The concept of racism has been and always will be of some issue. This is a broken world, and one major problem with the continuance of racism derives from people consistently breaking up society by race and by an individual classifying themselves by their race.
What I mean by this is people can't seem to recognize humanity as a whole unit, but rather see it as separate units of race within a whole society.
For instance, I was recently at a college graduation and the keynote speaker was Hispanic. Throughout the speech, she continued to address herself as a "Hispanic woman" and repeatedly addressed the Hispanic community for growing in education and achievements within society.
Now don't get me wrong, these are wonderful and amazing strides for the Hispanic community, and does deserve praise and recognition. However, the problem is this graduation is full of men and women that are Middle Eastern, Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American, Asian and many more races. Yet, instead of focusing on the success and achievements of the students as a whole unit, or recognizing the success among the young community as powerful people of humanity, she continued to focus on race. Rather than focusing on the achievements from their hard work and recognizing the class of individuals as a whole, who ultimately achieved such an outstanding accomplishment, we see people focusing their attention on race, and such an act continues to glorify humanity based on the color of one’s skin and their cultural background.
By recognizing race over actions, people are fueling this idea that somehow their race is a hindering factor for their success and they somehow broke through the bounds of their skin color. However, this day and age, skin color isn't what's stopping someone from achieving success, but it's the mindset of society and the mindset of the individual. Being a specific race isn't the obstacle within life, but it's the power people are giving to these ideas. People continue to live within the bounds of the past and not recognizing the potential of racial equality within the present.
People believe that only negative racial attention is what’s creating barriers between racial unities. However, many fail to see even positive racial focus is doing the same. At the gradation, the woman was focusing purely on the Hispanic community, and yet what for? It honestly made no sense when the graduating class was a mixture of races. Plus race had nothing to do with graduation, but it had to do with everyone’s hard work and the fact that each individual deserves their degree because of the effort they put in.
Many people within communities are being ostracized because of the sins of the past. One day I was at the store looking at cards and I saw a card that said, "Thank you for being such an incredible black man and husband."
When I read that it made me ponder what's wrong with society. We all have the choice to be human beings with a loving and caring heart. So then what does being black have to do with being an amazing husband or amazing father? That card is recognizing race and not recognizing a man as a profound human being. Any man can be amazing, not because of the color of his skin, but because of his heart, his mindset, his choices in life and ultimately by his decision to be an empowering man.
But then if that card had read, "Thank you being such an incredible white husband and man" how would society react? People would immediately recognize that card as being racist and pushing out all other races. That card would state that the white community is higher than all others. And why is that? It's because of the sins of the past, and the mindset of today. People would be offended because the past would suggest that the white community is somehow the better race. However, what many people don't realize is that it's happening all around, like some sort of arms race between the races to empower themselves and prove they’re a significant people group.
If we continue to lift up racial groups, then we're indirectly belittling another, and if we continue to put down racial groups, then we’re lifting up others. And we must recognize how these actions are hindering the unity within society. People from every walk of life and every single skin color are both making poor decisions and also breaking through the tough obstacles within their lives. Thus, it’s imperative we see society as a unity of brotherhood. Not as a separation of race.
But in the end, it's all about perspective, and when we start to view society as a whole body of people and stop recognizing race as a factor, then maybe race would simply be a thing of the past.
