I grew up in a mostly white rural Alabama in the early 70s. My mom's side of the family was not racist nor prejudice but my dad's side had a few that I would now consider racist. My dad would have been the closest to racist in our family but one night, I guess it would have been around 76 or 77 (I was around 6 or 7) we were going home from the closest town and ran into a road block. I remember thinking it was the police but after not seeing badges or anything I started to question what was going on. My dad turned around to the back seat and said it was the KKK. I had no clue as to what the KKK was so my mom started trying to explain it to me. I remember starting to cry about the whole thing and my dad said for me "don't to worry because we were white and they were looking for black people." I got to thinking that somewhere there was a family in a car with a black 6 year old boy the same age as myself that had to ride around in fear of being killed. I guess the more I thought about that the more it upset me and I talked to my dad about it and told him how it made me feel. From that point on I never heard my mom or dad say anything bad about anyone of a different race. They never thought about how something like that would make anyone else feel I guess or maybe just the thought coming from a six year old boy made them have a different perspective.

I am glad to say that I went on in life, went to college and worked in different parts of the country and made very close friends to this day that are black and Hispanic.

I read racist comments on here a lot and read comments that are not. What I wish people would do is put themselves in the place of how it things affect people of all color. I feel like we judge a color on the actions and words of a few but ALL of the people that are in my circle of a different color don't feel the same as those that are trying to tear the country apart.

I try to live by these words, John 13:35 "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” If we all did we would be in a much better place in life.