Two of the places we visited on our recent road trip were the Civil Rights Institute and the 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama. The institute is across the street from this historic church where four little girls were killed in a bomb blast during the struggle for civil rights during the 60s. Walking through these two buildings was emotionally draining. I felt much like I did after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Scene after scene depicted of the horrors people did to other people because of racism and fear. Bombings like the one that killed the four little girls were common. Lynchings happened far too frequently. Bigotry was considered a virtue for the genteel white South during these times. Brutal inequality was legally sanctioned. It took great courage by many people to change the laws. The blatant bigotry of those years is no longer legal. Attitudes have softened in many places. I am grateful for the progress that has been made in race relations. The sad thing I noticed is that these same attitudes are not very far from the surface in many places. While on our trip last month I heard folks complaining about blacks trying to come to white churches and how uncomfortable it was for the white worshipers. Since public schools can no longer be segregated, most white kids go to private schools so they can be protected from other races.
While great strides have been made in giving equal rights to all people there is still much to do. Racism and bigotry of all sorts still is common. The world is still too much divided into “us “ and “them.”
Have you ever experienced racism and bigotry? What did you do about it?
7 comments:
The 60's were an amazing time.
I was just a kid,and mostly couldn't understand why equal rights for everyone wasn't a given.
I still don't understand it.
Close to my heart are the problems of the way people are treated, through no fault of their own, just because of the way they look, the place they were born, or because they are gay.
I just wish that people could step back, see that we are all going to be dust in the end, that our poo stinks (well, yeah, some more than others, but never mine right haha) and that we are here for a short time not a long one.
i understand how draining it is to walk those streets and go to that museum. I will also understand even more-so very soon. As I plan to take a trip to the Orphanage my Grandmother was "Taken" to when she was just 4 years old. All because she has an Aboriginal Mum and a white Dad.
I know it will take all my strength to stay focused as I go there, but I feel I need to do this, not just for me, or for my Nan, but for my children.
The only place I have experienced any kind of discrimination was in church. Sadly, I think people twist their religion to support their fears.
We weren't raised with bigotry in my house so I remember how shocked I was to hear some of the racial slurs spoken in the homes of my playmates. Some instances of witnessed bigotry I have handled well and some I wish I could go back and get a do-over on. Silence is too easy.
I am always shocked to see/hear racism in the world, but I know it unfortunately does exist. Sometimes I wish all of those racist people could visit and really take in places like the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. (I went there and ended up crying so much. Some of it was REALLY difficult to see.)
echoing what 12 said.....who, btw is an idiot......sadly i was raised in a family that saw African Americans as less. My mother, who was Italian, surprisingly had horrible Italian names for AA and was not quiet in her feelings. My father had AA blood and there is proof in old family photos....didn't keep his mouth quiet either. I think that made me want to be different. I agree that religion fosters awful prejudice.
Sling is spot on - we were lucky t grow up in the 60's - it was an amazing time. Sadly discrimination seems to be growing - I witnessed more discrimination against Don because of his disability in the latter years than when he first was injured in the early 80's
and now there is also what they laughingly call reverse discrimination - how can you have reverse discrimination - there is just discrimination
I see discrimination these days against farmers like Peter Spencer who just wanted to farm - and was treated like a redneck just because he was a farmer. I say was because he was evicted early february. When I post the videos I shot of his speech I think the word redneck will be able to be used against our Prime Minister and environment minister not against the farmers...sorry for the rant
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