Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 31, 1995 TAG: 9510310073
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
THE UGLINESS of racism, like the ugliness of poverty, illiteracy and child abuse, is alive and well in our Old Dominion. Their cycles continue unbroken, generation after generation, as well-meaning people allow and sometimes unwittingly encourage these social ills.
The nurturing of racism comes from many sources, such as the lack of education and appreciation of the heritage and culture of all people. But one important source is from our own families. Where do children learn about racism? If they live with racism, they learn to be racist.
I can think of nothing sadder than to hear a gray-haired grandmother impose her racist attitudes on her innocent, impressionable grandchildren. Equally sad is this grandmother's family defending her by saying: "Oh, granny is just old-fashioned. That's just the way she has been all her life, and it is all unintentional. Granny is such a sweet person. Why, she wouldn't even hurt a fly!"
No one likes to make waves and risk hard feelings, so we tend to overlook blatant racist slurs and statements by remaining silent. After all, these are well-meaning people we love and respect. They are people who have served as our role models. Even our parents - they loved us and taught us right from wrong, so who are we to chastise them for what they think and say?
We may feel their attitudes are etched in stone, and we cannot make a difference. But we can and must. Each of us is a vital link in the ugly cycle of racism. Unless we're willing to help break the cycle, it will surely flourish for years to come.
MARY LOU BAUMGARDNER
LYNCHBURG
COLORBLIND\ Whites can stop being arrogant
I AM of African descent. Most of what I know comes from a race of people who held us in slavery for hundreds of years.
When my ancestors were freed, they no longer knew their names, their language or the essence of who they were. Knowing no other way, they attempted to learn and live by the example of their former owners.
We have to invent and define ourselves. While abiding within the confines of the law, we must decide who we are individually, and live by our own tenets.
Everyone in America who can string two sentences together, mysteriously feels free to tell us what we should do. Example: In Cal Thomas' column (Oct. 19, ``A worthy message; an unworthy leader'') regarding Lewis Farrakhan, Thomas said ``and his is not the life African-Americans should emulate.'' Thomas then went on to quote David Brinkley's statement that the Farrakhan marchers should march on ``rat-infested public housing and other places of evil.''
Most white people who can speak or write, arrogantly, automatically and condescendingly assume they know what's best for everyone, especially blacks.
Make sure our laws and courts provide equal treatment for everyone. Provide equal educational financing and opportunities for all. Advertise all job opportunities in city and county governments instead of hoarding them for family and friends. Insist on colorblind learning institutions, and then butt out.
DOROTHY SHELTON
MARTINSVILLE
SPEAK UP\ Be an active part of the solution
THE JOB may be a harder one than we really want to take on. However, some suggestions:
Join a church whose members are mostly of another race or ethnic background or speak another mother tongue.
Join a local chapter of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, and be regular in attendance.
Campaign for candidates who support affirmative action and against those who don't. Help those who don't recognize that the playing field is uneven.
Tell your local newspapers that you're interested in reading well-researched information regarding minorities in your community.
Tell your child's teacher or coach that you're interested in intercultural experiences for your children; that you would be pleased to transport minority children on field trips and athletic activities; invite minority children to parties, outings, etc.; and make the acquaintance of parents of minority children.
Volunteer to be a Big Sister/Brother to ``at risk'' children, or an advocate for ``at risk'' families.
Ask employers in your community what they see as hindrances to successful minority-worker experiences and promotion opportunities, and work to remove or lessen them.
Tell local real-estate agencies that you would like to see a minority resident in your community, next door, and become acquainted with the minority residents closest to your community.
Learn to recognize the respectable protective camouflage that ill will often takes; remember that absence of ill will isn't good enough; and remember ``If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.''
MARIETTA CARMICHAEL
GALAX
BROTHERHOOD\ Act like God's children
SUCCESS in establishing racial equality hinges on accepting all races as human beings equal in their rights and abilities. To this end, it's important that certain groups of people refrain from attempting to establish themselves as a separate entity. I'll use black people as an example because they, as a group, seem to be more guilty of this practice than most.
A black man will call another man "brother" because his skin color is the same. I think this was evident in the "Million Man March," where the noble, original intent of the union was overshadowed by racial issues. I think the middle-class, small-town, black schoolteacher has about as little in common with Louis Farrakhan as I do with Mark Fuhrman. Indeed, I'd much rather call the black schoolteacher my neighbor than either Farrakhan or Fuhrman. And it's hoped that we'd live together, learn from one another and build a lasting relationship.
There should be no use for prejudice in any form, and no need for minority pageantry or special events based on race or creed. To set aside special institutions, universities and opportunities for minorities isn't only prejudice, but also an insult to those people.
We're all God's children. Let's act like it.
S. WINSTON CHAPMAN JR.
BEDFORD
ECONOMICS\ Stop with the blame game
A FIRST step in improving race relations, I think, would be for both blacks and whites to abate their tendencies to blame each other for economic ills. Whites should stop blaming their limited opportunities on affirmative action and blacks should stop blaming theirs on racism.
DEBORAH G. MAYO
BLACKSBURG
WHINERS\ Don't expect special treatment
I WAS NOT at all prejudiced against blacks as a child, and during the '60's when civil-rights marches took place, I was for them. But now, after affirmative action and more than 100 years since slavery, I've had enough of whimpering and whining by some blacks. Bear in mind, there are also many poor whites in this country.
Some use the fact that their people were once slaves as an excuse for not having made progress. Affirmative action and quotas aren't only blatantly unfair to other races, but should be considered insults to blacks. If I were black, I'd like to make it on my own through education and hard work, as many have. Our governments don't owe them anything, more than they owe any other citizen. And that they already have: the right to education, equal protection under the law, and all the civil rights that everyone else has.
Far too often, I've heard blacks say otherwise "because I'm black." I can forget that they're black and accept them as I would any other person, as equals, if they wouldn't say that.
In middle-class neighborhoods where blacks have moved in, I see very few examples of racial division. Perhaps through education and fewer government programs that have heretofore favored blacks, they'll be accepted in areas where they aren't now. Blacks and whites have to meet each other halfway.
PATRICIA P. HAMMOND
ROANOKE
RESPECT\ First, walk a mile in blacks' shoes
TO IMPROVE race relationships, we must first understand that race is an American-made term. There's no such thing as race, and we as people need to teach our children this.
Also, whites must start to respect the black man. They must realize that not all blacks are on welfare and steal, not all black men have been in jail, and not all black women are promiscuous.
Until Caucasians understand what people of African descent go through every day - with dirty looks every time you go into a store, the clinching-pocketbook syndrome - race relations or people relations will never improve. As the Indian proverb suggests, "You must walk a mile in a man's moccasins to know how it is to live his life."
KATRINA M. CREWS
RADFORD
LAKESIDE\ Open more doors to blacks
I WAS not shocked that the country was split down racial lines as to the outcome of the trial of the century. This country has always been divided along racial lines. The last time I looked at my birth certificate it did not say American; it said black.
My father risked his life to liberate Europe during World War II, but returned to a land where he and his family were forced to live in substandard housing. I still remember the pained looks on my parents' faces as they struggled to explain why we were not allowed entrance into Lakeside Amusement Park. I still remember when I could not choose which movie theater I wanted to go to. And after I was allowed to go to the American and Jefferson theaters, I had to sit in the balcony. I remember Landsdowne was all white, and if you dared to venture into that neighborhood you had to be prepared for fight or flight.
Yes, racism is alive and well today. Equal access did not equate into equal opportunity, and that is all that Africans in America want and have wanted for so many years. The world will be a much better place when all people can be treated with dignity and respect, and evaluated by whether they can do the job, not whether they are black or white.
DAVID ALAN DICKEY
ROANOKE
THINKING ALIKE\ Give all a slice of the pie
WHAT CAN you do to improve race relations? You can stop treating black Americans as if they're this monolithic group of nonthinking individuals who want something different from what white Americans want. We black Americans want the same things. After all, this is America. We want and deserve a slice of the pie, just like white Americans.
We must learn to judge people on their value (all of us are valuable), and to not reject people because of their race. Otherwise, all the dialogue in the world will not change a thing.
SHEILA LAMB PETERSON
BLACKSBURG
CONFRONTATION\ Rid neighborhoods of social evils
IT IS time for African-Americans - and everyone else - to start spreading by actions, along with our words, the moral standards that God holds us accountable for.
When the faithful acquire the strength to confront the drug dealers, the teens who only know about abortions, the high school-dropout rate, the killer with guns - when we rid our neighborhoods of these evils - then together we can achieve racial unity.
OMAR T. RABB
ROANOKE
PULLING APART\ Build bridges, not walls of separation
RACE RELATIONS are more in jeopardy today than anytime since 1954. For years, there was movement toward integration and the breaking down of walls that separate us. Today, those walls are rising again. In some ways, they're more to be feared than before.
Whites are afraid of loss of jobs by affirmative action. The rising tide of militias promotes the dream of white supremacy.
On the other hand, blacks are organizing along color lines in many areas of life. We have a black congressional caucus, black police organizations and a march by black policemen in Florida. We had black men march on Washington. Blacks seem to feel a need to bond along color lines, rather than integrate with whites.
We must not be misled by the rhetoric of Johnnie Cochran or Louis Farrakhan. We must come together. We need each other. Together, we can truly overcome.
CALVIN RAINS
COLLINSVILLE
ONE HEAVEN\ Work together to get along
THE FIRST way to improve relations between black, white and other races is to care. We were all created equal. There's no need for any of us to think of ourselves as better than someone else. We'll all be judged by the same God. If we go to heaven, it will be the same heaven. If we go to hell, it will be the same hell, whether we're black or white.
People who work hard, both black and white, are likely to get along. They work side by side doing the same job. What difference should color make? We're all trying to make a living.
ANNE STEWART
BASSETT
SLAVERY\ Stop focusing on past grievances
THE NEWS media could improve race relations if they would quit making comparisons condemning the races. Nearly always they make it appear that blacks are suffering unfair treatment. Blacks seldom are treated unfairly!
A recent report was about the percentage of each race that's unemployed. There's plenty of jobs for those willing to work.
Another report compared the health of children of both races. It made it appear there was discrimination in this. But parents who want to take their children to the health department for shots and health checks are free to do so, if they aren't too lazy or uncaring.
The fact is while slavery was legal, the slaves didn't realize that they had a more healthful lifestyle than familes who owned the land. The wealthy stayed indoors more, and ate white bread, etc. The slaves got exercise and fresh air, and ate whole-grain bread. They had plenty of vegetables and fruits.
My great-grandparents had good slaves, and included their faithful slaves in their wills, just as they did their children.
My father had a dear black friend who worked with him on the farm. He was called ``nigger John,'' and it was a complimentary name. He was big and strong (a result of his healthful diet), had a big heart and would help my father.
If blacks could visualize their advantages and quit blaming folks of today for what happened long ago, relations would improve. Quit talking so much about color, and more about good workers and kind deeds. This would improve race relations.
MABEL M. FRANCE
FERRUM
DISCIPLES\ Don't base love on folks' looks
RACE RELATIONS would be greatly improved if Christians, the followers of Christ, really followed his teachings. He told his disciples: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." He never said love the ones who look like you and dislike anyone who looks different from you.
MABEL SWANSON
BLUE RIDGE
ONE WAY\ March to your own drummer
I THINK "we" cannot do a thing. Everyone has to take his own road in life. Unfortunately, some Americans choose the burden of walking their road with a chip on their shoulder. "Million Man Marches" will get you on television, but a "One Man March" is the only way through life.
LARRY BLAKE
ROANOKE
OUT OF BOUNDS\ Foster emotional development
BIGOTRY IS a fear-based emotion of the human being that was learned by thousands of years of experience of clan survival. Thus, bigotry cannot be eliminated by education. It can only be reduced by emotional development.
Educational institutions in the Western world focus only on the intellectual education of students. No attention, nor any recognition, is given to the emotional learning that's needed to develop young minds into responsible and fair-minded citizens.
Values aren't taught, as parents and schools attempt to do. Nor are they instilled into young people, as religions attempt to do. They're discovered by self-development. A person who has explored the inner self and discovered his or her own values is freed from the bounds of racist ignorance and fear.
ED MITCHELL
PLACE
GETTING FAMILIAR\ Know all by their names
IN THE '30s at the grimy old Rialto Theater, blacks sat in the balcony. Whites pelted them with racial slurs and an occasional dead rat as they left the theater. After the theater's facelift, young whites plotted to keep blacks out.
A powwow revealed that all of those whose names were known would be acceptable, say: Tunk Osborne, relief pitcher; Jo Blinkey, catcher; Lewis Tyree, stand-up comedian; Mose Tyree, grave digger; twins Hobart and Aubrey Clark, dependable help; and so on. Each one whose name was known was accepted.
Two strange lads were singled out because their names weren't known. Skinny McKinney said, ``Let's ask them their names, and if they don't tell, we'll rock 'em up Salem Avenue.'' Pierce Houndshell and MacHenry Robinson stated their names.
McKinney lamented, ``Ain't no one left to hate if you know their name.''
There's the answer to racial bias:
Know their names.
ERNEST F. REYNOLDS
ROANOKE
by CNB