Oh, but to be free. Free in speeches and movement. To have the right to peace of mind, love, education, employment, extended to every neighbor regardless of age, race or sex. Through the steps of these individuals and organizations we are now able to stand freely. How sad it is that lives were lost for the flag and we now fight for the right to step on, spit on, tear up and burn that same flag, our symbol of freedom and unity.
The right for racial and social equalization continues and will continue as long as man breathes. We are a selfish entity believing we are better than another because of our race, religion or sexual orientation. Our unification should grow because of our differences and if we are honest with ourselves we would see our differences are only skin deep. In religion, anyone can choose which path to follow. In education, we can all go as far as we choose. In sexual orientation, again it’s a choice. In jobs or professionalism, whether or not to be a parent, or who to marry all are choices. So tension in the world boils down to the color of a person’s skin. Of all the races I believe the dark skinned are the least tolerated, especially the American Blacks. How many times have we been the scapegoat as kidnapper, murder, or thief without reason? How many times have we been judged as sell-outs or ignorant because of skin color?
In the history book Beads on a String-America’s Racially Intertwined Biographical History chapter three is titled Voices of Change it begins with the above mentioned quote and has a section dedicated to activism and the people who stepped out to confront the injustices directed at people of specific ethnicities. The author begins the chapter with a small bit of history pertaining to members of her family. These members (father and cousin) fought and succeeded in the desegregation of what is now Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. How many of us cannot find a single member of their family who has participated in the formation of history? It doesn’t matter the color of your skin or your belief system we have all voiced and accomplished a change.
Being part of a cause means more than marching and shouting for personal wishes to be met. It is a chance to make a change in behavior and thought patterns in areas from equal rights in housing, education, socialization, and sexual orientation. We need to practices tolerance. Tolerance is such a huge word to ponder. In order to tolerate someone or something we have to step out of our comfort zone. The hardest thing in man’s mind is to be tolerant of another or to keep an open mind. We judge without thought because something or someone is different. As long as we (Black) people have been in America you would assume we were a part of America. Though we strive to be like our White counterparts, accepted unconditionally we are still fighting. We fight for what to be called Colored, Black, Negro, African-American. When it comes to filling forms I write in ‘why’. I’m not a label. I say, learn my name and call me by it or call me by the color of clothes I wear, or the location I’m standing until you find out my name.
I sometimes wonder if we fight a losing battle because the battle is not against ‘us’ per say, but against a sense of shame. Shame for an action is hard to wipe away. You can apologize for wrongs which have been done but as long as the object of shame is seen, the shame is still there. We, if only seen as a ‘casing’ or a vessel cannot change, as a thinking individual we can cause enormous changes.We just have to be tolerant of the differences and learn from history. Remember history was written in more than Black and White.Beads on a String is available for download on Amazon-Kindle, BN, the Reader Store (Sony) , Apple and in multiple formats on Smashwords and Scribd and ready for (whatever model) your eReader to eat them up.
The enhanced version can only be purchased through Wade-In Publishing
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