Journal 30

Civil rights have obviously come a long way in American history. We were once a country heavily influenced by slavery. It was a huge market in the early and mid nineteenth century, because every country was taking part in the slave trade. Basically, if we had introduced the idea of an African American president to those early Americans, they would have either laughed or thrown us out.
Today, things are very much different. Obviously segregation and racism still exist, but many people are more than willing to accept people of all races together. I feel as though, as the generations progress, there will be no more segregation at all because a complete lack of race. I don't think I will ever see that day, but I would like to.
I don't really understand why we still continue to separate these people from us, but we do. I am even guilty of it. And I am certain that my family is. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm willing to befriend anyone who comes into my life until they give me a reason not to, but it seems as though I automatically am more hesitant when it is someone of a different race. I feel like it has almost been drilled into my mind that way just because of the environment I grew up in. My whole family basically forced me to be critical of people who are different from myself, just because I had to listen to it constantly. When you grow up hearing things like that, it is hard to ignore.
I do love my family, I just wish they could have been a bit more open-minded while I was growing up so that I wasn't so set on branching away.
Anyway, I just feel like it would be better if the idea of race didn't exist. We never look at Italians or Asians very differently, except for the occasional joke. Why do we do that to black people?