I was a psychology major in college......no real plan for after graduation, but I found the whole field of psychology to be very interesting. And I figured maybe I could use the information learned to figure out my one-day husband and kids.
And I do remember that I wrote a term paper for one class, when I was a junior, about the riots that took place in Watts in 1965. I don't remember anything much about the paper, or even what caused that event in the first place. I remember doing research, reading articles and being sad/fascinated and writing a long paper. I also remember, being raised in a lilly-white upper class suburb outside Chicago, having a difficult time wrapping my head around the black/white divide. The distance between the haves and have-nots just seemed so very "foreign" and wrong to me.
How do you move forward if you have no hope? How do you focus on a good education for your children when no one in your family, for generations, have ever had the advantage of a highschool, never mind college diploma? How do you parent successfully when you have no roll models to demonstrate good parenting? How do you find meaningful and well-paid work.....when there are no opportunities?
I have a good friend from highschool who lives in Ferguson. She and her husband have lived there and worked in the community for years. They love their home, they love their neighbors and friends and community associates. They are Ferguson Proud.....Ferguson Strong and now, I know, Ferguson Sad.
Watts in 1995.....Ferguson 2014....with so many other sad examples in between. Thanksgiving is tomorrow.....many of us will it around tables groaning with bounty. Thankful for what we have. America the beautiful, America the Land of opportunity, America where people are free......equal. America where sometimes, maybe often, sad history repeats itself.
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