Why Racism is for the Birds

Question... Why is it 2015, & people are STILL racist?

How many times have we been asked this question? How many times have we answered? How many times have we NOT answered it, because it's so old at this point?

This piece is inspired by the Ohio State Buckeyes dance team video that was posted to Facebook on March 8th, 2015.

For those of you who don't know, or didn't see it - the basketball players joined the women of the dance team to make things a little more exciting & entertaining at halftime. Now you might be wondering, "what does this have to do with racism?"

I originally watched the video, thought it was funny, entertaining, cute, etc. I then started reading the commentary on the post, & was shocked, to say the least. Pretty much all I was reading were comments about the "racism" in the video.

I had to double take & rewatch the video after reading said comments, but apparantly I missed it the first time around. Apparently, the majority of the women appear to be white. (I say appear because from experience, you really ever know someone's ethnicity just by looking at them, & I'm not one to assume.) Not only do the women all appear "white", but the majority of the men appear black, with a couple of white men in the mix.

Apparently, this enraged some people. I know, I can't believe it either! My first reaction was, "seriously? who cares?" I left a comment saying, "Am I the only one that literally didn't even notice that all the females were white & males were black, until reading the comments? It's 2015, & I've made it this far without even the thought of being racist."

I received several comments, replying to mine, & I want to respond to a few of them, right here, right now.

To Thersa Ruikka-Fisher, who said, "Just so you know there were 2 white guys in this. Unless I'm color blind????"

Thersa, I again had to double take just to notice that. Why? Because, bouncing off of my original comment on the post, I don't look at anything & first see color, ever. My comment was generally stating what the majority appeared to be, at first glance.

To Angel Garnett, who said, "I don't understand how do u not notice race? Like you watch the video you can clearly see people's skin color you can't not see skin color that doesn't even make sense. Idc about their skin color but I saw that majority guys were black and all dancers were white or pale in color like how can you not see that?"

Angel, obviously I can see their skin color. Seeing something & noticing something are two different things. It's all about perspective. Of course I see it, but it took reading the comments & people pointing it out for me to notice it.

To Mygood Sowell, who said, "It's funny all of you are white. That agree that is."

Well, this one really got me. I had to go through & double take that the profile pictures that were replying to my comment. Apparently, the ones that weren't negative, & were agreeing with me, all appear to be white.

Are you seeing the pattern? Are you seeing my point?

If you aren't racist, then you shouldn't even think twice about it, much less mention it to thousands of people, advertising your judgment to the world - at least not in a negative way.

I have friends of all races & ethnicities. & I have black & mixed friends that will see a white guy dancing & say, "Aye, look at the white guy goin' in!" The difference there, is that no one is offended or being negative about it. You can notice race & see color, & that's fine - but your reaction to it says a lot about you.

Racism won't stop, until people stop talking about it. Stop pointing out the race in every situation, being so negative & offended. We, the people, are the ones who allow these things. We are the ones that create its existance.

& before anyone has a judgment or a comment about the little white girl talking about racism - don't. The majority, & when I say majority, I mean like 95%, of my friends are black/mixed, etc. You see that picture at the top? That's my interracial relationship, with a black man. The looks we get, the disgusted looks, when we're walking in public, holding hands, when people realize we're together, are disheartening. He is a mix of black, cuban, & italian - which doesn't mean a thing, because his heart is what I fell in love with, not his ethnicity or race.

People are people. We all have the same bone structured skeleton underneath our skin color. Some of us have more or less melanin in us than others - that's it. Sure, there's stereotypes. Sure, they're sometimes true. However, they're also a lot of times false.

Love has no color, shape, size, or preference. Love is just that, love. It's kindness & generosity & compassion all in one.

Bottom line? As I always say, choose love. Don't choose negativity, judgments, or shade. Just, choose, love.

Because racism is for the birds - God loves everyone, & that's all that matters.

#motivation #inspiration #hope #loveoverlust #love #racism