Although I have read many, I’ve spent little time or energy weighing in on any OS posts regarding racism in the past. I felt that my thoughts were my own on the matter and felt I had no need to share them with others. Considering I was raised in what I can only discribe as a semi-racist environment, I have other reasons, but I will save the story of that sad truth for another day.

Two brave and wonderful posts by OS sisters MaryTKelly and Just Cathy have prompted me to break my silence. You two young ladies should congratulate yourselves. You’ve managed something that others have so far been unable to do, and that is to prompt me to share some of my feelings about racism.

Mary’s story was about how as a child she did something that she felt was seeded in racism and haunts her to this day. Cathy’s post concerned whether racism may be planted somewhere deep in our DNA. Whether it is actually part of the very makeup of our being.

Although this post began as a comment on Cathy’s post, it got so long that it morphed into a post of it’s own. I’ve spent years pondering this subject, mostly in silence. Here are some of my thoughts and feelings about racism.

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I've seen too many children of different backgrounds and race, play at the park in perfect harmony (though it may look like total chaos) to believe that racism is much more than a learned experience ot an attitude that is taught. The fact that many other nations don't have the issues about race that we do, also points me to think in that direction.

Could racism actually be planted deep in the makeup of our DNA? I don't think so. I can't completely back this up with any scientific data, but I can help you understand why I feel and think that way.

I recently watched a show on one of the learning channels (I think it was NatGeo) about, not how different we all are from each other, but about how similar we all are to each other. In this documentary they took 200 DNA samples from total strangers in (I believe it was) Queens, NY, which is a veritable melting pot of people from all points of the globe.

The purpose of the experiment and study was to trace all of these people's ancestral journeys across the planet and back to their roots in Africa. Although the show was fascinating, I won't go into detail about the study that went back almost 200,000 years because the point that I want to make is about our DNA make up and whether it has any relevance to racism.

Regardless of race or geographic location, we as human beings have almost identical DNA. We are 99.9% identical. That leaves only .1% difference in the 6.7 billion of us on the planet. A very small percentage, indeed. We are far more alike than we are different when it comes to the DNA that makes up each and every one of us.

It is theorized that skin color, height, weight, body shape, bone structure, etc. are only variants that changed over thousands of years so that humans could adapt to a specific climate or region. You may, but I have no reason to dispute that theory as it makes perfect sense to me.

All animals and life forms adapt to such conditions. Why would humans be any different than any other organism? To think otherwise is folly, in my mind.

DNA is indisputable scientific data, not just a theory that someone dreamed up. The fact that our DNA is so closely matched in all of us reinforces my belief that racism is not genetic, but a learned experience, trait or attitude. Like it or not, we all originate from a small Sub-Saharan group of humans. In effect, we are all related, brothers and sisters separated only by the distance of time. Once again, scientifically indisputable.

Now, I suppose that there are as many ways to learn racism as there are stars in the sky and that unlearning racism can be difficult for some and not so difficult for others. I also have to surmise that some racism is deeply ingrained in childhood, and in others, maybe not so much. I believe that racism is learned through environment, but especially learned through the child rearing environment.

If racism is hammered into a child at an early age, my guess is that that person will have a far deeper fear and hatred of anyone who is different than themselves than someone who had only a rare hint of racism bestowed upon them as a child.

I also believe that all racism is seeded in fear and hatred and passed down from generation to generation similar to great-great grandma's recipe for that delicious apple pie your mother makes. In other words, I feel racism is taught primarily by parents, though I would agree that it can also be learned from one’s environment, though I believe that to probably be to a lesser extent.

Parents are also responsible for teaching their children that racism is wrong. This is where the American parent, in many instances  can and does fall flat on their face by not nipping those seeds of hatred and suspicion when those seeds rear their ugly heads and begin to grow.

My guess is that this is because of the racism the parents had been taught during their own upbringing. It is therefore a vicious cycle that needs to be broken by racist parents and that's why racism is so difficult to remove from society.

The racist parent has to be able to come to grips with the fact that the way they were raised with concerns to racism is wrong and at the same time refuse to teach their offspring that this group or that group should not be despised or treated with suspicion.

Since most parents start breeding when they are relatively young, they also need to make the decision to not teach their children racism while they, the parents, are also quite young. It is my thought that that depth of wisdom is not easily attained at such a young age. Especially when it goes against all that one has been taught until that point in one’s life. I believe that then, and only then, will the cycle of racism in a family be broken. Of course that would only include that single branch of that particular family.

On the other hand, the extended family may not be so wise or even be down right ignorant about the evils of racism and work hard to discourage such ridiculous notions as raising a child to harbor no animosity toward those of another race. This can lead to incredible pressure on a young couple trying to raise their children as they see fit and even lead to the ouster of their small family unit from the extended family unit. Racism not only divides our Nation, but also has the power to divide families.

So, how are we as a society suppose to accomplish the task of ridding ourselves of this horribly divisive thing called racism? I don't know for sure, but I believe that it will take a great deal of time and effort. Possibly several generations of time, though I hope and pray that this is not true.

The only remedy I can muster is that each of us must take a stand. Sure, we can march on Washington and get hate crime Bills passed in Congress, but I think the real key to eliminating racism lies with the individual.

It had been said that it takes a village to raise a child and villages are made up of individuals. It is up to each of us to teach our brothers and sisters and children and parents about the evils of racism. Will it be difficult? In a word, yes. Nothing of great value is attained without great sacrifice and great effort.

It is sad for me to say, but after President Obama was elected, I felt that we had, as a Nation, turned some invisible corner on the matter of racism and for the first couple of months, it actually began to seem for me to be true. To tell you the honest truth, I was elated at the thought of finally making some progress against racism, but it appears that I was once again, hopelessly naïve about the matter.

Racism has once again, reared it's evil head with thinly veiled and sometimes blatantly obvious rhetorical nonsense that gets plastered across our newspapers and TV screens on a  daily basis. Make no mistake, racism is evil to the core. There is NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING good that comes from racism. Period. It is an ugly emotional and divisive attitude that has no place in a peaceful and free society. Racism is by it's very nature a destructive and harmful force to ALL of us.

I, like many of you, have over the years engaged in many a verbal (and even physical) battle against racism and all the ugliness that goes along with it. I hereby pledge as an individual, to fight racism and remove the head of the beast when ever the opportunity arises. I invite you to do the same.

Racism is a touchy subject for many, especially the racist. Still, you must speak up and make your voice heard. Many individual victories have to accumulate to win a great battle. We will not rid ourselves of racism without the joining of millions of individual voices. Our voices are our only true weapon and together we can do much to rid ourselves of this destructive force.