There is a reason to my blog today. The truth is that this very adorable little baby that I sang to today is name Kendra Marie. Ask me why? It isn't for her heritage. She was given a "white" name. As she feels out applications and moves through life. Her mother wanted her to not be judge by the color of her skin. The fact is she will be just like her mother has been and her mother before her. Her mother was able to get in the door of a University by not checking her race on the application but simply showing her grades and scores with this "white" name. This prominent university that otherwise wouldn't have given her much notice wants to make sure that their personal numbers of drop out are lessened. Obviously, if her skin was brown, they felt she would be prone to drop out. Close minded?
My family that raised me is far from perfect but the color of someone's skin did not prevent my father from handing manger position after manager position to someone that DESERVED it regardless of their skin tone. As humans is that not what we are suppose to do. This is what I took away from my bringing up. I did leave the "negativity" and ugly comments that did come from the lips of distant family members. I have always thought of hatred and racism as being something ignorant people would do. It amazes me to see highly intelligent people be so closed minded and say such ignorant things. Racism is taught by many families form many different backgrounds of many different colors.
Racism is across the board. It doesn't stop with those that share a similar color to me. It is every where and will always be to some degree. Educating others and sharing stories such as the one above about names is just one little insightful way to share and make aware. The pain, the fear, and so much more need to be shared to help everyone come together and open eyes to more than just skin color.
My two God daughters are of mixed heritage. Their beauty is beyond compare with what lies on the outside as well as what lies within. One is only five and has a lifetime ahead of her. Another is in college and already knows all too well the racism that she is faced with everyday. Both children will face a journey of being judged for the color of their skin. This is inevitable and has already been a part of their lives. It would kill me to know that my inspiring Goddaughter that sits at college with her brilliant mind would be refused anything in life due to her beautiful skin color.
Being raised in the 80's, I was exposed to many different people as I traveled between three different high schools in three different areas of the country. I am not sure if I choose friends wisely but I didn't have friends that were racist. So, I didn't see it up front and center. I find such beauty in the differences amongst the human race. I often place my arm next to my friends to see the beauty in our skin tones as we create our own rainbow. I often forget that not everyone shares this love of mine. Most of the time it is simply due to the fact that they have not exposed themselves to the beauty that can be found in all the colors of our most wonderful human rainbow. So, when I talk about rainbows, it isn't just the one that you may see after a rain. I see rainbows in many things....from unique music from all over the world to the languages that are spoken to the dances we dance to the land that we travel and to the people that make up the human race.
By the way, unicorns are real!
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