When I was a little girl my mother and I were riding on the bus one day. As the bus stopped to let on the waiting passengers standing at the bus stop a certain man had gotten on. As the man walked to find a seat his eyes fell immediately on my mother and I and he suddenly stopped walking and stood right in front of us looking at us both with a face of disgust. After a few seconds of him staring at the two of us awkwardly the man began to scream at the top of his lungs right there in the middle of the bus.
I look exactly like my mother. There is no denying that she gave birth to me. The only difference between the two of us is that my mother’s beautiful complexion is a few shades darker than mine, and unlike her rich brown eyes mine are hazel.
The words the man was yelling at my mother was traitor. He felt like she had betrayed her race by making a mixed race baby. He told her he felt she should go to hell for what she did and so should I. He called me all kinds of names and said I was “un-pure,” and how I should have never been born. He continued to tell my mom how she should be ashamed for what she did and he even directed rude comments at me making sure I knew how much the color of my eyes disgusted him. As I listened to the mans words I looked at my mother with my eyes full of tears not fully understanding what was going on and searching for answers, but she only grabbed my hand, looked that man straight in the eyes and simply said “Sir, God Bless you,” and we made our way off of the bus. When we had gotten off the bus my mother knelt down in front of me and wiped the tears from my face and told me not to cry. She said that the man’s heart was full of hate, but it was not his fault, he was never taught any better.
My mother was right. No one is ever born with hate in their hearts, it is something learned. People seldom realize how strong of an effect even the tiniest acts of hate can have on the world. As I write this now wonder what painful experiences that man may have had to make him feel as strongly as he did. You see, no one ever wakes up one day suddenly so full of hate that they decide to go and shoot up an elementary school, or kill an innocent 17-year-old boy on his way from the corner store or even beat a teenage Muslim girl to death just for the simple fact that she was Muslim and wearing a hijab. It is a seed that has been planted on the inside of them that has been nurtured and has kept growing until one day it can no longer be contained.
Hate is a rippling cycle and it’s only mission is to destroy everything that comes its way. There is no good that can come out of hate; it only leads to even more hate, more hurt, more fear and in turn more livest being taken before their time. The truth is, people only fear what they don’t understand, and where ever time and space is not given for understanding hate will grow.
But why would someone fear their own brother or their own sister?
When you express hate towards someone you are only hating one of your own. Even though we might look different, speak different languages or come from different places we are still all one. It is actually a scientific fact that every single human being possess the same gene that originated from the exact same person. So when you love you aren’t just spreading love to a random stranger, you are loving one of your own, no matter how “different” they may seem. So instead of letting differences divide us, let the love in our hearts help us to rise above them. Let’s make it our mission love the hate out of this world that we live in..
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
-MLK
Rest in peace #PhilandoCastile #CharleenaLyles #NabraHassanen, and the list goes on……
Judith Ricquel 