D112: Really?!

*DISCLAIMER* If you are easily offended, you may not want to read today's post. These are strictly my opinions, and mine alone.

Tonight I sit at my desk distracted by many things, including the content of today's image. While I was driving around town I saw a home with a confederate flag hung in the front window. I quickly rolled down the window, parked, set my exposure, shot, then drove off.

Typically I would have spent more time getting the shot right, but I didn't want to chance dealing w/ the owners of the home. Being a brown man makes me annoyed when I see things like this being displayed, but I also don't want to start a conflict where I am outnumbered.

Which brings me to tonight's question. Have you ever had personal experience with racism?

I have a few friends that tote around the cliche "I don't see color" when the topic of race comes up. I think that would be a wonderful world to live in. However, that is not the world we live in. Every friend that has said that to me has been Caucasian. A white kid growing up in a small white town is going to have few problems when it comes to discrimination.

I grew up as a brown kid, born to a mixed-race couple, in a small white town. I was being subjected to discrimination & racism before I could even understand what it was. Most kids that gave me problems had no idea that I was Hawaiian, so they simply chose whatever racial slur they could think of. By no means was this an everyday occurrence, but it was something that I grew up with.

As a young child I understood that some of my friends were darker than me, but most of my friends were lighter. I didn't realize that this actually signified ANYTHING, until other neighborhood kids informed me it did. I think we need to spend more time thinking about what behaviors we are passing on to our kids.

In my adult life, one particular experience stands out. I was fishing with two good friends on a river in northern Idaho, and we decided to take a lunch break at the only cafe for miles. As my two friends(both Caucasian) walked into the cafe, they were met with smiles and passing glances. When I walked in behind them, THE WORLD STOPPED SPINNING. I kid you not, the entire place went silent. I think the grill even stopped sizzling. My friends asked me if I wanted to leave, but I assured them that this was where we were eating lunch. Other than the occasional stare, we had a great lunch and continued our fishing trip.

I don't agree with racism.
I don't agree with stereotypes.
I do realize that they still exist.
I do hope for a day that they only exist in history books.

Your thoughts?

Manual: Page 153 - Custom Setting 22: Monitor Off

Images:Carmen Stansberry
I stumbled across Carmen's site this evening, and I was really blown away by some of her work. There is an image of a little girl sitting on some steps, and it is just awesome.