How do you improve race relations in a country as diverse as the United States? How do you improve relations when you are dealing with many peoples of different nationalities, creeds, religions, and ideals? How is it you begin to take on the project of constructing a nation that is as tolerant as it is varied in its people? This is a task that seems overwhelming to say the least, and even more so when you consider the vast amount of hate that exists among the hundreds of thousands that call this land home. This hate rooted in ignorance and misunderstanding is also what makes the path to a better America more visible.
Like a building, we must work from the ground up. And when starting from the ground, we start with the children of America. A person’s first perceptions of the outside world are sculpted by the perceptions of their mother or father. Home is where a child will first pick up stereotypes, opinions, ignorance, and even hate. This is precisely why we see children standing within the circles of KKK meetings, or marching and chanting proudly the wishes of destruction for the American people as they participate in demonstrations to promote the Jihad. But because children are so impressionable, and their future is so sculpted by their childhood, we can raise them up to be understanding, nonjudgmental American adults who appreciate the differences in others.
The walls of America’s structure would come from the parents or adults that come above the children (or ground). These walls affect the workplace, what is voted for, businesses, corporate structures, and basically all that is allowed and constricted in America. With this role comes a lot of power, and with this power, comes the responsibility to shape a country where all can be respected and live peacefully, happily, and free from prejudice. American adults have the authority to protect themselves and each other from unjust laws and treatment, because of this no one should have to experience racial slurs in the workplace, a law that violates civil rights based on looks or ethnicity (SB 1070 in Arizona) or struggle to break any glass ceiling.
Finally we arrive to the roof over America. This roof consists of those who came before us; our grandparents, great grandparents, our elders, and ancestors. From the words they leave us, we can get a sense of the time that came before ours. We can see what wisdom they gained, and also what ignorance and learn from both. If we are smart enough, if we listen enough we can learn from their mistakes and failures, and also from whatever success they might have grasped.
The road to building up America to all that its constitution stood for is a large task, but one that every American, young and old, can take on.
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