I'm not the person with the words or solution to any of this, but I can certainly lend a voice of support. I grew up in a very diverse family, given the time and place. The color of anyone's skin wasn't on my radar at all.
For the most part, as an adult, I have been lucky to live my life in my little bubble where I've surrounded myself with like minded people who accept each other, believe every one matters equally, and it matters not who your partner is, whether family is by blood or love or both, if or where you go to church, etc.
Every once in a while, that bubble gets punctured just a little. School age, I was first introduced to the idea that my aunts, uncles, cousins, step sisters couldn't possibly be my 'real' ones since our colors are all different. Those questions still persist now, and while I think people are less judge-y and more genuinely curious as to how we all came to be a family, I still think it's insulting. Then there's an ignorant comment here, a rude customer at work there. The hate on the news, the anger at immigration policies and foreign investment in local real estate.
Still, the world is mostly a good place, right? People like me aren't the problem, right?
But, as has been pointed out to me, yes, I am part of the problem. My happy little bubble I exist in isn't just made of luck and my silence on that topic and willingness to avoid a potential confrontation could be taken as ignorance at best, complicity at worst.
What I can do here is share a couple of links to people and organizations much more qualified to speak on the topic than I:
LWilliams has an excellent post with a ton of resources here.
For my Canadian friends, here is a another list of resources for you.
Thank you - it can be tough, I understand. Living in California things are pretty liberal and diverse here which is why I am always caught off guard when something like casual racism or homophobia pops up. Like really? We're still needing to combat this? Honestly I do think there is a lot of hope for the future.
ReplyDeleteWe're generally super liberal here as well, so agreed at least it's good that it IS shocking and noticeable and people are apt to say something. It honestly also makes it difficult for me to really understand how it is so different elsewhere, but with the population and demographic change here in the last 10 years we're seeing some of it. My grandparents actually moved here back in the day because this was/is such a good place to raise a diverse family and/or be a little different than the norm, so I do have hopes that we've got a strong history here and newcomers to this area will learn a better way.
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