Racism and Prejudice At An Early Age

For this post, I’m not sure if the correct term to use is racism, or prejudice, so I'll give the definition of both.

Racism: 1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.  2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination. 
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Prejudice: 1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.  4. such attitudes considered collectively: The war against prejudice is never-ending.  
5. damage or injury; detriment: a law that operated to the prejudice of the majority.


Maybe both definitions apply, but for this post, I’m going to use racism when telling my sisters story.

My sister had to take her daughter to the doctor yesterday. I won’t go into the details of why, but it turned out they ended up sitting in the waiting room for hours. When I spoke with my sister, she said that she just can’t get over the people you meet when you’re in a public place. She went on to tell me what happened in the waiting room.

In the waiting room, there was my sister and her family, a family of color that we’ll call Family A, another family of color that we’ll call Family B, a white family, and a family, as my sister described, from Middle Eastern descent. Family A had several children, one boy being very young, and all the kids were playing and behaving themselves quite well. The young boy approached my sister and started talking to her in his toddler jabber, and my sister, being polite and knowing how toddlers like to chatter, tried to carry on the conversation. Out of the blue the little boy looked at my sister and said, “You’re a white bitch!” My sister didn’t know what to say! However, the lady sitting beside her, from Family B, didn’t care to speak her mind. The lady looked at my sister in total disbelief and said, “Can you believe that?”, then turned to the toddler’s dad and asked the age of the boy. He’s 2. The lady from Family B just couldn’t contain her anger. She looked at my sister and said, “He’s 2, now can you believe that!” Then she turned on the dad. She told the dad that he needed to send that boy to live with her for a while, “I’d break him from that cussing real quick!” she shouted, for everyone in the waiting room to hear. The dad, being embarrassed, called the boy over, put him on his lap and proceeded to tap his little mouth, as punishment for what he had done. After tapping his mouth, the dad then apologized to THE LITTLE BOY! The lady from Family B just about came unglued! She looked at that dad and told him how he didn’t need to be apologizing to that boy, and just on and on and on. My sister just sat there in total shock over the entire ordeal.

Okay, later on, while still waiting to be seen, another child from Family A, and the son from the white family were playing. My sister said she figured they were around 6 or 7 years old. The two boys, one white and one of color, were playing with a toy that either belonged to one of the boys, or was a toy they have in the waiting room at this office, I’m not sure which, but they were playing fine when all of a sudden, the little boy of color took the toy and triumphantly announced to the white boy that he could no longer touch the toy. “I’m the king, and you’re no longer allowed to touch the King’s toy!” The white boy just looked at him and said, “You’re not a king.” The boy of color says, “Yes, I’m the king, I’m Obama, you can call me King Obama!” The white boy, in reply, says, “My dad said Obama is the President, and he’s a ni**er!” My sister about fell out of her seat! Other than the white dad being thoroughly embarrassed, my sister didn’t say if words were exchanged between the dads. And, the lady from Family B wasn’t there to witness what had just happened.

I can only imagine this scene in my head. I couldn’t believe what my sister was telling me. This incident tells me that we’re teaching our children, at a very young age, to be racist. I know that none of those children would have said what they did, had they not heard it at home. Racism and prejudice are taught at an early age. I guess there might be circumstances, when you’re older, that a tragic experience might leave you feeling biased, but what these kids were saying was taught.

When we were growing up, using the “N” word was just as bad as any curse word you could think of. We weren’t taught to hate, or even dislike, someone that might be different. I can’t imagine teaching my children to dislike someone of a different race, religion, etc. I was under the impression that we were starting to get past the differences, but after hearing this, it tells me that we’ll always have generation after generation of racism and prejudice. Maybe I’m just naïve.

My sister went on to tell me that the white family appeared to be very “redneck” in their ways. I guess after their sons comment, one can agree. The man of Middle Eastern descent approached the white family, only to discuss their children’s common issues at hand, and the white lady was very rude to the man. She wouldn’t look in his direction, and wouldn’t speak to him to answer his questions. As Stacey put it, “she’s was just out and out rude and made no qualms about it.” Since this office was a Pediatric Orthopedic Specialist, all the parents in the waiting area had children with orthopedic issues of one form or another. I’m sure the Middle Eastern man was just trying to strike up a conversation to discuss what issues they were having with their child to compare to what they were experiencing with theirs. The white lady snubbed him completely. The guy finally said, “I guess it’s just trying times for us all”, and left it at that.

I think it’s sad to hear stories like this. Maybe, as a Libra, I just want peace and harmony all around. One can always hope!

TTFN!