Nobody is born racist

 

    My entire life has been a lie.  Until recently I had been taught that everyone was striving to fight racism and create equality for all.  I did not realize that the entire time I myself had been racist.  Sure in my past a majority of my friends and all of my love interests have been white.  But more recently I married a black female and now have a bi-racial stepson.  It wasn't until I dove into their culture did I discover a system of oppression and racism that I had been blind to.  In the past two years I have learned that because I am a white male I am racist, sexist, and all the phobics you can list.  I was shocked to learn that although I have never looked down on a person of a different skin color than myself or tried to prevent them from success I had been secretly racist the whole time!  It wasn't until I started paying attention to the protests and riot that I found out racism was only a "white issue" and my silence had been violence toward people of color.  I was raised to not see a person for the color of their skin but see them for the content of their character, I guess the person that I learned that from forgot to tell me if I was white I would never be able to look past the color of someone's skin.  I never realized that by being white and working my ass off for the success I have I was holding someone else back.  So I guess it is time to just say Hello my name is Racist.

    As ludicrous as that paragraph sounds that is exactly what the educational system is teaching young people.  From K-12 kids are being told that white people are racist because the system they were born into makes them that way.  White kids are being taught to hate their own skin color and feel guilty for things they may or may not feel inside themselves.  They are being told if they don't think they are racist it is because they are lying to themselves and refuse to admit it.  If they admit it then well they are racist.  White kids are being told they need to ask for forgiveness from their classmates of color for acts their ancestors may or may not have committed.  When I was a kid I only asked my classmates to trade my Oreos for some fruit snacks, which I guess was racist because I was trying to ensure the black kid had Oreos so they would know on the inside they were white just like me!  I find it personally appalling that we are raising generations of people to feel less than so another race can be raised out of a false sense of inferiority.  

    So what can we do to avoid being racist?  If you are white, nothing.  You were born into it.  You were born with racist genes and nothing you can do will overcome that.  If you are a minority you can do nothing to overcome racism either because the system is rigged against you from the start because it was created by old racist white men who created this country on the backs of your people.  You are starting from a position of inferiority and for every step a white person takes you will need to take 10 just to make up ground, but don't think there is a chance you will ever get to the same level because all of the companies are racist too.  I guess when I look at it there is nothing anyone can do to avoid being or being held back by racism.  The only solution is to burn down the very foundation of our country and start over.  Racism can only be defeated by allowing the under represented to tear it all down and rebuild it so they can avoid the pitfalls of our past.  Only by building it their way can we avoid any sense of inequality.  Or maybe that would just create a system of inequality towards the very people they claim have oppressed them for so long.

    Until we fully embrace the ideal that all men and women are created equal and stop blaming another race for problems within our own cultures can we begin to overcome racism and all the baggage that comes with it.  MLK did not say judge a person by their skin color, he said judge them by the content of their character.  Yes there are racists in the word and America.  Yes Racist come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.  Yes a majority of us are not racist in any way shape or form.  In the end until we realize that last fact nothing is going to change.  For POC they need to stop being taught that white people are out to get them or hold them back.  White people need to stop being taught they are inherently racist.  And all of us need to remember we live in the most free country in the world.  There is nothing a person cannot do if they want to in America, that is why so many people immigrate here every year!  The American dream is there for anyone to reach out and grab if they want to.  Some people will have an easier road and some will struggle but every single person that wishes to succeed will.  Stop placing barriers on yourself and blaming everyone else for your problems.