Our Pains and Tears

Way forward

These six short stories are just very few instances of racial injustice on black people as I cannot begin to highlight every racist thing that has been done to black people because I don't think I'll ever be done writing it. For example, black women not been allowed to wear their natural hair to their place of work as it would be deemed 'unprofessional' or black college students being stopped by police officers on campus asking for their IDs whilst their fellow white classmates walk past without been questioned.

I basically could go on and on about all the racial prejudices that people of color face most especially black people but like I said I would never be able to fully cover it.

As an African and black person, I've always wanted to know what went on in the head of racist people, like how do they think? And so on. A few days ago, I was able to get a glimpse into how some of these people think through an Instagram video, you can find it on @Lailaloves page if you want to check it out.

Basically, in that video I realized that there were two types of racist people or maybe even more which are:

A) The core racists and

B) The Ignorant racists.

A) The core racists: They are people who are very well informed on black oppression and how it prevents a lot of black people from moving forward in life resulting in them either dealing drugs or joining gangs and stuff like that to survive and still HATE black people.

B) The Ignorant racists: They are the opposite of core racist in the sense that they are not well educated on how black oppression works but judge black people based on what they see and hear. Basically, these people choose to be ignorant of what goes on around them because they can afford the luxury (white privilege) of being ignorant.

Now in this video, a teenage girl was trying to educate her ignorant racist people on black oppression and her father basically said 'all they (black people) want to do is be ghetto' and 'most of us just want to suck up the system and do something bad like drugs or gangs'. After watching the video, I thought to myself 'is this what some people really think?' and that made me even more zealous to write these short stories in order to show that not all black people want to be 'ghetto' and that some of us just want to survive and live our lives peacefully like every normal person... and even those who are 'ghetto' or 'in gangs' did not choose to be that way, the system put them in that position.

At a point in the video, her father basically called people of color 'filthy animals' and I realized that this was the kind of mindset that those racist cops imbibe and therefore treat us like animals. Although what they do not realize is in the process of maltreating black people, they transform into the so-called 'animals'. It's even in the bible, in proverbs 23:5 and it says: 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is' which is why when these cops look so terrifying when caught on camera arresting a person of color.

Moving unto the main reason for this chapter, I'd been thinking of a way forward... ways in which racism can be addressed apart from the political aspect and some things came into mind.

A) Parents B) Schools and religious organizations.

Parents: I've come to realize that a lot of white parents don't feel the need to talk about 'racism' to their children, maybe because they feel their children are too young to know about things like that or maybe they feel 'racism' is a very sensitive topic to be discussed.

In my opinion, I feel like that mindset needs to be changed because the older a child gets, the harder it is to convince them on things they've already made their minds up about. I'm not saying you dive into the gory and terrible details on racism, you could just explain that treating someone badly based on their race or color of skin is wrong and make sure they understand that we are all created the same way.

The way I see it 'children are like blank pages and it is the job of a parent to fill up the first few pages with all the necessary information needed for the child to grow up a better person in life' and if that fails to be done the society around your child will help you fill in those pages and it might not be filled with what you would like or stand for.

If black parents have to sit their children down to talk about 'how unfair some people would be to them because of the color of their skin' or even 'how to handle the police in order for them to come out unscathed' no matter how much it pains them to say it, then I think every other parent owes it to both their selves and the community to also educate your children on these things.

Schools and Religious organization: Children born into racist families are going to be imbued with racism obviously and this is where the schools and Religious organizations should come in.

I feel like it shouldn't be on special occasions that racism should be brought as a core issue of discussion in schools. Anti-Racism should be discussed and sensitized more in schools because it is a place of learning and people go there to be educated.

Now, a religious organization is another place where children are taught what is good and bad apart from their homes and schools. This is why I think anti-racism should be imbibed by these organizations and then imbued into their members.

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Other than these factors that are aforementioned, I happened to stumble upon a video where Elmo from Sesame Street addressed racism which was very educative and brought to layman terms for children to understand what they were talking about. This video made me realize that a lot of children and teens spend their time in front of their TVs either watching Disney or any other child-friendly station and I thought why don't these child-friendly stations take it upon their selves to sensitize anti-racism. It could be a five-minute short video that they would play during the breaks between series.

Now if you've noticed all my ideas are targeted towards children and teens because I feel like they are the future generation and can still be saved because their minds are still pure.

It would be very hard to convince a full-grown adult that the way they reasoned for several years is wrong. The saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' applies in this case, I feel like they can only change if they decide to or if God speaks to them and not because someone made them.

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This book is my way of saying that I stand with everyone who stands up against racial prejudices all over the world. This is a message for y'all, religious or not: 'Fear thou not: for I am with thee: be not dismayed: for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness' –Isaiah 41:10

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My parting shot for everyone who reads this book – 'A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels' – Proverbs 1:5

Thank you for reading,
God bless.