Growing up knowing something is wrong

Yesterday reminded me of somethings that we should reflect on everyday and not just on a federal holiday.  We have come a long way since the 50s and 60s, but have we changed our ways of thinking?  Racism is still previlent today but not in everyone's face as it was back then.  We no longer have the signs up in the restaurants or over the water fountain.  We are now getting our education the same way, at least I think we are(after what happened this past year in Georgia and the standardized tests, I am not so sure).  But do some of us still have that anger that was instilled in our parents inside of us?

**Warning**  I may say something that doesn't agree with you but that doesn't mean I think that way today.  I am just putting it out there for you to think about.

I grew up in a family that used a word that was derogatory to black people.  I heard it used in everyday language from my parents.  When I was little, I thought that was ok since my parents talked that way.  I had friends from school that were black, but was never allowed to bring them home because of their color.  When I was little, I never put the two together until I got older and realized how wrong that was.  Not all black people were that word.  I am not going to say or write that word because I don't like it, so I hope you know what I mean.  As I grew up, the more I started hating that word.  I don't know when I stopped using it but it has been a very long time.  Yes, I had to read it in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer and other books in school, but that didn't mean I liked it.  As a matter of fact, I hated those books.  Sorry Mark Twain!  They just weren't what I wanted or liked to read.  I know what some of you are going to say, "But your favorite movie is GONE WITH THE WIND."  You are correct, but that was made about a part of our history that just so happened to be a very bad part for all people, not just black people. Sorry, got off track.  Like I was saying, that word sends shivers down my spine when I hear it.  I hear it more now than I ever did in my house because now it is being used as a "term of endearment."  Jay Z said on Oprah a couple of months ago, and I am paraphrasing, "When you take the power from the word, it doesn't mean what it was used for anymore."  I disagree.  I don't think that word needs to be used in any way.  I find it hurtful and I know I don't want to be called some derogatory name in jest. That word was used in such a horrible time in the past, you would think black people would not want to use it at all!  Shouldn't it remind them why it was used back then?  Shouldn't it want them to get that word out of people's mouths so they won't have to hear it?  Why do you want to take a word like that and make it a term of endearment?  Next thing you know "C U Next Tuesday" will be a pet name!!!  And that is another word I DETEST!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."  If Dr. King were alive today, I don't think that he would want that word used at all.  He wanted us to come together, love one another, and not live with hate because of the color of our skin.  I heard this on TV last night, "GOD made the human race, the human race made racism."  Why do we have to act the way we do? Is it because of some rap song says you are supposed to beat up women, or kill people?  Do you do what famous people tell you too because they make more money than you do and you think they are smarter?  Well, by the looks of Hollywood today, I don't want to be famous and it they tell me I should do something, I am not listening!  I hope that you are smarter than that.  I know that you can find better role models than that.  I understand that some people still harbor ill will to some races, but that was so long ago.  Things have changed. Why can't we just move on and not dwell on the past.  We can't change what happened, but we can learn from it and make it better! So why don't we do what Dr. King said in his famous speech, "With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."