It doesn't matter if you're black or white

I have an unfortunate saying when people find out I lived in the U.S. for a large portion of my youth. "It's where I learnt about racism" is what I say when people ask me how it was.

It's sad because prior to my time in the U.S, I had never been made so aware of such levels of segregation. I remember sitting there at school as a child thinking "Why am I being told that black people, white people, yellow people, red people and so on are all equal". I always thought they were equal.

Then the whole L.A. riots started while I was there. I have a large scar on my arm that reminds me of how much this was an issue. Being white, I was automatically considered racist towards everyone who wasn't. This only made me question things even more as I sat there bleeding after the attack. Why, after all these years of living in Australia, never questioning, in fact never being subject to a social flaw was I now being attacked by that exact issue in a place that banged on about avoiding it so much?

I've started to come up with my own idea of why this is so.

If you look at certain countries, there are stereotypes that exist. While this isn't exactly polite or politically correct in saying so, they are there. Typically Asians can't drive, usually men of Middle Eastern appearance are to blame for something about oil or war. But dive deeper into this, look at Hispanic nations where religious beliefs are generally in higher concentration, you'll find that arguably the crime rate is higher too. Though at the same time, poverty is the norm around these areas as well.

Is this the same as telling a child not to touch something as you leave the room and expecting them not to touch it? Chances are, if you said nothing they probably would have just entertained themselves while you were out.

The funny thing I heard today was from my brother-in-law who just got back from the Philippines. He told me that if you're darker skinned over there, then you'll never amount to anything.

He had a bit of a hard time being fairly dark. But this society has gone as far as marketing pills that lighten your skin. There are laser treatments to reduce the nature hue your body in order to have a better acceptance in your own society, a better chance and a good future.

I guess it's much the same in India, where casting is still prevalent. There are products like lotions called Fair and Lovely that are aimed specifically at darker people in order for them to lighten up a bit and have a better acceptance.

While I'm not interested so much in the how. I am curious as to why?

Why is this even an issue?

Why can't everyone just get along?

Why aren't all humans accepted as humans instead of cast further into subdivision?

These are all questions I asked myself all those years ago back in Junior High, in Altadena CA. And it's something I ask myself now when I hear the same thing almost 20 years later.

Nothing has changed. Why?

It really saddens me that this happens.

Last year I read something that stated another observation that I found to be true. Something I had also observed.

It stated that we will all continue to be divided while we continue to stand as individuals. What this illustrated to me was what I had seen in communities where certain ethnic groups flourished while others couldn't hold two pieces of wood together if you gave each person a G-clamp. The communities that strive forth were ones where everyone helped each other. Everyone was everyone else's support. The community where everyone complained about how bad they have it were at the same time complaining about how they had no support, no one they could trust, talk to, listen to. In fact, a lot of times they were ripped off or lied to, betrayed by their own family.

This isn't to say it does or doesn't happen even in the prettiest picture. If you look at the Yin and Yang, theres a white dot in the black half and a black dot in the white half. This represents that even the good and bad sides have a little bit of each other in them.

However, what it does illustrate to me is that generally the statement is true. The local Asian community thrives, as does the Lebanese community around here. But then I look at the Armenian community here, being half Armenian. And all I see and hear is lies, backstabbing, ripping off. And the ones that are fed up with it all severe their ties all together. Yet, my Lebanese friends are going well at home, at work. Both family life and professional life is going great because no one said anything bad about you because you didn't steal something off that other person, and so the domino effect goes on.

If only the negative things were put aside and we all just concentrated on the positives then the negatives will more that likely just go away.

This brings me back to racism. Why, even when you're being told about how not to be racist are you generally being told it's bad. Another thing that puzzled me was why we were being told in Junior High that it was bad, wrong, not nice. When I personally would have thought it much better to say racism isn't right. How about being told what's so great about such an ethnic diversity?

I'm usually quite resourceful (when I want to be) and if something isn't working I don't continue to do it with that good old fashioned attitude of "keep trying" until it sinks in. I'd much rather people say "Hey, this hasn't really worked, maybe we should stop, rethink our approach and try this again from another angle".

Sadly, this won't happen any time soon. I mean, one of my mates suffers from the exact same cause, though his problems are different, the approach is the same. Keep doing what isn't working until it works. He's been in a rut for a good 80% of his life. Until I told him he's living groundhog day over and over and over.

I left the United States trying to see why people didn't think people are people. They all have the same body, they all breath the same air, drink the same water, eat the same food. They all have family, friends and jobs. Why should someone that you probably don't know have that much hatred towards them? What did they do to you that was so wrong?

Why can't everyone just accept who they are, accept who the person next to them is and just be happy that we're all living on this planet at the same time, a short time. Enjoy it.