One People One Planet

I really struggle to wrap my mind around the idea that in 2014, racial variety is still an issue that some people haven't accepted as just a part of human evolution. Humans come in different shapes and colors with varied languages and traditions. Whaaaaat?! Yeah. It's been that way for a long, loooong time. 

I hear racist comments on a regular basis from all sorts of people. All ages, both genders, many races. It's not just against people of African descent either, as is currently so prominent in our media coverage. It's happening against Native and aboriginal people, Asian people, Latin people, Indian and Arab people and on and on...Basically, anyone who isn't white. But then again, we Caucasians are judged too. By religion, class, career, zip code and everything else in between, even amongst other Caucasians. Why are some humans so unaccepting of one another? It's pretty simple. Fear of what is different than ourselves.

Here's the thing. How did all of our current nationalities come into existence? Interbreeding, of course. The world didn't just appear suddenly with perfectly settled cultures across the entire globe eating sushi and pizza and tacos. It took many thousands of years for each unique culture to develop. We are still developing gradually, as evolution doesn't just stop.

I grew up with a racist father who still makes racist comments on a regular basis. It took me over 30 years to ask him to please keep his hurtful comments to himself. The reality is that it's all he knows and he doesn't see it as racism.

I clearly remember the day my dad called me up to tell me that, to his horror, my younger sister had an African-American boyfriend. I first felt angry at him for the judgement and ignorance. But then I decided to just keep listening. He said "If whites and blacks keep having children together, eventually, in a few generations everyone on the planet will look like Obama!" I laughed to myself and then answered "That sounds great. Obama is pretty good-looking!"

There was silence on the other end.

That conversation was about 4 years ago. Again, a few months ago, he was ranting about mixed races in our family. I felt so furious that I raised my voice (which I very rarely do) and said to him "I want you to listen to me and listen very carefully. I love you, but I will never, EVER agree with the words that are coming out of your mouth. So please do not even bother wasting both of our time on this topic." It stuck for a while, but seems to have worn off recently. I'm once again getting chain emails forwarded to my inbox that are totally offensive to me.

I was recently reminded of a comment that my former step-son made when he was 5 years old (He's almost 12 now). His hair and eyes are dark and his skin is slightly olive colored, as his father is Caucasian and his mother was from Colombia. We were driving in the car and from the back seat he was telling me that he got along really well with a boy in his class and that they were best pals (the boy was East Indian). I told him that sounded really nice and asked why he thought they were such good friends. He answered "obviously... because we are both pretty much brown people." I laughed and told him that I was glad that he had so many friends of all skin colors. He said "it doesn't matter to me about anyone's skin. They're all my friends." Yes! Well said child!

In a perfectly timely manner to me writing this post, I spoke to my dad on the phone today for much longer than our usual quick "hello and goodbye". Sure enough, the topic he brought up was racism. He said that my sister was up in arms about this "whole Ferguson thing" and that he doesn't see what the big deal is. I said "Dad. This is the straw that broke the camel's back. It's not just about this one incident. It just took this one incident to tip the scales." 

A year ago, while traveling in the US of A, we went to a movie theater (which is a very rare occurrence) to see 12 Years A Slave. It devastated me. I could hardly watch. I was sick to my stomach. I felt deep sadness and anguish for many weeks afterward. This abuse is still happening in marginally milder ways. Segregation, judgement, verbal and physical violence, inequalities, mistrust, racial profiling and more judgement.

Since moving to Vancouver Island, I have felt deep disturbance after I learned more about how the Canadian government has pushed the First Nations tribes around for generations. Until recently, I didn't quite understand the depth of the pain and suffering that has been (and is being) inflicted upon our native brothers and sisters. 

Our friend, who is a First Nations elder, has been an amazing mentor to us both. He is making huge efforts to heal and strengthen the connections between his people and the paler brothers and sisters. He hosts sweat lodges in ceremony for all of us to give thanks to our ancestors who came before us to pave the way for us to live here together today. It brings all of us closer and helps to wash away the old pain and bring in new, fresh energy. 

It has been so wonderful to begin to learn more about who came before us and how we all have the power to shift human relations for the better. With love in our hearts, we must view each other as the equals that we are. We are all one race. The human race. Therefore, racism against anyone is racism against ourselves.