At
five years old I became a target of prejudice.
I was in line at a McDonald's restaurant and there was a Caucasian boy
in line with his family. I proceeded to
play with him and he responded to me by saying leave me alone nigger. At that age I hardly knew what the word meant
but I knew it was nice by the look on my parents faces. My mother put me in line next to my father
and I asked why I couldn't play with the boy.
My mother then told me that some people were not as friendly as we were
and that I could not play. The parents
of the young boy never acknowledged that what he did was wrong. Everyone was looking really funny at the family. Now that I am older I am really proud of my
parents for not acting out of their character.
When
we received our food and sat to eat my mother explained to me what the word
nigger meant and where it came from. She
explained to me that some people are still prejudice and they teach their
children to be prejudice as well. This
was the day that she also told me that I should never treat anyone different
because of the color of their skin, their religion, or because they don't speak
English well. Being subjected to this
kind of prejudice does diminish equity because we are all created equal. But even today this has proven to not be a
true statement. I was judged because of
the color of my skin and not the content of my character.
After
my mother explained to me what the word nigger meant I was very hurt and disappointed
that someone would actually teach their child to be a racist at an early age. The only way that I see this type of behavior
changing is that the dominant culture realizes that slavery is over and that we
live in a totally different world now.
Our communities are better and for the most part there is no reason for
racism and prejudice to still be a part of this world that has become so full
of all type races. In order for this
situation to become an opportunity for greater equity we must learn to respect
each other's differences and do away with being prejudice because we all are
the world.
I agree with your statement that there is no reason for racism or prejudice. The way your parents handled the situation was excellent, you must be very proud to have such great parents. Thank you for sharing this story.
ReplyDeleteKiara,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing a personal experience. First, as soon as I saw the word McDonalds I automatically thought of Big Macs they are my favorite from McDonalds. Second, I take a bow at how well your parents handled the situation. Normally people make a scene, start fighting, and arguing. I don't think that arguing in McDonalds would have changed anything. Clearly you can see that someone had to teach the little boy about being prejudice. Each person is different and created in their image but ignorance comes when people are too lazy to learn about one another.