I am an American. My great grandparents came here from Germany, Austria, Ireland and England. I watch with horror the racism that occurs in my country. Racism is nothing new in this country but, it seems that no amount of education seems to make much of a difference. Everyone seems to have a target of their ignorance. If it isn’t racism based on ethnicity or religion, then it is hatred targeted towards members of the LGBT community. Everyone seems to feel the need to hate, mistreat, or do worse to someone. Just the other day, I was telling Harsh Reality that I was routinely called a Nazi while growing up because of my German ethnicity. Well, things haven’t changed much because someone on Facebook called me a Nazi last night when I asked him to take down a picture of me without my permission he had posted with a derogatory comment about women. I didn’t know this man and I have no idea how he got my picture (with my name on it) but, apparently he was using the picture to illustrate how much he hated blonde women because his ex-wife was blonde. Somehow, he thought using my picture was a great idea even though he didn’t know me. I asked him nice to take it down the first time and he became belligerent and called me a Nazi…..something I take great offense to. It was a double wammy…he was degrading me because I was a woman and then went on further to degrade me based on the fact that I have German ethnicity. Hate is alive and well.
I grew up in a mostly white town. My best friend in High school was black and we were friends because he was a great guy and we had fun together. After I graduated High School, my sisters and I befriended Gary. His Mother was openly gay and living with a woman at a time when it was not cool at all…..in fact, it was horrifying to most people. My sister’s and I took it in stride. Gary and I remained friends until he died suddenly at the age of 43. He came out to us when he was 30. Our response was, “Um, yeah Gar…we already knew that”. He was floored. Even with an openly Lesbian Mother, he still felt he had to hide who he was. The fact that we always knew, and still loved him anyway, created an amazing bond between us. I miss him so bad.
This country has serious problems. It seems the “melting pot’ we all learned this country was in elementary school has boiled over and become a huge mess. When I say I can’t imagine treating someone differently based on their race, sexual orientation, gender, or religion, I am not kidding. The things I see happening trouble me. This country has more of an “us against them”, attitude that couldn’t possibly end well. I see it every day. Our young people are growing up surrounded by this. It’s either hate or be hated. We have all seen the tragic results of being the hated. We see it in the news every day. Sometimes I feel like the hatred has taken on a life of its own in our society. How do you stop something like that…something that has become so powerful?
The blame game isn’t working. It seems to only fuel the flames. For me to hate all white men based on that Facebook exchange where I was called a Nazi AND a bitch seem ludicrous. That guy was an idiot standing alone. He obviously has some deep emotional pain that caused him to call me, someone he has never met, those things. If I were robbed by an Irish guy, I wouldn’t go on to hate all Irish people. I have been called a Nazi more times than I can count, been told I must drink a lot because I am Irish more times than I can count, and been called a fucking Kracker by one of my patients who was angry for a reason unrelated to me. I am not even going to get started on my treatment based on the fact that I am a woman. None of this makes any sense to me. It breaks my heart, if anything.
I just see things getting worse. The media is making millions fueling the flames. The white man good old boys club wins again because that’s who owns the American media. They are laughing all the way to the bank. They intentionally sensationalize racism to make money. Now, I am not saying it doesn’t exist and that there are not severe problems with racism in America but, creating a greater divide isn’t helping. People hating me because of the color of my skin is now a reality for me. How does that fix anything?
People do need to be called out on their bad behavior. We have to get our black men out of our prisons and give them hope for an education and a better life. We have to support single parents of all races so that their children can go on to become educated. We have to overhaul our education system so that it isn’t only catering to the privileged. We have to stop turning our backs on our LGBT teens and stand beside them and give them a safe world to live in. That is just the beginning of the list.
So, shut off CNN and go out there and just be good to one another. It’s a start. Every single one of us deserves the right to feel safe and to be themselves. Every single one of us deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Hate just isn’t going to fix this.
10 Years a Single Mom 