Strangely Familiar Fruit

Let’s get to the heart of the matter. Who are we? Who are Americans? When people from other countries talk about us, what do we want them to say? What are we teaching our children? I don’t mean what we say to them in front of others, I mean what do we whisper to them? What do we tell them when the doors are locked and the blinds are pulled? Children don’t come out of the womb knowing that tying a noose to a tree holds a memory so profound that it hurts the great-grand children of people long dead. They aren’t born with the awareness that some people should be allowed to sit under a tree while others are not.

We say we want peace, but how do we foster it? We can’t just say we want it and hope it miraculously happens. We have to put our good intentions into action. The next time you go shopping with your family and friends, resist the urge to judge others and say hello instead. It doesn’t matter if they don’t answer you. When your child questions you about people of other races, stop and think carefully about what you say. What would you want those same people to tell their children about you? Peace begins in the mind and heart of each individual and has to be practiced everyday. Peace has to be carefully taught.

You might think these suggestions are antiquated or old school. “That turn the other cheek stuff doesn’t work today.” you may say. What is the alternative? Anger only breeds more anger. A child who was taught sixteen years ago that the feelings of people who look different from him don’t matter is now acting out those lessons daily. That child is inflicting the pain he was taught and I guarantee you will pass them down to his own children like a family heirloom. The only way he can learn to accept and love others is to be accepted and loved.

I don’t expect to live in a world where we all hold hands and break into song like a Broadway musical, but we need to come up with effective strategies to genuinely engage and understand each other. It also wouldn’t hurt if everyone of all races read a slave narrative to better comprehend American history. If you don’t know anyone from a different race, find someone and get to know them. Have them over for dinner. Invite them to your children’s birthday parties or play dates. It’s hard. It’s scary, but would you rather throw a party now or put out a fire later?

I am deeply concerned about us. If we can’t sit under a tree together, how can we end a war?