What do you think of when I say black? What then pops in your head when I say white? What do you picture when I say man or woman? Who do you see when I say criminal? Who do you see when I say peacekeeper? I will give you my honest answers. I see a black man in jeans and a t-shirt, a white man in a brotank and shorts, a man with clean cut hair and a business suit, a woman in a sun dress on the beach, a man addicted to drugs, and a man with a gun strapped to his side. I prefer to remain politically unbiased and I will try to refrain from discussing policies and procedures, but I definitely see a problem with those thoughts.
I am sure one or many of you had similar pictures pop into your head, and I can guarantee every single one of us started this article thinking it was about racism. The truth is it runs a lot deeper than that. I saw a black man and a white man because color has become equated with crime and demographics and generalizations. When I say color I do not refer to the African American community, I refer to the entire idea of using race or ethnicity as a defining factor as to who somebody is. We use the visual perceptions of ones skin to create mental perceptions of who people are without ever consulting the vocal aspects of communication. We look at people who appear differently and a bunch of Spongebobs run around the filing cabinets in our heads and come up with a thousand preconceived ideas about who these people then have to be.
I see a man in a business suit and a woman on the beach because that is what the screens in my life have told the Spongebobs I should see. We are clinging to a 1950s mindset that says the men are successful and make money while the women are beautiful and free. There is nothing wrong with either of those situations until we see them as prerequisites for happiness. The generalization of gender and sexuality is a plague that we have slowly been picking away at for years. I can complain all I want but there truly is something to be happy about in regards to gender equality. However, I am not to the happy part of this article yet, so just stick with me for a second.
I see a man addicted to drugs because today that seems to be the most malevolent thing you can do according to our criminal justice system. I know I said I wouldn't talk policy and I plan to maintain that guideline. I just cannot help but speak out when there are people facing multiple years in prison for possession of marijuana when there are people who are committing sexual crimes and violent crimes and receiving much calmer sentences. I recognize the negatives of excessive drug use, but I can't see the silver lining in a world that condemns smoking over rape or murder. I see a man with a gun because our police, for better or worse, have been reduced to executioners. The spike in violent crime in this country is appalling to me. I believe that there are cases where police were right in their use of firearms and cases where they were not, but the undeniable truth is that violent crimes are going nigh unchecked. How do I propose a solution without talking gun control? How do I relate violent crimes to gender equality in one gift wrapped Willy Wonka style solution? Simple. We go to the happy part of the article.
The answer to every single one of the problems I have mentioned is respect. We have to learn to respect everyone around us, and I believe it should be in the order I provided. First, when you hear black and white, don't picture people. People are not bound by the color of their skin. Everyone has the capacity to be good or evil and skin color has no effect on that. If you look at everyone and respect them as a human being then your interactions on the daily will go much smoother. The respect between men and women is no different. Every man has the ability to cook and be an at-home dad, as well as every woman has the power to be a successful business owner or leader. That same respect can be applied to criminals and police. A criminal who serves their time and wants to change who they are deserves the same respect you give an officer who is forced to use their weapon in the line of duty. People make mistakes. Our strength as human beings is our ability to grow and better ourselves.
We are not bound by anything in this world. We are constantly finding ways to overcome every single issue in our society. The solution to stopping hate is to recognize the existence of other people as human beings. We are all made of the same weird combination of fluids and flesh computers. We all deserve to be seen as more than meat or numbers and I will will not go silent until I can confidently say I live in a love-filled world where people only fight over who gets the last sweet-roll. All jokes aside, I believe that we can achieve a global love that envelops the earth in a peace that makes all of this despair seem worth it. I do not see my ideals as optimistic. As a pessimist I simply see that the rest of the world is in denial about how simple peace really is. All we need to do is look at each other and love each other. World peace rests in the palms in each and every one of us. I plan on doing my part. Do you?
