Martin Luther King. Now there is a man I truly and deeply admire. That man had a dream and even though he was killed far too young, his dream carried on posthumously. We took up his torch and carried it for him and his dream is little by little being fulfilled. We have come so far since he spoke those famous words.
I was not raised in a very prejudiced part of the country and yet even I was raised with ideas that seem shocking and horrifying to me today. The little poems and ditties, songs and assumptions. It completely shocks me when I remember how casually I used them. So shocking that I can't even tell you what they were! I can tell you that as a child I remember, vividly remember, feeling so lucky, so blessed to be born white and Mormon; too bad I was a girl. I was born in 1962 and literally grew up with and alongside the Civil Rights Movement.
I remember listening to conversations among the adults about how they would never go to a woman doctor or work for a woman boss. I remember hearing about how a black family would ruin our neighborhood, and that we should always marry our own kind. I listened to adults around me talking about what bad drivers women were and how comical it was to assume they could drive as well as a man. I heard talk about how black people had different bodies and that was why they could dance better or play sports better and that it was a compensation for the lesser brain. I watched Cinderella as a little girl and knew I was not good enough to be a princess because I had big feet and can't sing a note; I was much more like the ugly stepsisters. I remember the riots and the conversations about why it was so bad to integrate the schools.
I remember.
I am so proud of the men and women who stood up and fought against these pervasive attitudes. I am blessed to live today in a world where it is greatly improved. But it is not gone. Not by any stretch. My son took a picture in Columbia, North Carolina a few months ago of the confederate flag flying over the state capitol building. What sort of a message does that send? Wow. Just wow. How horrifying that in 2012 we live in a country that would allow such blatant symbols of prejudice and hate.
I do not understand what it means to be the target of that kind of prejudice that, especially black, people in the south experience. But I get little tastes of it now and then as a female CEO. There are not many of us. It is a tough job and I get criticisms that my male counterparts would not. Yes. Even today in 2012 women are discriminated against. I do think that there are fewer positions where that happens, but a CEO is one of them. and I think it makes me a better person; a better human being. Certainly a better white person. Certainly a better person than I might have been.
I am glad that men like Dr. King opened my eyes. I am grateful that he helped me to see the ugliness that I had accepted as normal. I am so indebted to those that paid a price so that others could grow past it.
I believe that Martin Luther King helped to pave the way for me too. And I am grateful to him.
What I find amazing is there is still a huge, huge amount of people who will put down some of the people who fought to change some of those things.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the 60's and 70's in Philadelphia PA (not Mississippi). I remember there were race riots when I was in Junior High all over the city. I grew up in a white upper blue collar neighborhood. Prejudism was rampant. I myself, to my shame, was also prejudiced. A part of me knew better but I refused to acknowledge it. I grew up. I was born-again and that ugly part of me was removed by God.
ReplyDeleteI went for a job interview many years later in South Carolina and while there was some self-imposed segregation; however, the genuine friendliness between white folk and black was real. Still, the weird thing of it all is that in the north where I grew up, the ugly nasty prejudice was apparent, open, and often accepted. Go figure.