Racism and good story...

Racism. It is easy to focus on the injustices in society. It makes us cry, rage and want to get even. It makes us want to blame. But how about the good stories? There are millions of them I think because there are people like me who aren't racist. Surely there are.

Do you think I am really racist and in denial? Let me tell how I formed my opinion about different ethnic groups. I think my parents might have had a little prejudice against certain people but it was very minor and for the most part I was allowed to come to my own conclusions.

Three things happened when I was seventeen shaped my opinion about race and injustice for the rest of my life: 1. It was during the volatile time of integration in the South when I saw on the front page of our northern newspaper a photo of a white cop hitting a black person with a billy club. 2. My history teacher showed films of Jews being liberated from death camps. 3. I read Grapes of Wrath.

All those things broke my heart. These events set me on lifelong journey of learning about racism, injustice, poverty and what was done to the Native Americans. Not only that but I educated myself on the Crusades, Inquisition, Holocaust and marauding people like the Huns and the Vikings.

My conclusion is that there is only once race responsible for prejudice, cruelty and injustice... the human race. But I am part of the human race too and so are you. How can we make a difference in the face of overwhelming brutality? .

I believe in what Gandhi said: be the change in your own little corner of the world. Corrie Ten Boom did that. Mother Theresa did that. Father Damien did that. Susan B. Anthony did that. William Wilberforce did that. Gino Bartelli did that. There are so many more. There are many good stories.
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