Color Blind

We live in a world now days where everyone is practically all mixed up. We live in the melting pot of the world. Who you fall in love with and what race or religion they are should not be an issue anymore. However the sad reality of the world we live is that for some people it still is. I know a doctor that is Jewish, and because he married a Christian woman, other Jewish doctors and business men have outcast him, and call his children heathens. He is one of the nicest most sincere people I know.

Despite what some people in the world would have you to believe, racism is still alive and well in our society. We still have a long way to go as a people. You would think after all we have been through as a nation, the many lives that were lost, we would have learned something by now but we haven't. Here are a few examples from the world I live in. *names have been changed*.

Terrence and Amy have a daughter together, he is black she is white. Her family has denied their child because of its mixed race. They refuse to help her with any thing she needs unless the two are fighting, then they only help her if they can throw "I told you so's" in her face. The problem is, number one Amy wont stop running to her family when things get bad. She is to naive to realize that every bad thing she runs and tells them when she gets mad at Terrence, they hold against him as all the more reason to justify their racist behavior. Amy's anger only lasts for a moment, her families anger doesn't, it only gets worse with each argument. So even after she has forgiven him and went back home, they are still holding a grudge.

Sam and Christine broke up because he cheated on her with an old friend Laura who happens to be white.As a result of that one night stand he got Laura pregnant. Laura's family doesn't like black people. Sam's grandmothers family was broken up because her husband cheated on her with a white woman over 40 years ago. Sam's grandmother battled with alcoholism, depression and suicide attempts as result of him abandoning her and their children to start a new family. Sam's grandmother always told him white women weren't good for anything but breaking up black families. Now this child has two sides of her family who shun her because of issues that go back over half a century before she was born.

Race issues are still tearing holes in our communities. We have placed a nice bandage over them, and even though it appears to have scabbed over some, if you pick at it enough it will bleed again. The sad part is, its not just a color thing, its a people thing. Not only do we tear down people from other races, we tear down each other. Blacks are killing other blacks, and whites are killing other whites. If my child decides she wants to date a Mexican/German/Irish American I don't care as long as he treats her right and makes her happy. We all should want happiness and wish the best for each other sadly that is not the case. We as a people are so quick to judge and classify people or things that we don't know or understand. We take the easy way out instead of putting forth an effort. We don't just do it with race, we discriminate against people who are gay, fat, short, or who have disabilities. None of us are perfect, we all have faults and flaws. Just because someone is different doesn't make them any more or less flawed than we are. Now I'm not naive. There are some things that people of your race just get about your situation. One main issue that I have seen between interracial couples is that one party doesn't understand the others struggle. If a black man is having a hard time finding a job or catching a break, his white counter part might not understand why doors are not opening. If he says its because I'm black she wont understand and assume he is playing the race card as a cop out. The same with a black woman. There is always that uncomfortable elephant in the room which is the race card.  However I have seen it done the right way. One of my white high school teachers has a black wife, and they are the most loving committed fun couple I have ever seen. Neither of them make excuses for their people, they see the world from a very realistic point of view and they keep their issues and love at home. The first priority is that they understand each other and they are on the same page. Its a beautiful thing. 

We have come a long way as a country but we still have so far to go. Love doesn't have a color, it doesn't have an ethnicity or race. Its pure, its simple, complex and amazing. I'm not just talking about the love between a couple, I'm talking about the love God wants us to have for self and for each other. That love is color blind, and its runs soul deep.