Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / September 2004

I have sat and read this discussion for a long time
and remained silent. I chose to ignore it no longer.
When I hear the word racism I think of one word, excuse.
It is used as an excuse in all races. " I am a minority
and I will never get anywhere in life." If you want to
be technical about it white people are the minority in
today`s world,sorry. Why is that? It is simple, others
use the racial excuse against us no matter what we do
and put the pressure on us through organizations who
fight for racial equality.
Let`s be realistic, poor people are the real
minority no matter what their race is.They grew up poor
and could not send their
children to college to give them a chance in life.
Sure, there were always grants but when people have
lost the drive to fight against life because they see no
hope their children fall into the same mindset.That is
what people should concentrate on and realize that is
the root of their problems, the loss of a will to fight.
I cannot make excuses for what generations before me
did anymore than you can fairly blame people now for
the past because this generation was not responsible.
I do believe that everything in life comes back on us
and feel quite sure that anyone who participated in
slavery anywhere reaped what they sewed because of it.
Maya Angelou once said,"humility says that there were people before
me who found the path. I'm a road builder. For those who
have yet to come, I seem to be finding the path and they will
be road builders. That keeps one humble. Love keeps one humble."
Maya was one of the people in life that I admired greatly. Her
words left you spellbound and her love for all people spoke volumes
about her.She raised her son alone and decided to make something of
herself and she far exceeded her dreams.
Racism can end only if people choose to end it. Unfortunately soceity
chooses to hold onto it. If the energy spent in it were used to create
positive things what a world we could live in.The sad reality is that
we will never see that occur in our lifetime.

Mary