Racism and effects., page 1

reply to post by BradKell

Thank you for your post. I am new to this web site, I found it by way of doing a bit of research on a "A Haunting" episode on the Discovery channel. I digress! I am a 39 year old stay at home mother of two little boys, I was raised lower middle class suburbia in Illinois with many different nationalities, I consider myself lucky because I have a wide spectrum to draw from. My mother was loving, kind, generous, open minded and hated bigotry of any sort. My father was raised in the middle class and was skeptical of all.

My first taste of reverse racism was when I obtained my first "real" job at a factory working nights in a city just miles outside of Chicago. The hatred that was shared with me from other nationalities from the city floored me! Never had I met so many people with such chips on their shoulders. And the way they would perpetuate the hate with their children really sorrowed me. Eventually because I was wet behind the ears and very naive a few took me under their wing. By the time we had a major lay off only one still hated me, for whatever reason, that was her problem not mine, all were very close friends of mine and I still miss them dearly. I was the only Caucasian on the floor, while there were a handful of Asians, approximately twenty African-Americans and perhaps fifteen Hispanics along with a small smattering of Philoppinos. I loved the diversity and the history, the stories of their youth, the stories of their countries, the stories of their families. But, at the beginning the reverse racism was nearly paralyzing, I was so very young that my youth actually worked in my favor.

Fast forward to today's society. This past summer of 2007 my father had an altercation with someone in traffic. He did not know who was behind the wheel, and I am sure they did not know who was behind the wheel of his automobile. As it happens, the person driving the other auto was an African-American woman; she got out of her vehicle and advanced on my father. He screamed at her and used profanity. Because of the use of the "N" word he was arrested and spent 34 days in jail on a hate crime. He also spent 7 months on home arrest and spent $20,000 in lawyer feels. Nothing happened to her. Now, I was not there. I cannot attest to anyone's innocence or anyone's wrong doing. I can only tell you that my father worked in the post office for many, many years, retiring after my mother died of diabetes and that he would give anyone, and I do mean anyone, the shirt off of his back. That this happened to him and he was held on $300,000 bail infuriated me beyond all explanation.

The media, be it the newspapers, the television, the radio, they all compound matters and add fuel to the fire. To have had personal experiences myself, one being when my oldest was 18 months old and a van full of Hispanic men chased me all over my home town, the police FINALLY helping me and nothing coming of it, why is anyone else's life more important than mine because I happen to be a Caucasian? Why, if you happen to be a "minority" do you receive more protection than I do? Why are the lines so very blurred when it comes to the law when the law should be followed to the letter for each and every human being?

The bottom line is this: My job is to raise good, strong, opinionated, educated, smart, funny, loving human beings. They will inevitably run into reverse racism. I only need make them aware that some people may not be nice to them. Unlike the way I was raised, that there is good in everyone. Because, honestly, there is not. We can only change ourselves, we cannot change anyone else.

Because of what happened to my elderly father, I am much more reserved with everyone, including Caucasians. Unfortunately other nationalities have taught me this tough lesson. As much as things change they stay the same