Racism in Todays Society

This is in response to Balancing Jane's post on teaching racism to our children.

While I agree that teaching our children that every individual is a child of God, and that racism is wrong. I feel that the reasons for teaching our children, as of late, have become distorted.

Now before I get into this I do want to say that I understand that this is a slippery slope and I expect a little back lash, but I am okay with that.

As Mrs. Jane I was raised in a small community where the idea of racism wasn't a huge factor due to the small number minorities present in the nieghborhood. So giving thought to jokes that may have had underlying "tones" weren't of great concern to me. In fact the majority of my experience with "racism" came from the lectures of Stephen Lilley my History teacher. His position was simple in that the slavery prompted the idea that individuals who weren't of caucasian descent were viewed as deficient members of society. They lacked the intelligence of thier conterparts and were seen as nothing more than property. After moving to Alabama I have been introduced to a notion of racism and how it impacts the everyday life of individuals.

What I have found to be most disturbing is that "racism" is often taken out of context on almost every occasion. Whether in school, work, or in a general conversation. If there is a difference of opinion, and one of the members is a minority, than the other individuals involved must have a problem with the color of the individual's skin. It can't possibly be any other reason. Personally I have an issue with this idea that decisions are made on the basis of a person skins and not their IQ, character, morals, or ethics.

Now on to the response. I agree that as parents we are totally responsible for ensuring that our children do not look at an individual and form judgement based on race. However, I do believe that if we place too much emphasis on race than we can be developing the foundation for "racism". Isn't simply acknowledging that there is an issue, and that they have to choose a side. opening the door to the complication.

Why is it that parents, in todays society, aren't focused on teaching their children to look at the true attributes that make a person unique. Character traits such as honesty, integrity, and accoutability (to name a few) are essential in each individual.

I acknowledge that it is vital that we teach our children to look into the heart of a person to see who they are. I believe that tolerance has to play a role in that training, but tolerance of what is key in this whole equation. Using logic and wisdom to explain why a person has a different color pigment is not complicated, and that is truly all that makes me different from Jane's husband (except of course that he has a higher IQ than me :) )

I don't fear these conversations with my future children. Understanding that a person physical attributes do not make that person who they are is, in my opinion, what is important when teaching my child about this topic.