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Racism

One day we will all wake up and realize we are not many races, but one.

I've recently had some discussions with someone who is close to me. This is someone who is intelligent, talented, driven, and professional. Yet this person is also quite racist.

It's interesting, because this person belongs to what might be called a minority race anyway. This person's assumptions and generalizations based on other's ethnic or racial profiles are nonetheless pronounced and disturbing. And I'm not quite sure what to do about it.

I grew up in a home where race was not discussed. It was a non-issue. People whose biological or genetic make up made them look different from me was of no concern whatsoever. One may be aware of such differences, but these differences and this awareness was something very mild, like noticing the difference in the shapes of leaves, or the way different clouds form shapes against the blue sky. One was not superior or inferior. There were no value judgments made, because there were none to be had. People were just people. That's all. The end.

As I grew older, I came to understand what an incredible gift I had been given by my parents. I learned to value people because of who they are, not their genetic make up. I value people for their contributions to society, for their beautiful spirit, for their potential and creativity and innate intelligence. I value people who love, and whom I can love. The color of one's skin, the shape of their eyes, the color of their hair.... all of these things are beautiful, but really immaterial when you get right down to it...

That being said, I am also acutely aware that as a white, male, blue-eyed, tall person, certain things are attributed to me that are different from those attributed to a small, dark-skinned, brown-eyed, female person. I don't know why. I really don't. But it's true. When I walk down the street, when I enter a store, when I attend a meeting, people look at me one way and make assumptions based on the way I look. Some of these assumptions may be correct, but others probably are not. My experience is very different in life, therefore, than someone who has different physical characteristics. I don't like that at all.

So this is what I'm doing about it: I am teaching my children the way my parents taught me. I strive in all my conversations and interactions to treat people as equitably as possible. And I hope - in whatever way this matters - that these little things can be a beginning. I know that my relationships are much richer, much more fulfilling, and more positive.

I am aware that cultural differences are good things, adding to the robust and exciting nature of all human heritage. Differences in language, historical and mythological beliefs, ancestry and geography - these are all very real things, and add to the beauty and complexity of the world in which we live - for all of us. One's biological make up, however, is something that should never be used to prejudice one against another. Diversity should be acknowledged, but never used to denigrate or assume authority over another.

Because again, one day we will all wake up and realize that we are not many races, but one.

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