Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Something to think about

Adoption.com had a link to a great article the other day on racism. It's something that every parent of a child of a different race thinks about and hopefully addresses. I don't always think about it, you often forget that there's any difference. They are your children and you love them. Unfortunately not everyone will see it that way. It's incredibly sad to me that even in today's world racism is so prevalent.
We live in a rural area that is very predominately white and full of rednecks so I'm sure that it will be an issue at some point. Thus begins the train of thought of how do even begin to explain racism to a child and when. Think about having to tell your child that someone may say aweful hurtful things to them or do hurtful things to them because of the color of their skin. People may, no will judge them and decide that they don't like them because of the color of their skin before they ever talk to them let alone get to know them.
Think about it next time you hear someone make a racist comment and decide not to say anything. Not confronting the person only helps to reinforce that person's belief that it is ok. What would you do if they were using derogatory terms to describe your child? I hope that you would say something, point out how ignorant, uneducated, hurtful, hateful, and just plain stupid racism is. I hope that you'll say something when the comment is directed at a stranger too.

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