Reading this article made me realize how important it is for people to be understanding. Being a person who has seen racism take place and has been a victim of it, I see how the world could change if people were to be more understanding. Minds could be changed, and lives could be saved by understanding.
As you begin to read the article, the author shares a story of two kids of their neighborhood “borrowing” their snow shovels. They never saw those snow shovels again. Those kids were African-American. Naturally, this couple could immediately assume that “black kids steal” and would probably be very paranoid of other African-Americans. But they weren’t. They were understanding.
They understood that not all “black kids steal.” They understood that not all African-Americans are threatening. They were open minded. They knew not to assume anything on a race because of an incident. Most of all, they understood. For whatever reason the kids took their shovels, they refused to let this mishap change their views on a certain race.
Racism could end if more people acted like this couple. The cure to racism? Not being racist. Easy and simple. People could understand more that not all people of one “color” act a certain same way.
Four days ago, following a heavy snow, two kids from our neighborhood spotted the snow shovels in our garage. One of them already had a shovel, the other didn’t, so he asked if he could borrow ours in order to raise money clearing driveways. Kids offering to shovel driveways in the winter are as ubiquitous as ice cream trucks in the summer, so I said, “Yes, but bring it back in two hours.” They agreed. I went in the house. A moment later my wife came around the corner and saw them taking the other shovel out of our garage. She asked if I’d told them they could, despite the fact that they now had three shovels. They said yes. She shrugged and made them promise to bring the shovels back soon. We haven’t seen them since.
Oh, and one more thing: the kids were African American, as are 3/4ths…
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Racism and Police Brutality 