Live and Learn
Posted by Carolan Gladden at 11/20/2010 10:41 PM 
Categories: thoughts, Values, People, Black and White
Categories: thoughts, Values, People, Black and White
I haven't had much personal contact with young people for a long time so it came as a surprise in talking with a would-be friend to discover how very divergent our world views could be.
I must admit I was shocked to hear his take on politics, when he said MEG should have been elected Governor (gasp) and that he will leave the country "when Jerry Brown wrecks California the same as he did before" (where does he get his history?)
Now, this 23-year-old Black man born to parents from Belize is a college graduate with talented output ranging from art and photography to advertising graphics and a wide spectrum of poetry. Plus he is well-spoken and well-traveled.
But it was what he said about the present state of Black and White that really boggled me. He says in his world Blacks and Whites and Asians and Latinos and All are equal with no difference, division or problem. Well, if that is the case, let's all send up a cheer!
But what I see in my decades-older world is very different. It's still pretty much separation and segregation. Example: In my 500-unit apartment complex there may be 5 Black tenants. and I would venture to guess that more than half of the White tenants here have never even met a Black person.
At this point the young man is angry at me and does not believe the world I see exists. Ah but the good thing is that he may well be a herald of the future envisioned by Martin Luther King, when people "are not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Positively,
Carolan
I must admit I was shocked to hear his take on politics, when he said MEG should have been elected Governor (gasp) and that he will leave the country "when Jerry Brown wrecks California the same as he did before" (where does he get his history?)
Now, this 23-year-old Black man born to parents from Belize is a college graduate with talented output ranging from art and photography to advertising graphics and a wide spectrum of poetry. Plus he is well-spoken and well-traveled.
But it was what he said about the present state of Black and White that really boggled me. He says in his world Blacks and Whites and Asians and Latinos and All are equal with no difference, division or problem. Well, if that is the case, let's all send up a cheer!
But what I see in my decades-older world is very different. It's still pretty much separation and segregation. Example: In my 500-unit apartment complex there may be 5 Black tenants. and I would venture to guess that more than half of the White tenants here have never even met a Black person.
At this point the young man is angry at me and does not believe the world I see exists. Ah but the good thing is that he may well be a herald of the future envisioned by Martin Luther King, when people "are not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Positively,
Carolan
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