My mom and I saw the movie,
The Help tonight. You know, we learn about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr in school, but nothing really hits you. Nothing makes you understand just how awful it was for the African Americans. I've seen the old black and white newsreels of the police beating back protesters, or "washing" them away with the fire hose. To be honest, those didn't make an impact. Yes, it was awful to see people being treated that way, but they were just people without a name.
This was different. This wasn't just a lesson, it was a story with a face and a name. Their stories hit home.
I cannot adequately explain how I felt. I just sat there, holding back tears, thinking. I asked myself so many questions.
"If I had been raised back then, would I have treated African Americans like this?"
"How can people, made by the same Creator, treat each other this way?"
"Why did we, God fearing people, allow this to happen?"
But mostly I just repeated this next question over and over, "What would I have done?"
What would I have done?
These tears that I'm feeling now, would I still be sympathetic if I had lived then? Would I have been like Skeeter...or Ms. Hilly?
I want to believe I would be like Skeeter, sympathetic and yearning to help. There's no way to really know...
I wish that I could go back in time, tried to help out in someway. I...am speechless. Honestly, I have no words to describe how this makes me feel.
But it does make me think.
Today I read an article about a boy who killed his gay classmate in 2008. He was just sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Today I heard on the radio about a man on death sentence for shooting and killing multiple Muslims after 9/11.
Today I realized that hatred of blacks was just like these two events, only much larger and they lasted much longer.
All of these events in history were all caused by bullying. That's all they are. Each is on a different part of the same spectrum.
I may not be able to go back in time and fix the mistakes of our ancestors, but I can be apart of the change now. I will not stand for bullying or ignorance. I can teach my children to be accepting of everyone, color, sexual orientation, religion, etc. I can stand up for those I see or hear being treated unkindly.
I don't want my children and grandchildren to look back on my time here on earth and wonder if I ever did anything to try and stop the violence.
I want them to know.
