I wondered about that this morning. My hope is that I have repented of this. I am not a racist, but I wonder if this is true or not. I feel uncomfortable around other groups and sometimes even my own group. I don't hate any one particular group but I find other groups of people unfamiliar to me. That is what concerns me.
I am scared that I may be a racist. Even though I have repented, I still feel like I have some obsession with race and ethnicity as well as skin tone. I come from a place where race and color do matter and I believe that this is where it stems from. I am scared that I may be prejudiced, bigoted, or racist.
I am worried that I may have the qualities that I don't believe I possess. I wondered if a racist, bigot, or someone who is prejudiced a good or bad person. I have a hard time looking past the racist attitudes of a person, so I wouldn't think that they are good people. I also have a hard time looking past the sins of others and label them bad people. There are just certain things about myself that I would like to change.
I am also scared that I may also be a judgemental bigot towards other groups and others who do wrong. I just have so many questions about myself, some more mundane than others? Why do some black people including myself refer to each other as brothas and sistas when we have so much division in our communities? Why is it so important that we have to care what other groups think? (I"m black.) We are all people. We all have needs, wants, and desires. Just be yourself.
I guess it is like the infidelity thoughts that I have. I am scared that I may be a racist who hates people or become one who hates others, yet doesn't like the judgement of others. It is okay to not like or even hate what someone did, but I wonder if that has turned to hatred of the people and those that look like them instead of learning how to love one's own people and letting that be the motivation.
There are so many in the black community who hate white people today because of the evils of some white people in the past. I believe some hate white people not just because of that, but because of whatever perceptions they think a white person in particular may have. I have noticed that some of the very ones who hate others are the ones who do want to be accepted from others and make it an issue. On the other hand, their claim is to lift up one another when in fact, it is hatred that brought black people down in the first place.
I have come to realize that when I was so obsessed with race, color, and class that I asked someone from a foreign country about that very issue to them. Needless to say, they were rather rude; he or she told me that they didn't like black people. I was angry and did not respond. I just cut them off. I realize it is that I wanted to care what others think and that I was really angry not just because of the rudeness but because I have an issue with people not liking me. In short, my issue was internal. Based on my experience, I have learned that we are somehow shaped by our experiences.
I am a conservative who did not vote for Barack Obama because of the issues. Race played no role to me at all and it is sad that it played any role into whether or not President Obama was elected. I don't like it when people put racism in areas where they don't belong. I also have more pet peeves. I hate it when people are critical of interracial unions. I heard a funny quote from a comedy, "It doesn't matter to me. We're all black when the lights go out."
We are all supposed to be African dating far back, so what is the problem? I believe that not just racism per se, but the sin of the world and racism is an evil and divisive tool. Sunday is the most segregated day of the week. I even had the nerve to ask a white pastor if I would be accepted in his service. He said that I would be. He was a rather nice man, but it pained me that I would ask that. I wanted to be liked by others, black or white.
To me, I saw what it is like being black differently. I saw blackness as a badge of victimhood instead of love, pride, honor, respect, and struggle. Yes, black people have been victimized and there is still a lot to be done, but success, power, and intelligence does not equate to whiteness. There is a lot of brainwashing in the black community in the US and I believe that we have to do the work ourselves. This requires a renewal of our minds and learning to respect one another and learn how to disagree. We also need to quit blaming others and support the very ones that support us. Education is also very important.
Yes, terrible things have happened and are still happening to this day to people of all races and all colors, but lets not use education to divide and enslave people. Education is there for people to learn and to uplift people. Black people have more power now than we ever had before and we are taking too long to expect someone else to hold us up or postpone things we should be doing. This is an issue that has me fired up. I think that hating and blaming others including white people is not the answer. It is learning to love, respect, appreciate, and accept one another.
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