I just experienced something and it made me feel physically ill. A friend is taking care of someone’s nine year old child today. Another girlfriend happened to be in the kitchen with me at the time that the child came in. As she entered, I introduced myself and reached out to shake her hand. I was met with, as my dad called it,a dead fish handshake. That was OK, it didn’t bother me but what happened next did.
My girlfriend was standing next to me and greeted the child the same way I did. She reached out her hand and introduced herself. This time, the dead fish hand started to jerk back just as the two hands made contact. My girlfriend shook the child’s hand anyway and the child looked as though she had been struck by lightning.
My girlfriend said to the child, Don’t worry. I won’t rub off you.
How is it that a nine year old child acts like an African American has leprosy and is afraid to shake hands? The answer is easy. Someone taught her to be afraid of people who are different and in this case a dark skin was what was different. How appalling that some people can still be so ignorant in this modern day and age! Please, help this world to be a better place by teaching children that diversity in people is a good thing and that what is bad in life shouldn’t be relegated to people who are different.
