Recently, a report about a high school basketball team passing a watermelon around after a victory sparked outrage and was considered racism by several groups. On the news reports, leaders of these groups stated that the kids weren't aware of the connotations of watermelon and they should be educated in black history. But wait, doesn't that mean that young people no longer see a watermelon as a symbol of racism? And, isn't that what we've been seeking all this time? Why would a young person think a watermelon has anything to do with an African American or a person of color? I would think we should be celebrating finally moving past prejudice, in that our youth simply sees a watermelon as a fruit and not a symbol of hatred.
And then to say that youth needs to be educated in black history while you erase any book, statue, flag, monument, etc., that invokes that conversation? You can't have it both ways. You cannot erase history but expect our youth to know about it. So many times in my life, I've heard the phrase "The truth will set you free", yet the truth, when left unspoken, feeds resentment, disdain, and hatred.
There have been atrocities against many ethnicities. I use the word ethnicity because there is but one race on Earth; the human race. A complete lesson in history includes the horrendous deaths of Jews in death camps. Rwandan genocide. Ethnic cleansing. And how can we forget the savage slayings of the native Americans who flourished in this land of beauty?
At some point, we have to forgive and move on.
~Lacy Gray
