The Segregationist are still here, TOO

 I remember my civil rights Icons.   

And I’m not talking about Congressman John Lewis or Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks or Malcolm X.   And I’m not talking about the living legends like Reverend Jessie Jackson or Reverend Al Sharpton.

I’m talking about the people who lived through Jim Crow and shared their knowledge with me.  I’m talking my mother, my uncles, my wife’s aunts and the countless others who shared with me their experiences of living through this horrendous time.  And they are still living and still an active part of my growth.

But, today, I’m not talking about them.  

I’m talking about the OTHER them.  I’m talking about the people who protested against Children integrating Little Rock Central.  I’m talking about the people who protested peaceful marches for equality.  I’m talking about the people who supported and believed in Governor Wallace’s “Segregation today, Segregation tomorrow, Segregation forever.”  That speech was in 1963.  There are people who are still living who not only remember that speech but still believe in that speech.  

There are people who pulled their children out of segregated schools because they did not want their children in an integrated school system.  There are people who stopped using mass transit because they didn’t want to see black people in the front of the bus.  There are people who stopped using different types of establishments solely because of integration.   These people truly don’t believe that Black People are NOT equal to them.

And these people are STILL here!

Have you asked yourself what impact their actions have had on THEIR kids (who would probably be my age)?  Imagine their kids, and their grandkids being exposed to this type of segregationist, bigoted mentality.  Imagine if they discourage their kids from interacting with kids that don’t look like them.  Imagine if this hateful mindset is passed down from generation to generation. 

Now, I am not saying that person who comes from that legacy is destined to be racist.  And I am sure there are plenty of well adjusted adults who rejected those cancerous mindsets and prevented their children from being exposed to them as well.  

However, it’s important to remember that for every icon, champion, activist or individual who came from this toxic period of time with battle scars and wounds and STILL managed to instill within their children and community a spirit of peace and unity, there is another individual who longs for the days of Jim Crow and Segregation and believe it’s their responsibility to educate their future generations with this mind set.

We are still here.

Yet, a lot of those SEGREGATIONIST are still here, too.