Seeing Clearly

When I was little, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I went grocery shopping with my Mom at our local neighborhood market. We lived in a small-at-the-time but rapidly expanding town. A town that I wouldn't have noticed at the time didn't have many colors of people. In fact, we had an Oriental-owned market at the end of town and and the occasional Hispanics. We'd just finished purchasing our way overpriced pork chops and fresh fruit, some Marlboro's, and rented some videos to watch. That's when I saw it. The quarter machine! I begged and begged Mom to give me a quarter so I could buy some gorgeous plastic and imitation rhinestone ring. At this time, a polite older gentleman approached us and dug in his pocket and whipped out a shiny quarter on the spot and handed it to me. But what I remember most about the moment was how jet black and smooth his skin looked. It looked like dark chocolate- no even darker...like when one looks into a cave and cannot see the end. I thanked him profusely, at the humph of my Mom who was clearly displeased that someone was rewarding my behavior. I cannot before this remember a true division of "race." People were people were people. It wasn't that I didn't see in color before, but that it didn't matter. My friends were pretty on the inside.

With all the talk going on of racism in the news, stemming from media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, I think it's important to remember this. Every victim of Katrina is capable of being a beautiful person on the inside. Homes are lost. Families are split up. Spirits are broken. They have had their hearts tested to limits we should never have to endure. Last I knew those hearts all pumped the same color of blood. Please let's not make this an issue of color, but of HUMAN.

Here are links to a couple stories that prompted this entry:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index_np.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12542143.htm