Linda G Hill One Liner Wednesday Prompt: One-Liner Wednesday, July 1st
“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I remember one time when I was a kid, me and some of my neighborhood friends were sitting in the front yard with my dog.
He didn’t bark a lot, or very often but this time he did when about a dozen ‘big kids ‘ walked by. He jumped up from where he had been sitting and let them have it.
I couldn’t say why, but I’m guessing it was because there was so many of them and so few of us and he was feeling protective.
When the kids passed our house, my next door neighbor, who had never said a word to me before walked up into our yard, said hello and leaned over and started to pet my dog.
” You know,” he said ” my dog doesn’t like Black people either. Good boy. Good dog.” He ruffled his ears. ” Yep. Some dogs just don’t like black people.”
I put my hand on Sham’s head. ” He’s not supposed to bark like that. ” was all I could think to say.
My neighbor smiled down at me and grinned and when he did my dog yanked his head out from under my hand, he took it gently into his mouth and pulled me back.
I couldn’t tell you to this day if there was black kid in that crowd, there was so many of them and I wasn’t really paying attention. But that’s not the point.
The point is, my obviously racist neighbor who had never said a word to me before that day would never say another one for the eight years he lived next to us.
It was a short conversation and it’s made me wonder to this day- what would provoke an adult to tell a ten year old child – the only words he would ever speak to her- such an ugly, ignorant thing?
That type of racial ignorance must be genetically activated when a weak mind melds with human DNA that has been short changed a bit of the building block of life.
When I was in grade five a group of youngsters were chasing a black youth near my home. He was my friend Clark and I yelled at him to run to my porch. He made it safely up the steps and I walked calmly down the front steps and asked them ( or yelled at them) “what the hell is wrong with you guys?”
I was outnumbered but because I was taller they merely looked at one another and went their way home.
I guess they did not after school television to occupy their narrow minds.
It’s insidious- the ways it is passed on and learned is frightening. It came come at a rally or it can show up in your front yard and a nice day when you’re minding your own business and hanging out with your dog and your friends.
A recent medical update warns that the bandana type of face mask is not really adequate protection. Coughing or sneezing or even laughing behind this type of face mask spreads the virus too. Make sure your dog is wearing it’s face mask and not socializing with other canines. Such is life.
These are the words and type of behavior that frighten me today. The ignorance of racism in this country is astounding. I think your dog had a sense that your neighbor was not the kind of person he wanted you to talk to.
It’s insidious and the ways it’s passed on are mind-bending. After that day my dog would run to the fence and keep his eyes on our neighbor when he was outside. He outright did not trust him.