A House Divided; A Thought About Trayvon Martin

I am such a lucky man. I have amazing friends who truly encompass the entire spectrum of opinions and beliefs. Thanks to Mr. Zuckerman, I enjoy watching banter and opinions regularly streaming down my Facebook page. I try to remain respectful of those deep opinions and usually look for humor to try to bridge the gap between friends who's opinions are polar opposites.
Over the last couple of years, I've seen divisions grow to toxic proportions around political parties during the elections, firearms, and same-sex marriage. Yet no subject ever seems to promote as deep a divide as "color" in this country; most recently the Trayvon Martin case which we are ALL intimately familiar with at this point.
What surprises me most is the predictability of the divisions. It truly pains me to see how loving and tolerant and seemingly "open" people lose their marbles and fall-in when the issue is race. It can go from 2013 to 1956 in no-seconds flat on my FB wall, and it has.
As someone who chooses to live a life of positivity it is especially hard because I am tempted to jump into the negativity. Negativity is like a black hole, slowly sucking you into its vortex and once you're there, it is next to impossible to get out. I lived in that vortex many years before I chose to break free of it. I am so thankful I did because had I not, I might have actually missed those singular voices of reason on my FB page. I might have missed those courageous individuals who choose to step over racial lines and embrace love and tolerance and justice. I might have not noticed those who are making a concerted effort to cut across color lines to embrace their FB neighbors and hopefully their real neighbors as well.
The issue of race in America will not be fixed with the Trayvon Martin case. The issue of race in America will not be fixed with the next high-visibility racial issue propagated by groups on both sides for their political goals. The issue of race in America will finally heal when we are willing to recognize some of the powerful color walls those who came before us created still exist and then choose to break them down, together. Love, understanding and tolerance are the only way.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 16, 2013 at 9:57 AM

    The comments are great on both sides as long as they don't get militant or physical. Discussion breeds change, and the biggest thing I think people can learn with things like this is to discuss, not to preach or get militant. Listen to each other and learn. Great post brother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. jvsport2006July 16, 2013 at 5:06 PM

    thx brother

    ReplyDelete

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