by Kirsten Campbell

Created on: April 17, 2009   Last Updated: April 20, 2009

I hate to say it, but segregation is still very much alive in, all over the world.

Only now, there's all types of segregation. Race. Social-economic. Religious. You name it and the good old human race has found a way to separate the wheat from the chaft. It's a shame really. There's so much to learn from other cultures, religions and social economic standards.

I feel justified in saying this due to the fact that I am a product of a bi-racial marriage. I grew up in the sixties, remember watching Martin Luther King give his speech on black and white television. I was one of the "blacks" that were bussed in to the white schools, only I am white skinned with kinky hair and green eyes. Yes, I got it from all directions. White, African American, Latino, teachers, professors, you name it, they refused to call me by my name back then. Nope, the name of the day for people like me was half-breed in the sixties. Then came Mulatto. Then came light-skinned black. Finally, now most just say I'm of mixed race, mainly because so many races have mixed that it's hard to label people anymore.

Still, people do try. And, some have problems with the one thing we cannot change, the color of our skin. Why, I ask? Why does it make a difference if someone is black or white, why do people judge others by what the lowlifes of their society have done. Let's face it, every race has had some type of low life written up in the news. Evil has a way of showing it's ugly face in every color.

In the early seventies, when it was time for me to date and marry, no white man would dare look my way. They'd see my kinky hair and run for the hills. So, I married a black man, a good man that treated me like a queen and said he loved me and my kinky hair. We had several children, all of whom are grown now. It was hard back then, but I refused to straighten my hair to blend, as some people told me to do. No, I was proud of both races that embodied me, white and black.

Now, segregation is out there, just hidden. Go into any train, any restaurant, any movie theatre and you will see that we segregate ourselves! Black people look for other black people to sit in a section on the train. People of upper social economic status look for others, like themselves, to sit with. There's even segregation within the races themselves. The blonds stick with blonds (or so I've been told by women on the job.) The light-skinned blacks bundle up while the dark-skinned blacks hate on them, and vise-versa. Segregation is still rampant in the schools, on the streets, even though there's lots of change, lots of open minded people. I believe that's because there's still a lot of older people with the same 50's and 60's stigma that yes, the black man is a good guy but they would never make friends with black people. The old timers are trying to pass on their stinging hate, but this generation of children have been born with blinders on. They have so many different things coming at them at once they don't have time to consider skin color. If you don't believe me, check a fourth grader's homework. By the time that little one grows up with his computer skills and his adventures on the world-wide-web, segregation will hopefully be a thing of the past. Until then, we have to deal with the fact that segregation is still with us today.

Learn more about this author, Kirsten Campbell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.