How Do You Explain Prejudice and Hatred to a Child?

I need to pray and I need to write.  I have been writing for as long as I could put together decent sentences.  I need to pray for patience and for God to take this hatred and anger out of my heart.  I need to write because it’s like free therapy for me. 

By now, I’m sure you are intimately familiar with the Trayvon Martin case.  If you aren’t, he’s the young man that was shot down in the street like a dog by a bigoted, “wanna be cop,” vigilante calling himself a neighborhood watch captain.  First of all, George Zimmerman was not registered with the Sanford Police Department.  Secondly, he has a record so he had no business carrying a gun in the first place.  I have listened to a 911 call that Anderson Cooper had and you can clearly hear George Zimmerman calling Trayvon Martin a “coon.”  For those of you that are unfamiliar with this term, it is considered a racial slur.  Since the Sanford Police Department refuses to do anything or even bring this man in for questioning, it can now be considered a hate crime and the feds can take over.

I have not had the will to attend any of the protests.  I find the whole situation so emotionally draining  My question is how do you explain prejudice and hatred to a child?  Make no mistake, children don’t come into this world hating, they have to be carefully taught.  I have made a concerted effort to teach my children to “take everyone at face value.”  Now, if this individual continues to show you that they have racist tendencies then you know how to handle the situation going forward.  In my book, whatever color you are, until you give me a reason to dislike you, we are good.

A month later and I still need God to remove this hateful, angry spirit from me.  I need to be able to deal with people of all races on a daily basis.  Although, I have my own suspicions about a particular situation I had to deal with, the situation was resolved but it still leaves me wondering if it was racially motivated…?

But I digress.  I was just wondering if we will ever get to a point in this great country of ours where race and religion are removed from the equation.  I fear for my sons’ safety.  I have a 12 year old stepson that I pray for daily.  I have an eight year old son that I pray for daily.  Will one or both of them be walking down the street one day and appear “suspicious” to some “redneck” with a gun?  Nobody’s child deserves to be shot down in the street like a dog!  I firmly believe you can get more time for killing a dog than you can for killing a black man!

I sincerely hope Trayvon Martin’s family gets justice.  From all accounts, he was an outstanding young man with boundless potential snatched away by some “yahoo” with a gun he never should have had.  I am doing my small part by writing this blog.  Please share it if you like it and contact me if you wish to discuss anything.

I still need to wait a while before having this conversation with my child for fear of scaring him for life.  I don’t hate anyone but I still find myself as mad as hell right now and my opinion words would be influenced by that anger.