Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, including the USA, racism is taking a toll on everyday human lives. I am very concerned and worried about the world we leave behind for future generations. My only hope is that our children are more intelligent than us and will figure it out in a better way. Today I talked with an African-American woman who further educated me on it. I met her while waiting to get my car fixed at the local dealership.
"I am 67 years old. I have been a teacher at a local community college for 30 years. I raised two daughters into functional professional members of this society. I experienced the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the racism in America firsthand. I learned that there is a bigger curse than racism in society and its prejudice. As far as you have this notion in your head that your white, black, brown, yellow, red, pink, or blue skin - or - your faith is better than the other person, it's tolerable. It's OK and may be acceptable as we all have been made to believe in it. You can go on in your life with it. But once it climbs the ladder of prejudice, it becomes blind. It kills your power to logic. It becomes violent. It justifies any harm to other humans under various pretexts. And, when and if your kind does not agree with you, you even turn against them. We are suffering today not merely racism but very quickly climbing the stairs toward prejudice."
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4 comments:
Racism can have an upside too. When you think of yourself as superior, you may tend to contribute more to downtrodden people. Just saying :)
I have yet to see a racist who feels superior in his own right and wants to help downtrodden people in his neighborhood !
Racism breeds and thrives on injustices , by trampling others rights to the point where its okay to refuse another human being with a different skin color their basic human right such as food and shelter...dignity and respect for another person doesn't even find place on that list .
That also makes me wonder why slavery ever existed because according to that theory of superiority , it makes you a better human ...superior humans of the past ( Racists ) wouldn't do that to downtrodden people ...or was this practice of enslaving human beings was seen as a contribution to their existence ?
I agree with that Lady mystic ...she is right !
B n Stilettos: Slavery itself is a hugely controversial topic. Every civilization from pre-christ to modern have had some kind of organized slavery. I was extremely shocked while taking a class at Karachi University in my previous life on 'World Religions", I came to see a verified document - written by a Muslim scholar, Qazi Nauman - who established the rules of treating slaves for people in Fatimid caliphate.
Is ganga main sabhi ne haat dhoye hain!
:)
Agree with what you said about this being a controversial topic but Islam didn't recommend slavery in fact it was encouraged to free slaves as means of gaining sawab , the best of rewards is considered freeing a slave... then why all slaves were not freed at once when Prophet SAW was in power ? Because that would disrupt the whole society with all those free (slaves) people with no money, no shelter , no jobs and no means of supporting themselves ..of course that's my understanding of the situation at that time .
Yes , there are rules mentioned how to treat slaves and I have not read what that scholar said abt them or were they the exact rules that were followed at the time of Prophet and later on . But then there are those who always have worked very hard to bend rules to their benefit and yes in that regard you are right about "
Is ganga main sabhi ne haat dhoye hain!" but that's our way of doing things not prescribed by our Deen.
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