One of the best things my parents ever did for me was moving us from one area of town in 1974 that was probably 70% white/30% black to an area that was 98% white. Before the haters, Black nationalists and Nation of Islam backers start having kyniption fits by thinking Im saying living in a predominately white area was better simply because it was white is not the case. That move taught me invaluable life lessons that I could compete academically and intellectually with my white peers. I could compete, and in many cases, surpass my white peers athletically. And it taught me that yes, there are white people who are prejudiced, but that the vast majority of them are not. These experiences are why I believe I have very think skin when it comes to matters of race and why I dont look for racism under every rock. Its just human nature; people are afraid and lash out at unfamiliar things. I can still vividly remember my first day of third grade. Me and another girl were the only African Americans in four third grade classrooms. I was teased with racial overtones unmercifully that day. I remember coming home from school crying that first day and begging my parents not to send me back the next day. I stuck it out, stayed true to who I was, and within a few months, the kids that teased me unmercifully were some of my best friends. My parents owned a very successful business when I was coming up and all of our employees were African Americans who lived in the inner city. One summer, my parents had a party at the house for the employees. I took it for granted as a naive adolescent that all people left their neighborhoods and took vacations out of town or visited other parts of the city they lived in. It was shocking to me when the employees remarked on how far away we lived from them and that they had never been that far out before. I learned from those employees and from other Black people in similar circumstances that many spend almost their entire lives in a one or two mile radius from their homes and have very little contact, if any, with white people except through a work environment. Law 18 from one of my favorite books the 48 Laws of Power: Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere— everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from—it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find allies and mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd. Bussing, which was and is heavily supported by African Americans, is a noble cause except when it is done by liberal social engineers. The concept was its a positive development to have African American children get better educations by exposing them to people and things outside of their normal confines. Self imposed cultural isolation, coupled with poverty pimp civil rights leaders and politicians, is a dangerous cocktail mix that only breeds contempt and anger in a community in desperate need of real hope and change.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 16:49:34 +0000
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