Racist? Still?!?

I wrote the following about 4 years ago and lost the flow of words and never got back to it. I feel compelled to publish it anyway because I can't believe how divisive the issue of race has become in my country. You know, that country called "The United States of America".

United. We should be. We can be. We're not. But I am a source of endless hope. I don't care about skin color except to think that the variety makes human beings pretty cool. I'm sure everyone is capable of that.

What I originally wrote is in the quotation marks.

"A while back, I was listening to talk radio and there was a discussion about how you have to live in a city to have any real diversity. After listening a bit, I was flummoxed (cool word, never used it before) to discover that they were basing diversity on skin color. Then a caller said something about when the Hispanics moved into her neighborhood, she had to put up with booming music and squealing tires. I was incensed.

I'm blond and blue eyed. My blond, blue-eyed neighbors play booming music and their friends squeal their tires. So do I. I can't explain it. It's just a noise I love. Dodge Caravans are great for burning rubber. Yes, it was more impressive in a Mustang, but I can't fit my family into one. And I boom music at least once a month, generally during a major cleaning project. I guess I'm Hispanic at heart...along with the hundreds of white (I hate that term) men who show up at car shows every week.

My Hispanic neighbors had luxury cars and enrolled their 2 year old son in more classes and sports than my 12 year old has been in. Both parents work long hours. I am a stay-at-home mom.

I homeschool. None of my white neighbors do. But the librarian whose skin is pretty much as dark as human skin can get homeschooled her kids. She and I have more in common than I do with anyone in my predominantly white neighborhood."

So here I am, trying to wrap it up.

Diversity comes from what's inside our minds, not from what's on the outside of our bodies. It comes from our passions, our tastes, and our pursuits, to borrow from either Jane Austen or Emma Thompson, I can't figure out which. It is shown in what we do and what we say. Some words and actions unite us and some words and actions divide us. But skin color? Something we have no control over? Try not to be so small minded.

Racism itself is an absurd word. We're all part of the human race.  Let's run this race together.