For some reason, white people have always taken it upon them to bring civilized culture and God to other people of the world, even if they didn’t ask for it. I’m always being asked by others why I care so much about it- the people who ask me usually having darker skin. I understand that African Americans have every reason to think that no one else understands how they feel- to go each day worrying that some bigoted white person is going to pick a fight because of the color of their skin. What most people don’t know is that I myself go through that every day- what if someone sees my necklace? There are more Christians in this world than white people, and at any point someone could notice my necklace and begin preaching the bible at me.
I’m Pagan- a witch. A lot of people see that as sin, as being something unholy and evil. I’ve had people online tell me, in caps lock, that I will go to hell for being a ‘Devil-worshipper’. My religion is misunderstood- we don’t worship the devil; we don’t even believe in the devil. There is no devil in the Pagan religion- we believe in the earth. Pagans are basically hippies, and I feel insulted when people think I’m evil because of that.
On top of my religion, I’m also a third Irish and an eighth Cherokee. Both of those groups of people have experienced horrible things in history, especially the Cherokee. Unlike African Americans, nobody was there to save the Native Americans. When people first see me, however, they only see the Irish; but I have high cheek bones, a tell-tale sign of my Cherokee ancestry. Another sign is the fact that my mother and my grandfather, as they’ve gotten older, have begun to have red skin, and it doesn’t peel and go away like any sunburn.
Different geographies affect people differently. The geography in Japan is very mountainous, so the people relied on fishing and rice for a long time for food- it became very much so part of their culture. People in Africa have more flat lands in which to farm on. Geography changes the physical features of people as well- Africans have darker skin because of living in a place with so much sun for so long. Europeans have lighter skin because there isn’t nearly as much sun farther North- “Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun… and if the sun don’t come you get a tan from standing in the English rain…”
“History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among the people themselves.” Any scientist, historian, or generally smart person could agree with this statement. It’s so easy to see that God had nothing to do with why different people have different cultures and look, well, different. So why are there so many people that still think they’re better than other because of the color of their skin? My own grandmother once told me that if I were to ever marry a black man she would disown me. I’ve never told her of my bisexuality for fear that she would do exactly that, because I know that she hates gay people too. She also hates poor people, Mexicans, Asians, and basically anyone that doesn’t have pale skin and makes a lot of money. It’s racist people who believe that God made them better than others that would disagree with the quote. They’re the people who make me sick, the people who are the exact opposite of what I am, but instead of going outside my home and picking a fight with everyone wearing a cross, I simply hold my ground when they attack me for the pentacle I’m wearing.
White people tend to have a record of thinking people are less than they are because they have less. Because the Native Americans living in America hadn’t yet developed a system of government- which they didn’t need because they weren’t that kind of people- the white people basically stole their land from them. The Native Americans based their lives on the seasons and crops; Europeans saw this as being ‘primitive’. Only recently have Native Americans began taking back the land that is rightfully theirs, after living on reservations for so long. Also, I find it quite ironic that Oklahoma has the highest population of Native Americans in the country, yet it does not have a single reservation.
I suppose I have a lot of biased disliking towards white people even though, technically, I am a white person. I prefer to think of my pale skin as being because of my Irish ancestry- the Irish have been treated horribly for a long time as well, and I feel more proud of where I’ve gotten today because of this fact. Our earth’s history is full of tragedies and horrors- from slavery to World War 2, from Hitler to Henry the Eighth, from African slavery to the Trail of Tears. We haven’t yet all learned to accept people for who they are, where they came from, and what their culture was like there.
The ability for human kind to behave violently is something that is very historic in the world and after thousands of years we can’t seem to figure out that violence, slavery, bigotry, murder, and so on are the worst possible viruses to ever “grace this planet with their presence.” Our behavior is viral. It’s like a nasty disease that has been continued and continued, though weak attempts of peace have been made in more recent decades. It literally goes back to Neanderthals when men would slaughter each other over fire, food, and women. The Cro Magnons were the extinction of the Neanderthals- forced them out of their lands, the places where they had lived for so long. The Neanderthals had gotten used to the land, and their only memories were of living on it. When the Cro Magnons took it away from them, they didn’t know what to do and became extinct.
From our first steps until we die of old age, we struggle with learning how to be what we really are- human.
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