Why does race matter?

There is just way too much energy hitting the planet in 2013. Tensions are rising from nearly everything. Nothing is off limits. Whether it’s gas prices, the cost of living, or new laws and legislation that we aren’t aware of; the pressure keeps on building and building. Most recently, after the Trayvon Martin verdict, I have witnessed several effects that leaves me scratching my head. On one note, I am seeing more Jim Crow-like convictions, deaths, and injustices; and hate crimes have seemed to get increased exposure in the news. On the other hand, I see unification. One thing that people can seem to agree on easily is that everyone is mad. I understand the anger and outrage but the growth of racial tension is a bit confusing and disheartening to watch…  After witnessing all of the responses in the days after George Zimmerman was acquitted, I felt compelled to say something…

Listen people, what’s going on in this country is NOT about race. The issue is bigger than that. At the end of the day, we are all being distracted and screwed equally by our glorious government. The American people are under attack, yet we are so blinded by emotion and angst that we don’t see the political guns and rounds of ammunition pointed in our faces. Instead, a lot of us seem to focus more on pigments and shades. Why does the color of your neighbor’s skin matter? Growing up in Whiteville, North Carolina, ( Yes, it’s real and no, it is not overpopulated with white people) when I was about 6 or 7 years old, I became  friends with a girl named Mary. She and I met in school. We quickly became best friends.

Mary and I were alike in so many ways. We were both tomboys that loved fishing, Hot Wheels, and Barbies. She and I would ride bikes all over town. I lived in a housing subdivision called Pinewood and she lived in the “old projects” off of W. Burkhead st. Mary was a white girl. Her ethnicity never made me look at her in a certain light or treat her any differently than any of my black friends. My grandmother got to know her mother. I would spend nights over her house and she would spend nights at mines. Our families saw us for what we were: Two little girls that were great friends that played together everyday. I didn’t really notice that Mary was different from me until I befriended another little black girl in the neighborhood named Jennifer. Jennifer and Mary lived right next door to each other. They didn’t like each other because their mother’s didn’t get along. One morning Mary didn’t get on the school-bus. She was my riding buddy. Jennifer sat beside me that morning. We laughed and talked about normal kid stuff then out of nowhere she decided to say something to me about Mary’s “race”. She simply did not like Mary or her family because they were white. I thought this was the dumbest thing in the world. In my eyes, Mary was just like me. We loved adventure. The only differences were her eye and skin color. Her hair grade was fine in comparison to mines. This was the beginning of me losing that innocence and realizing that everyone is not the same.

rac·ism

/ˈrāˌsizəm/

Noun

1. The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as…
2. Prejudice or discrimination directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief.

At what age do we learn? When do we give energy towards the argument of race? When do we allow the physical pigment of one’s skin to dictate how we treat them or feel about them? I remember that conversation that I had with Jennifer. It left a great impression on my mind. That was the first time I ever had a conversation with anyone about “race”. In my green mind, a race was a competition that you had with someone. In North Carolina, we had plenty of horses and racetracks for that argument to logically make sense. I remember laying in bed with my grandmother that night. I asked her a series of questions about race. Was it okay to like white people? Was I wrong for being best friends with Mary and not Jennifer?

We had a long conversation that evening. My grandmother assured me that it was okay to like or befriend anyone that I wanted regardless of what they look like. Friendship didn’t come with a set of rules and regulations. She said that the color of their skin didn’t matter. She then went on to school me with a little James brown.  She quoted one of his most famous lyrics “Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud”.  I looked at her sideways and asked “What if you were white”? My grandmother told me with a smile: “Then I would say, I’m white and I’m proud.” It was just that simple.

We have racism then we have cultural differences. When you attack someone racially, you cop out and show what kind of coward you really are. When I think about different social groups that operate just to hate, I can’t help but think, “Wow… Those people must really be hurting somewhere deep down inside.” What else can fuel hatred like that? We are not born with a gene to hate just like we are not born to fear. That is something that is learned. Sometimes, I still feel like that wide-eyed little girl that used to interrogate my grandmother with all kinds of questions: Why does race matter?

The Trayvon Martin verdict messed a lot of people up. After we seen how it literally took months to put charges on Zimmerman, people really thought that he would get convicted. People really thought that “justice” was going to be served. The American people, all different races alike, really put that much faith into our system. We really thought that they would convict a man who was recorded murdering Trayvon on audio. This is the same system that let Casey Anthony walk and everyone knows she had her daughter’s dead body in the trunk. Hell, her own mother even said so. It is time for people to completely wake up. Read between the lines and ask why is the media focusing on reporting more racial issues now instead of other things that are being swept under the rug?

I’m not saying that we all should hold hands with our neighbors and love everybody and sing in unity. What I am saying is, Why do with give this energy? Instead of focusing on a pointless argument such as race, let’s focus on: wildlife dying by the millions for no apparent reason, deforestation, Monsanto, How to grow food, Hazardous industrial pollution, prison industry growth, obamacare, or the reality of war happening in our backyard. Nope, instead some of us are so angry that we allow George Zimmerman and negative media reports dictate what we value as being important.

After the verdict was said and done and Zimmerman walked, news of a civil rights petition started going around. People were so quick to sign this civil right’s petition but has anyone ever went back to really look at what they are signing? What does this really mean? More importantly, while everyone had their panties up in a bunch after the outcome of this trial, what was the government doing?  Also, has anybody ever questioned Barak Obama’s role of being the most hated super-save-a-hoe president ever?  What is winning a Civil Suit going to do? It damn sure isn’t going to bring back Trayvon and it certainly is not going to ease the pain that his parents feel. Screw taking pictures with Al Sharpton or Jay-Z and Beyonce, This 17 year old lost his life due to hatred, a bag of skittles, an Arizona iced tea, and a “hoodie”….

One thing that  came out of Trayvon Martin’s death that  I can appreciate is a conscious awakening to a certain degree. People are slowly beginning to wipe the sleep out of their eyes. Watching the rallies and peace demonstrations makes me feel that their is still hope for this crazy world. However, the increase of bold hate messages from people in my Facebook newsfeed is saddening. I’ve seen everything from, “I hate white people” to “Fukk white people”. Zimmerman doesn’t even look white to me to tell the truth. It’s like we’re moving up and down at the same time.

When you feed into the hatred known as racism, you psychologically enslave yourself further. I want people to really look in-between the lines. As I stated in the first paragraph, this issue is not about race. The race card is the scape goat. This is about the American people all being fukkd equally. Your race, class, or social status no longer means anything today. as the old adage goes: The rich keep getting rich and the poor keeps getting poor. Somewhere in there middle class America is slowly but surely being wiped out before our eyes. Instead of educating ourselves about what’s really going on, we  fall into the race trap. We continue to teach division and hatred to our offspring. All of this for what, colors?