Martin Luther King, Jr and Tracy Chapman

01.17.2011

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’d like to share the lyrics to Tracy Chapman’s “Across the Lines.” I believe that much has been accomplished since the days of slavery and the civil rights era of the 1960s but there is still much needed that could change. It’s easy for me to say, of course, because I don’t have to walk in the shoes of a black person in the US on a daily basis, but I would like to be optimistic.

Perhaps there will be a generation where not only blacks and whites will look beyond the color of one’s skin and see each other as people first and foremost, but that such a mentality will cross over into the treatment of other minorities, religions, and ethnicities.

Across the Lines

by Tracy Chapman

From her self-titled debut album, 1988

Across the lines

Who would dare to go

Under the bridge

Over the tracks

That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides

Run for your lives

Tonight the riots begin

On the back streets of america

They kill the dream of america

Little black girl gets assaulted

Ain’t no reason why

Newspaper prints the story

And racist tempers fly

Next day it starts a riot

Knives and guns are drawn

Two black boys get killed

One white boy goes blind

Across the lines

Who would dare to go

Under the bridge

Over the tracks

That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides

Run for your lives

Tonight the riots begin

On the back streets of america

They kill the dream of america

Little black girl gets assaulted

Don’t no one know her name

Lots of people hurt and angry

She’s the one to blame

Across the lines

Who would dare to go

Under the bridge

Over the tracks

That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides

Run for your lives

Tonight the riots begin

On the back streets of america

They kill the dream of america

Keeping Racism Alive in Education

10.05.2010

When the first Europeans arrived, they raped the land and killed Native Americans, the people they perceived to be the enemy.

Then the Europeans brought over slaves to do their work for them while reaping the profits. Hatred for the black person grew.

Men feared women for a number of reasons and did what they could, by law, to suppress them in every way possible making sure that a woman knew her place was in the kitchen and with the children.

The Chinese and the Irish were soon feared, despised and killed but not before their services were used to build the Transcontinental Railroad. During this time, the blacks and the Irish were very good friends resolved to living in the slums. Though the minute the Civil War ended, the Irish would now compete with blacks for jobs and so they turned against their neighbors.

At the turn of the 20^th Century, Italians were now despised and white people's hatred for blacks continued. Eugenics was brought into American culture too where minorities, the mentally disabled and anyone else perceived to be “different” was sterilized under the auspices that “white is best."

By mid-century, Latinos have entered the equation and not because of their spot in America’s economic wheel but because hatred toward them now was going strong.

Today, all of these emotions toward these different ethnic groups still exist except for maybe the Irish and Italians. Funny thing. What’s the color of their skin?

We All Have Multiple Personalities

05.11.2010

I had a dentist’s appointment today – thank goddess for Novocain – and as we were talking about some mutual people that we know, it hit me how we all have different faces that we show different people. It’s as if we by nature have multiple personalities subconsciously cherry-picking what side of ourselves we will show to whom.

This particular individual that the dentist and I were talking about isn’t someone I necessarily know well but I do know a family member very well. To my dentist, this said individual is a really nice person, courteous and business-oriented.

The background that I happen to know is that this particular person not only mistreats family members but is a bigot and a racist who happens to be raising children with these beliefs. Where do we draw the line – at least in our heads – that someone may be nice overall but is doing something so unforgivable?

I think it’s incorrigible to be raising children with such beliefs especially when espousing Christian dogma. I know that this happens in the world and for many years I prided myself in not knowing anyone like that but in recent years, I’ve been taught that isn’t the case. Actually, on second thought, that’s not true. Growing up in the Lithuanian community, I came across many racists. The Lithuanian community is not…the most progressive, to put it mildly.

How do you tell a child that such teachings are wrong when he/she will experience it or see it out on the playground? How do you tell a child that he/she needs to take the “higher ground” when so many children and their parents don’t? And how do you hope that your child sees the good when there’s so much bad?