Dear children of the future,
As I sit here writing this to you, we live in a "post-racial" society. They tell me that means that we are all equal. They tell me it means no one is treated differently. That no one is given special treatment. That no one cries out "it's discrimination" every time a crime is perpetrated between two races. They tell me I shouldn't have to educate you about the difference in struggles between ethnic groups. They tell me that you, my blond haired blue eyed white children, will not have an easier life than anyone else on this planet. But whoever 'they' are, hasn't looked into the world and the internet.
They say that who you love doesn't matter. They say we are all equal in the eyes of the law and that no one has their rights stripped 'in this day and age'. But 'they' still can't look my mom's gay cousin in the eye at family gatherings. 'They' think he's twisted and wrong. 'They' still think he chose to be this way and we should do everything in our power to make sure he doesn't destroy our way of life.
Kids...I want you to know something. I believe in the bible. I believe there is truth in the word and healing in the scripture. But sometimes Christians get in the way of God's message. We're so busy telling other people what's wrong with them and how they should live that we forget to tend to our own home. I'm not the voice of God on earth. I don't have the authority to speak in His name. But there are some things I've learned about Him that I'd like to share with you.
God is Love. Pure, Raw, Unadulterated Love. Everything meaningful in the Bible comes back to God's love for mankind. "For God so LOVED the world". God loves the whole world. Not just the world that looks like us, that has the same paycheck, tax code, skin color, eye color, denomination, or job. He doesn't love one of his children more than the other. He has as much love for the fallen sheep as the clean ones. He loves the CEO as much as the homeless man begging outside of his office. So let me be clear when I tell you that loving God makes you a whole human being but not superior to any other child of God.
Today on the news, I read an article about an uproar because of a mixed race family in a Cheerios commerical. It made me sick to my stomach. There are people in our family who think this way. They espouse hate and bigotry and supremacy and it makes me weep to think of how broken they are. I never want you to be that way. I want you to have as much love for your white friends as your black and hispanic and every color in between. I want you to treat them as people who happen to be of an ethnic group instead of a race that happens to be your friend. People first. Qualities second. It should never be about what they are but who they are.
So if you grow up and want to date someone who isn't white. That's a non issue. I want the person you end up married to to be the one who makes you happy. I want them to value you. I want you to value them. I want you to understand that people are all different. We come from different backgrounds and homes and schools of thought. Those things ...they make us different. We think differently and we judge things based on those differences. But we still have common ground. We are all people. We are all children of God.
Don't pity people who have less than you. They don't deserve your pity. They deserve your respect. If you are in a position to help your fellow man, do so. Pity doesn't fill a stomach or pay a light bill. Don't cringe away from helping someone because it might be hard or there might be a barrier. There is a lesson for you in the struggle. You may never have to know what it's like living paycheck to paycheck. You may never know the choice between a bill and a meal. You may never know what it's like to have someone deny you service because of something you were born with. I pray these things don't happen in your lifetime but they've happened in mine.
The truth is, I don't know what it's like to be born black or hispanic or gay. I can't tell you what their struggle is like because I haven't lived it. And I can't tell you that every time a person cries 'discrimination' that it's unfounded. I think sometimes we are holding ourselves back relying on compartmentalizing people. Sometimes violence isn't about race or sexual preference. But then again sometimes it is. I would love to tell you that one day we won't kill one another for being born a certain way. That we won't tell one another we're dirty, filthy, immoral, godless, evil or wicked for loving someone. That we won't call one another filthy names and raise children filled with hate. I hope it comes true in your lifetime. I really do.
All I know is that I can do my part. I can raise children without hate in their heart. I want you to know being who we are doesn't make us better, just different. I want you to know that different doesn't mean bad. That mainstream doesn't mean right. That things aren't always black and white. There is a whole world of people, good and bad, of all shapes and sizes. We can't judge people on what they look like on the outside. Often evil hides behind beauty. So make friends with all kinds of people. Learn their stories. Their wishes and dreams. Learn their struggles and triumphs. Embrace life with them. Hug them when they're hurting and lift them up in moments of despair. Protect one another from the outside world that seeks to corrupt innocence and strength. Love people for who they are, not what they are.
And Kids....know that my love for you is not conditional on you being born 'the right way'. I love you for who you are, not what you are. You are my blessings. You are my reason for growth. My reasons for waking up and trying to be a better person today than I was yesterday. I can't promise you the world you inherit will be tolerant or equal. I can't promise you won't ever have to hear people slinging mud or shouting intolerance. I can't promise you won't weep for humanity or shake your head in disgust. But I do know that the good always shines through. I know that for every act of kindness or friendship the world becomes a little brighter. Just remember that even if the world lashes out at you for being kind, it is never a reason to stop being the wonderful people I know you will become.
Love, Mom
When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protesants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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