I haven’t written anything about racism in a long time. It is something that I feel very strongly about and is something I have written several essays, reports and blogs about. I stopped because of some threats on my family that I received from people who misconstrued something I said and, instead of asking me what I meant or researching, they decided to get pissed and display the exact behavior that I was speaking against. In my reflections following this, I came up with one hard line fact:
Ignorance perpetuates racism which perpetuates ignorance.
Living in the south, there are two big things you deal with – Racists who tell jokes and expect you to laugh (and are a little bewildered when you don’t) and people from other places and of other races that assume you are because of where you came from.
People are so quick to ignore one small little detail…we’re all human. There should be no lines of color drawn. Period. The only race is the human race. People of all ethnicities (racism isn’t just white on black, by the way) have been so ignorant and detached from the truth that they are willing to kill people…over what? Skin color? They kill kids…Kids, man! Precious lives taken because they we’re born with different pigmentation…
On September 15, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan (which started in Tenn and thrived throughout the South) bombed a church in Birmingham, AL. The explosion killed four beautiful little girls that had nothing to do with ANYTHING. Their lives were taken because some white men decided an entire group of people (WHOM GOD CREATED) was subhuman.
In response to this tragedy, John Coltrane wrote a tune called “Alabama.” This tune is very powerful and shows how music can address public problems and provide an outlet for the ensuing emotions.
To me, this sets the perfect mood to morn and reflect. I can listen to this a million times (and probably have) and feel the emotion and turbulence of those times. It’s truly moving.
I know everyone is inundated with Martin Luther King Jr. quotes and images and videos today but please keep in your mind and heart that we are all just people. One big HUMAN race.
Listened to “Leaving Trunk” last night. Could not help but think of “Traveling Riverside Blues.” I think I secretly dug the blues rooted in a few Zeppelin tunes– I just didn’t know it at the time.