The Department of Justice finding that Ferguson, Mo., police officers violated the civil rights of black residents as a matter of course came as no surprise.
Racism is alive and kicking throughout the nation, albeit not as pervasive as it once was. Iola and surrounding environs are not exempt. The perception is improvements aren’t being made. A survey mentioned on CNN found 40 percent of respondents thought racism had become worse, just 15 viewed it as less of a problem.
I grew up a bit naive in Humboldt. As a matter of course I played sports and socialized with several kids from black and Hispanic families. From the ivory tower of a little white kid I thought everyone was the same, that none of my friends suffered limitations. I learned differently when old enough for reality to set in.
Today in Iola you would think the color of a person’s skin would make no difference. But, there remains an undercurrent of racism that surfaces in private settings and even on social media. Crude epithets arise in conversation and find a place to hide and hate with emails. Anyone who thinks otherwise is as naive as I was 60 years ago.
President Obama often is a target. His heritage and color serve as avenues of denigration for closet bigots, as well as some not reluctant to be identified. Many accusations are couched in untruths about issues such as gun control and religion.
One email that came this week in part said: “… the most powerful man in the world and two-term president … lacks even a grade-school level knowledge of American history … Then again, he was educated at an Ivy League school so you can’t expect too much.”
Many president have had coveted Ivy League educations on their resumes.
While it is easy to criticize Obama, as emails cited by the DOJ about the Ferguson Police Department showed, he and other national figures don’t stand alone as recipients of racial slurs. Targets aren’t exclusive.
I came to realize long ago that outward appearances tell only a superficial story.
Don’t judge anyone from first-blush impressions because of color or ethnicity, or anything else.
Take care in judging others
