to protect property values among the White majority"(Christopher Silver).
Basically, we should take this information and try to make changes in the future that are different and more positive instead of pretending it never existed while the legacy of racial segregation continues into the future.
Forth, there needs to be an agreement that hidden in the conservative agenda there is an ideology to undo diversity and take away many of the rights gained during the Civil Rights Movement. I realize there are black people who oppose affirmative action too, but those individuals are from the black middle class and they are more like their White counter parts than their black brothers and sisters.
Fifth, people of color need to reach out to Whites to show that by learning Ethnic Histories they will not be doing the reverse of which has been done to them; by cramming down the throats of Whites their history. This learning process is one of reciprocity and sharing not subjugating and rewriting history and facts.
Sixth, derogatory slang words towards any group of people should be not encouraged, even toward one’s own group, because these sayings are negative and promote ignorance and destruction to a peoples’ identity and culture. It gives the excuse of other groups to use the words because they say "if you can use it than why can’t I ?"
Seventh, people need to stop looking at each other as biologically different because of race. Yes race is an important factor in our society but we must realize that it is not biological, but rather socially constructed.
Eighth, we need to respect all people as human and realize that although we have different backgrounds and culture, we are collective in that we all make up the human family. We are all brothers and sisters and "injustice for one person is injustice for everyone" (MLK Jr).
Ninth, Americans need to realize we are a people who are rather cultureless and we have adopted a way of life that is not indigenous to our ancestors. Native Americans are the only true Americans with an American culture. The rest of us came from somewhere else, willing or unwilling, and we are all foreigners to this land. Race, boundaries, language, culture, and opinions are only relative and are not definite indicators of how the world truly is or how it will be in the future. What we can be sure of is that all blood is red.
Lastly, our focus as a human family should be to have love and compassion for one another and to respect everyone’s point of view. We should reject the actions of hate and violence, which this is the reason why our world is the way that it is; there is too much of it. We need to see the need to reach out to our fellow man and make sure he or she is safe and that their voice is being heard; this all can be done through promoting the learning of Ethnic Studies and Social Diversity in a non invasive way.
The tactics I think that can make my action effective is to really expose the truth of this world by writing this piece. We need to have a good civil debate and encourage education as to what is going on in our government and the policies that are being implemented. How are the laws being written affecting those at the bottom end of the socio-economic spectrum? Who are the laws primarily to benefit? Are minority communities encouraged to participate in government planning? These are the big questions we need to be asking and when people find out the truth I think they will make the right decisions with regards to diversity. The reconstruction and rebuilding of New Orleans could certainly be our beginning proving grounds. The Republicans have shifted the socio-economic benefits to the the wealthiest 10% through their tax legislation. This is wrong. We need to go in a different direction.
I stress the importance of having a strong civil debate because the more informed we are as a society the better off we will be in making educated decisions about policy for the future. When people learn that the US Congress and local government are disproportionate to the make up of the Census they will ask questions and find out how do we change this? When people find out that the prisons and jails are disproportionately filled with African Americans and Hispanics,they will wonder why this is the way that it is and how do we make things fairer? I know people are horrified when they learn that "4220 people were executed in the United States from 1930 to 1996; of this number 53% was black while African American, only made up 12% of the total population". People of all colors and backgrounds are outraged when they learn of the racist legacy of the chain gangs and how they are a modern day form of slavery for Blacks in the penitentiary. Really, the truth shall set us free and the more knowledge we know as a society the more powerful we will become.
I feel this tactic of increased education and better public participation is the most effective tool because nothing is stronger than democracy in action. When people come together for a cause and voice for change in government, this is the kind of thing that fuels social movements and cultural revolutions that bridge divides to build cultural societies that last into the millenias. We the people, are the government and no one else. If we do not like something, then we have to get up and do something about it. Through increased education and civil debate I believe more people will wake up to the world and see what is really going on. They will stop being apathetic and they will call for change and action.
As far as diversity goes, people will see that in order to make our democracy stronger we need to be more inclusive of diversity. The best way to do this is to expand our minds and allow the teachings of Ethnic Histories to be an important part of our nation’s curriculum in this society so that we are all better informed about people of color and what is happening to their communities.
Like all plans, there will be obstacles to get around and resistance from outside groups. "Ethnic Studies departments have taken great hits from their opponents since they were first created in the 1960’s" (La Belle). Ethnic Studies came about during the Civil Rights Movement because people of color wanted to tell their history and contemporary social issues from their perspective instead of learning about themselves through another group’s understanding. This idea of telling your own history has been a threat to the establishment as though we're going to rewrite history and fill our children’s minds with anti-white propaganda. Telling your history is a universal desire of the human soul and we should listen to those who have not had a voice that has been as loud or aggressive as the ones we're culturally programmed to.
Diversity has taken major hits in American universities and institutions and there are still many groups asking that they be dismantled. Conservatives have called for scholarships for white students solely and going back to the days when we only learned about Thomas Jefferson (ironically) and George Washington. What is key though in overcoming these obstacles is to expose the motives for those individuals trying to assault diversity. Are they doing it because they want true racial equality or do they have a hidden agenda that promoted discrimination, elitism and racism? We need to see where they stand on voting and what they have said in the past that has drawn them to these conclusions. By doing this, we can see what peoples’ true motives really are and those who make the argument against diversity will have to face the public as to what type of stand they take with regards to being inclusive of all races and groups of people.
I consider my ideas effective because I feel too many Caucasians think they know diversity but really they know nothing of this topic, while too many people of color do not even know their own history. I hope the ideas I am proposing enlighten the basics of this topic and it will give us all a better appreciation for one another and our collaborating and overlapping diverse histories! This is my dream for America.
Pray for peace and social justice and advocate non-violence. Martin Luther King made this the hallmark of his being. He was greatly influenced by Jesus and Mahatma Ghandhi who are revered by bations and peoples around the world. Their shining examples should be the dreams, desires and actions for all of us and our leaders.
But mostly it starts with each individual person deciding to embrace as their own, these principles,living them daily in their minds and hearts.
...on this day of dreams maybe you'll find yourself thinking of Terrence and I holding hands and smiling in Mexico eating fish tacos in the Barrio...