On this day in History

On May 17, 1954 a ruling was made in Brown v the Board of Education. This was a great day in our nation's history. This ruling made the determination that separate was not and never would be equal, allowing African-Americans into the previously white-only schools. While we all know that it took awhile for some educational systems to pull their heads out of their butts, Brown was a small step on the road of equal rights for all races.

Now, 53 years later, where are we? Shouldn't we have equality? Why is there still a need in this country for Hate crime laws and affirmative action? Is it the way we are raising our children? Is it just the inborn need to feel superior to someone? Whose fault is it? Is it any one's fault?

Just for the record, I am white and I do not want to offend anyone (on this topic) by pretending that I understand how it feels to be discriminated against based on the color of my skin. Even as a woman, I have been incredibly lucky. While I have (and currently do) work with men who make me slightly uncomfortable (HELLO, those are NOT my eyes), I do not feel that I have ever experienced discrimination based on my sex or that I have ever been sexually harassed (although, frankly, I am sometimes a bit slow on the uptake, so maybe I was and just didn't notice). So I will not lie and tell you I understand or that I can empathize. I can certainly sympathize (and I do), and I can understand that this problem has not gone away. Nothing makes me more angry than to hear the middle-aged white guy complain about how hard his life is because other races and the opposite sex get everything. WHAT?? I would love for them to "walk a mile" in someone else's moccasins.. or better yet, in their stilettos!

My point here (yes, I know it takes me a while to get there) is that we, as a nation, have come a long way since 1954, but we have even farther left to go. There is not equality. People still don't get the job (or the house, or the college entry) because of the color of their skin. Women still make significantly less money than men. Racial slurs are used privately and publicly and people are amused (not offended) by this.

I have never had a clue what to do or how to change this, except to raise my child to be as color blind as possible. I have done the best that I know how and he appears to accept or reject people based on who they are inside. So I have contributed to stopping the hate and discrimination, maybe if we all did a little, we could stop it for good.
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