Maybe I’m naive, but I thought we had a deal?

Here’s the thing, when I was a kid it was OK to call kids that weren’t white, names that were derogatory. Well… it wasn’t OK, but it was socially acceptable. As I got older (about 9 years old), I realized that it wasn’t OK and calling someone names or treating them different because they didn’t look like me was wrong and I wouldn’t participate anymore.

I felt like, while I never had a slave or oppressed anyone based on the color of their skin, I had taken part in making someone feel less of themselves based solely on the color of their skin. That was wrong and for that, I’m sorry.

The agreement, or so I thought, was to change my ways and raise my children different than I had been raised. I thought when I was in a position to make hiring or promoting decisions I would hire the best candidate not just the white candidate. And I did! When my children wanted toys, I would offer all dolls, not just the white ones. And I did! I would never allow the “N” word to be spoke in my house and tell my children when they heard it from TV or music lyrics that it was a bad word, comparable to the “F” word. We would be respectful of everyone. And I did. Being this person, I am keeping my part of the deal to make the world better and free of color barriers.

This Pastor (won’t call him Reverend because I don’t revere him) Wright comes along and catches me completely off guard. He teaches his children (about 8K in his church last time I looked) that the white man is bad and causes all the ills of the black man. He rants that the black man can’t get ahead because the white man won’t let him. He screams that because my skin is white that I am against him. The media says this is OK. Well…. Not OK but socially acceptable.

Wow! I guess I’m naive, but I thought we had a deal. We would all consider each other equal. We would raise our children to be better than we were. I guess I was wrong.