Racism isn’t a Color. It is an Attitude

My father has been one of the most influential people in my life, not because he is my father but because of his perspectives on life and on living life. You see, my father was born post Spanish Flu pandemic and raised during The Great Depression. His high school graduation sent him to the European Theatre of World War II where he served as a flight navigator for the 449th Bomber Squad in the Army Air Corps at the age of 18, guiding his crew over combat territory for dozens of sorties. That war taught him early in life that teamwork and life were all about people working together—people of all kinds. He witnessed and experienced men and women of all races and ethnicities working together while serving and fighting for America’s freedom at a time when America’s freedom was in great jeopardy. That camaraderie and faithfulness to his fellow man has remained with him throughout his life, steering him.

As my dad settled into his post WWII life, he and my mother migrated to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. My formative years were spent there during the 1960s at a time in history where there were two sides of “the track”—the white side and the black side—the nice word for that division was segregation. By the mid-1960s, desegregation in schools and neighborhoods had started to take root, fueling dissension and controversy, but my dad never considered this new form of unity as a negative. He educated me with the belief that all Americans have the right to live where they please and go to school where they please, and that all people have the right to equality and equity. This lesson crystallized when he and I drove down the Turnpike one day during 1966, passing by the local baseball field—something we had done hundreds of times. This time, however, the field was crowded with people in white sheets, encircling a burning cross. I had not witnessed such an event before, although, I had heard about such gatherings. My dad accelerated, trying to speed by the scene without my noticing, but when I did notice, my dad leaned into me and told me to always remember that racism is not a color—it is not black, red, yellow or brown; it is an ATTITUDE. An attitude that gives value to differences as opposed to similarities. An attitude that scaffolds old prejudices with new. An attitude that preys on ignorance and narrow-mindedness. An attitude that devalues humanity.

If my 95-year-old father could speak about the issues that are front and center in today’s America, he would tell people to choose to shed prejudices; choose to work together; choose to build camaraderie with all people; and choose to value humanity over color, race and ethnicity. I will always remember the life lesson he taught me: People cannot choose their color, race or ethnicity, but they can choose their attitudes. Be the one that chooses attitudes that value all people. Racism is not a color; it is an attitude.

Submitted by: Laura Young, Assoc. Professor of English, LO