Maybe next generation won't notice color (11/10/2008)

I came of age in the late sixties and early seventies. I remember race riots. I remember listening to my fourth grade teacher say that she fainted the first time she saw what she referred to as a "darkie." Me, I'm about as white as a person can get, both in my skin color and viewpoints. I found her statement to be ridiculous.

I remember when my little brother, Michael, was learning his colors. We had gone to downtown Dayton for something or other and he remarked, "Mom. There's a brown man." He had never seen a brown man before. I was convinced the man would take offense but he just smiled.

Several years later I went to downtown Dayton just to see what had changed. I saw a young couple walking down the sidewalk with a cute baby. I was about to tell them, "What a cute baby!" when the girl raised her voice and said, "And that's why I hate white people!"

I once worked in a deli. We had a variety of help. We had several shades of black, white and brown; male and female; straight and gay. One night the lights went out and the black girl I was working with expressed disappointment that we "crackers" didn't glow in the dark. We told her to smile so we could see where she was.

She was the same girl who wouldn't let me give her a ride to her apartment. Even though we got off after midnight, she insisted that I let her out several blocks from where she lived because it wasn't safe for me to be in that neighborhood.

Have things changed since then?

My mother still refers to people of color by a very politically incorrect word. To her it is no different than referring to someone with yellowish hair as a blonde.

My generation was determined not to notice that people have different colored skins just like they have different colored hair. We were convinced that we were all alike, with the same hopes and dreams.

Our nation has just elected its first black president. Except ... is he really black? Or is he another rich white lawyer who just happens to have an African father? Will we ever get to the point where the color of a person's skin is no more relevant than the color of their hair? Can we refer to our new leader as President-elect Obama and not as the first black president?

I think Tiger Woods has it right in refusing to be catagorized strictly by color. Yes, electing a "black" person is momentous. How about electing a member of another minority? As I recall, we haven't had any Asian or Hispanic presidents. How about short, white women? Maybe we should nominate a person with obvious severe physical disabilities, after all, it is their minds that matter. Oh, gee, we don't elect those people to lead our country either.

For the record, I voted for our new president. It wasn't because of his skin color. It wasn't because of his opponent's age. It was because he was different than the men we have been electing.

We were watching some sports show last night when one of the commentators asked whether or not the black sports figures helped pave the way for our new president. I thought the answer was obvious.

Of course they did. Just like that girl on the sidewalk in Dayton paved the way for her child to dislike whites. We all make a difference by how we treat each other.

If we treat each other as equals then we have a greater chance of becoming equal. The generation that knew blatant discrimination first hand is dying off. Maybe by the time my granddaughter grows up there won't be any more color barriers for non-whites to break.

There's always that hope.[[In-content Ad]]