One Race

Norma Jackson May 15, 2012 · 2 min read

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

At the end of 2011 there were many countdowns of the best and worst of certain things. One that caught my eye was “The Top 10 Racist Quotes of 2011.” We’re not going to recount them, but they did make me think. What if we were all one color but nothing else about us changed? After all, we make movies about people from other planets, and they’re always all the same color (usually green). So what if there were no races on earth? Would there still be chaos in the world?

Yes, I think we would still have all kinds of conflict. Take the male vs. female issue. Would businesses pay women the same amount as men if they were all the same color? Would sexual harassment stop (male/female–female/male)? I don’t even think marriages would work better. There would still be the other problems like finances, intimacy and children.

Speaking of the children, would everyone agree on the parenting of them? There would still be peer pressure in schools with the same skin and uniforms. Bullies would still torment the weaker, less cool kids. Would all the problems with religions suddenly disappear? Remember it is only a pigment change not a one-world religion. So would every group, Christians, Jews, Muslims and all the other religions suddenly forget their differences all over the world? I think not.

There would still be the poor, handicapped and homeless. The elite class with money and power would still control the country while the minimum wage worker, too tired and too stressed from the struggle to survive, would still be at the bottom.

Discrimination wouldn’t evaporate without color if you could still hear the accent of another person, would it? Or smell their food? More important, there will always be war somewhere. Some country would encroach on land or minerals belonging to another or treaties would still be broken.

Republicans and Democrats would continue to fight for political power in America; while, dictators in other parts of the world would continue to suppress the rights of their own people.

Diseases and illnesses know no color. Some races have been disadvantaged as far as healthcare is concerned, but all races know the cruelty of sickness and death.

I’m sure there are many more variables to consider; but since we can’t alter our race, it’s time we focus things we can change.

Norma Jackson