They say that segregation ended with Martin Luther King Jr. That it ended with a man greater than us all, who was struck down for merely standing up for those who couldn't find the strength to do so. For fighting to prove that it is the quality of our person, and not the color of our skin, that decides our character. He died fighting for, and defending that belief.
Yet I'm beginning to think that it was almost all for naught.
We classify people based on so many things, and based on previous actions of people who we thought of the same way, we assume their character without even really knowing them. It is in this that 'cliques' are born. The punks, the gangsters, the outcasts, the nerds, the rejects, the jocks, the mean girls, the skanks, the emos, the goths, the skaters, and all that stuff. Each classifies the other as something without even really knowing their character.
And just how do we decide this? Adults say that teenagers are non observant, and we are inclined to agree at some points, but we are observant about this. We classify people based on their clothing, language, behavior, brains and participation, athletic ability, and the music that they listen to. We all are guilty of this.
We assume that one single action decides what kind of person another is. The truth is plain and simple. One action does not define a man. It is the life that they lived before, that should be what we make our opinions on. We weep for the dead not just because they are dead, but because of the life they lived prior to that death. The character of the man.
All humans are born with good and evil in them. It is that good and evil that make a person's character. And no matter how far down they stray from the fine line of balance, a little bit of the the smaller bit is always there. A prime example: Adolf Hitler. He would not use mustard gas unless we used it on them. He would not place his troops under that, as he had gone through it in the WWI. There was that one ray of goodness within him for that to be known. But the rest of the man was a right wreck and filled with dementia.
But back to the labeling of others. We file others based on those who dress like them, and automatically assume that they're just as bad. The real-time gangs, for example. Because of their actions, we think people that sag, wear bandannas, and chains are all violent and think that they'll liable to try a use almost any means necessary to get their way. All thanks to the actions of others. But, did you ever take the time to walk up to a person that you just assume to be one way and strike up a conversation, just to see if they're different?
$5 says you don't.
Segregation is still here. The boundaries of cultural differences and beliefs is all that separates us now.
tbh, I kind of wait for those moments now to get a kick out of them.
