MLK and me

I was born in 1971. Segregation was over and I grew up with friends of all races. My generation is the first where we could go to school together, drink from the same water fountains, date freely, and even just ride a bus together. This week I've been thinking about all of the times race has been a factor in my life. I remember when I was in elementary school and didn't know any better we were so angry about the busing. Some of the kids changed the words of Pink Floyds "Brick in the Wall" to "We don't need no blacks at our school". I was naive enough to join in and actually wrote about it in my diary along with my feelings about Dr. Willie Herenton. (Hey, Willie, leave us kids alone!). Keep in mind I was 10 at the time.

I vividly remember the disdain of my next door neighbor when she found out a black family was moving into the house on the corner. I remember bringing black friends to my house and my dad making comments that I won't repeat here. I also remember him saying that word that makes me cringe when talking about why he couldn't get a job at FedEx. We were in the car and he was ranting and I calmly looked at him and asked him to never say that word in my presence again. He hasn't.

Its hard for me to fathom that people I'm friends with currently went through such discrimination. It really hurts my heart. Every one of my elementary / high school friends' parents lived through the 50's and 60's. I cannot even fathom living in world like that. To be taught to act that way towards another human being... or to teach my children that kind of attitude. I guess that's what hurts my heart the most... none of us are born realizing our differences. Its all taught. Nobody is born a bigot. I still see it in some of the posts on my feed which means they are teaching their children the same attitudes. I see my best friend endure it in the workplace and in her struggle to raise her three children - to teach them we are equal even though the world still disagrees. I went to see the movie Hidden Figures yesterday and cried at the things "the coloreds" endured. We have come a long way thankfully but we still have miles to go.

"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." - Martin Luther King, Jr and Betsey Harwood Bogen#kindnessmatters