On the Issue Of Race

Just a quick thought here- does anyone else but me get a little uncomfortable when we talk about the civil rights of different races? I recognize that it needs to be brought up, and that it's good that it is. I'm all for educating people on the subject. However it's always in the back of my mind that, "Oh, these people must hate me for what my grandfathers did to their grandfathers." Any American of color will say they've dealt with prejudice in their life, even if it's just the mistakes of the people that came before us. How do we as "white" people deal with all the horrible things we've done to other races in the past? Is there anything more we can do than not repeating their mistakes, and teaching our children not to? How do we break human nature of recognizing differences and adding stigma to them? I know this is where religion steps in a bit, but what about the people that don't have religion? Can we break human nature with God guiding us?

I'm constantly bombarded with this at school. Teenagers have no qualms being blunt about someone else's race or religion. I've seen African American friends of mine have "jokes" pointed at them. I've had jokes pointed at me because I'm the "Mormon white girl". If you pay attention to most humor though, you laugh because in all seriousness it's an uncomfortable subject. These jokes and snide comments only add more stigma to the titles we're given. They're not needed. We're all human beings. Regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual preference- these are still people that have feelings. That has to count for something. I'm tired of people automatically assuming that people who have different stereotypes from them aren't normal, and aren't to be viewed the same way as they are, if not lower.

It needs to stop.