by Robin Landry

Created on: June 24, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2008

"Racism may have been a problem in the past, but things are different now. We don't really need things like affirmative action' and diversity awareness training' because everything is ok now, right?"

As an African-American I am dismayed when I hear statements such as these. I was born during the Civil Rights era and as a result have lived my entire life under the protection of Civil Rights laws. And while I do acknowledge that there have been vast improvements in equality and opportunity for African-Americans and other people of color during my lifetime I am still astonished whenever I hear someone assert that "everything is ok now, right?"

Why is it that society can easily accept that children who experience some sort of traumatic event such as the divorce or death of parents early in life may have behavioral problems or difficulty in school but cannot accept that African-Americans and other people of color are not equally traumatized by the numerous acts of discrimination that many of us have faced throughout our lifetimes?

Why is it that society reasonably agrees that if a person has suffered from neglect or abuse as a child then he is at much higher risk for abusing or neglecting his own children when he becomes a parent but cannot agree that parents of color who were born before the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 may have also suffered a form of racially motivated abuse or neglect that might adversely affect their ability to parent their children?

I think that part of the problem is a lack of understanding and communication between Caucasians and people of color. Despite efforts to achieve integration and equality over the last 40 years there are still areas of the United States where whites can live their entire lives and never know a person of color personally. And because of the often painful nature of our own experiences with racism and discrimination we, as African-Americans are reluctant to share our personal stories even with whites who would consider us to be among their closest friends.

And while it is not impossible for a white person to become the victim of random acts of racial prejudice my experience with white colleagues and friends is that they fail to grasp the pervasive and ongoing nature of the discrimination that will always remain a part of the personal history of African-Americans even though things may indeed be "better" now.

I was five years old in 1968 and remember clearly the news of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King,

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>