Hurtful attitudes.

In America, it seems there are still lots of people who it seems take offense to anyone different than them.
There was the recent backlash against the Cheerios commercial that featured a mixed-race family: a white mother, a black father, and an adorable little girl with a 'fro.
Ignorant bigots claimed that Cheerios is trying to push some kind of agenda, by simply acknowledging that not every household in America is some kind of 1950's Howdy Doody, Leave it to Beaver style family of WASPs.
In fact, the very idea that races "shouldn't mix" or that one "kind" of blood is more "pure" than others is, dare I say it, very similar to the attitude a certain German dictator had.  It's an attitude that is still prevalent in Japanese society, but that is not that much of a surprise with their "island" mentality and the fact that they have been a largely homogenous society since their beginnings.
But for America, a country that was built from immigrants and became the "Land of Opportunity" and a melting pot of different cultures and wears this as some kind of status symbol? It's an outdated, hypocritical, and dangerous attitude.
Of course, this isn't something I am just realizing now, of course, I grew up in America and around hurtful attitudes.
~ For example...
A couple of hurtful terms I heard being used by my FOO regularly growing up were "Schwarze" and "Mongoloid"  Of course, being young, I didn't know these words were hurtful....I got more of an idea as I got older and heard statements like "What if she brings home a Schwarze?" or "Ugh, I can't eat with those Mongoloids sitting at the next table!" and then there was that slanty-eye, ching chong ling long ting tong mockery that ensued when I tried to study or enjoy something in Japanese (or "Yipanese" as it was often referred to.) When I came home with a sense of accomplishment because I had washed dishes at work so my manager could get her office work done, I was told "Mexicans should be doing that, not YOU, why would you do that?!"
Looking back on this, I feel so sad that I was raised in a household with such negativity towards different races, or even the differently abled, and such ancient notions of castes or hierarchy.
I know I can't change the world or how I was raised, but I can change myself, and I can fill my home with positive energy and celebrate what makes us different instead of hating it.
日本に住んでて日本人の血が１００％ではない人への偏見があるというのわかったけど、アメリカは皆の国、というイメージがあってもやっぱり偏見はまだすごいんですね。
最近シリアルのCMで白人のお母さんと黒人のお父さんとその二人の娘という家族がいたけど、アメリカ人に凄い批判をうけました。そのシリアルの会社がミックス結婚やミックスの子供を応援しているとか。ただアメリカの家族って５０年代のドラマみたく白人の家族ばかりじゃないのが現実なだけなのに。この人種混ざってるばかりのアメリカにとっては、古い、おかしいそして危ない考え方です。
私は今これを気づいた訳ではない。実は、育てた家族もこういう偏見をもっていました。黒人に対してschwarzeって言ったり、ダウン症などの障害者にmongoloidを言ったり、そして私は日本の事好きになって日本語を勉強してたらyipaneseやchingchongなどで揶揄ったりしてました。バイトで私がお皿洗いして褒められたと言ったら、お皿洗いってメキシコ人がやることでしょうって言われました。
これを振り返ってみれば、私はこんな偏見のある家に育てられたことをちょっと悲しく思っています。私は世界を変えることはできないが、自分を変えて、これから自分の家にポジティブなエネルギーをいっぱいいれて、それぞれ人間の違うところを嫌うではなく、嬉しく思う事にします。