The more things change, the more they stay the same – or at least that was my thought a couple of months ago when I logged onto CNN’s website and read a news article on a high school in Georgia that just celebrated their first desegregated prom. I skimmed through the article, not really reading it in depth because I couldn’t get past the fact that a high school in 2007 is only now just having their first integrated prom.

This follows along the lines of a thought that I had a few weeks ago. It was a question that was so simple yet no one that I spoke to could seem to answer it. What is it about the differences between the races that keeps racism alive and kicking in this day in age? Why is racism so entrenched in American culture and why does it seem like it’s so insurmountable? Is it really like a cancer that is so deeply rooted in our society that no matter how many operations we have to remove it, it’ll keep coming back?

I can’t answer that. I can only offer my observations based on previous experiences. As a black man and sometimes being on the receiving end of racism, I can see, understand and have been immersed in what some call “black rage”. I would like to think that I am slow at playing the race card and instead choose to believe that the reason why I didn’t get that promotion or loan was due more to something I did or did not do as opposed to who I am. With that said, I also know part of the hardships of being black is dealing with small minded people who chose to embrace the negative stereotypes of not only my culture, but other people of color as well as my European brothers and sisters. There are some people of color who would think that my reference to anyone of European decent as brothers and sisters would be nothing short of an oxymoron. I don’t believe it. There’s good in everyone, just like there’s bad in everyone. There’s a bit of racism hidden deep down in the inner recesses of our spirit, and sometimes all it takes to bring it to the surface is to encounter someone who has a small mind and attempts to bring that anger full circle by a comment, gesture or action that may or not be intentional.

Racism used to be acceptable, much like today’s fashion. It only became unacceptable when a line is crossed and it is brought to everyone’s attention by the media. It has to be something so traumatic and so senseless that it shakes our society to the very core of our foundation. One example of this would be the much publicized case of the bombing of a local church that killed four little black girls on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. It was believed at the time that their deaths, as senseless as it was, significantly pushed the civil rights agenda and struck a chord in the American psyche. Some feel that it wasn’t until then that black people were recognized as living, breathing human beings, entitled to the same rights afforded white people.

Maybe in order to answer the initial question of this article, you’ll have to ask why people hate. Is it simply a matter of ignorance? Is it really about one culture not knowing anything or not having enough information about another culture that spawns misunderstanding which may lead to hatred?

In an article written by Bernard Lewis entitled, “The Historical Roots of Hatred”, he states – “Those who do not share our culture are barbarian; those who do not share our religion are unbelievers; and those who are not citizens of our city are alien”. In other words, hatred may have started at the beginning of time when were living as tribes, and anyone not included in our tribe was perceived to be the enemy, and thus, the attitude of kill or be killed was started.

Is it really as simple as that thought? Does it really boil down to that one theory? If someone isn’t like us, does that make them an outcast instead of embraced? Does their difference really translate to inferiority? I mean, if I like R&B and you like Rock, does that mean that my musical taste is better? Or just different? And with that thought, I dare to pose another.

Does man, no matter what the race, posses an innate need to feel superior to another race? Do we cling to the misconceptions about another race because that may secretly make us feel good about our own? And does that belief give us a false sense of entitlement? Is it remotely possible that the issue of racism actually has nothing to do with race, but rather man’s need to feel better than the next? And if that is indeed the case, wouldn’t that mean that the problem has nothing to do with skin color or culture but instead reveal man’s insecurity within himself? And if that is where the problem lies, how do we address it? How do we extricate a problem that has been an issue since time began?

Can hate and misunderstanding be abolished by looking inside oneself and making the necessary changes that will translate to a happy and more fulfilled life without the need to oppress our fellow man? And if we can’t do something as simple as this, what does that truly say about us?

I know that what I’m saying is a rather simplistic approach to an exceedingly complex problem, but what if the answer to this problem is really something as simple as working on “fixing” what’s wrong with us as opposed to pointing out and embellishing upon the faults of others?
We all know that not everyone will adopt this ideology because man by nature is resistant to change. It’s so easy to say that we live in a world of haves and have nots. Somebody has to be rich, which translates to entitlement, and someone has to be poor, which translates to lacking or not having enough.

But I ask you, what if the beginning of the end of this problem could be something as simple as taking a hard look at ourselves, and by ourselves I mean everyone, and then cleaning up our own mess as opposed to pointing out someone elses?