The fact that in the early 21st century people are still coming together to have prayer services in the hope of ending racism says something about our society – It says we have not completely evolved beyond the ugliness of our past.
The fact the Whitlow family of Silver Firs endured having their car all but destroyed – apparently because of a school dispute involving their daughter – shows that ugly, spiteful attitudes persist.
It has been nearly 40 years since the civil rights movement was at its peak; more than 50 years since the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision ended school segregation. We have achieved a further degree of cultural integration through food, clothing and popular culture, yet there are those who see fit to resurrect one of the ugliest chapters of this nation’s otherwise glorious history.
The only way such attitudes are going to be eliminated is one person at a time. Racist attitudes are not born; they are made. They are made through the examples of adults to children being socialized by witnessing the behavior of the adults around them.
In order to ultimately eradicate racism, society must realize that every member has a role to play. Every person must display tolerance. Racial slurs must go into archaic English and out of contemporary speech.
No one should suffer the kind of humiliation the Whitlow family did, and we all have a role to play in stopping it.
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