Soap Box

This post is not political. It comes from experiences in my real life.

Tomorrow is Juneteenth. History is being rewritten, revised, erased, and no longer taught. Much of what my children know about history comes from me, sadly. I also have to calm them when they’re called racial slurs, and I have to prepare them for the reality that there are people who will hate them and hurt them simply because of the color of their BEAUTIFUL skin. Sounds dramatic? You’re fortunate, because it’s reality. I have never in my lifetime seen racism the way it is now. It is getting worse.

Stay with me…

I have a blind son. When he tells me he has a crush on a girl, do you know his why? “I like her voice. She’s nice.” That’s it. He doesn’t judge by appearances. He doesn’t know what she looks like, what his Mom looks like, or even what HE looks like. He likes and dislikes based on how people ARE, not how they look. “Love is blind” is not just a cute saying for a shirt.

Any of us could lose our sight at any time. A tragic accident or an illness could leave us without vision. When you’re blind and you need help crossing a street, do you think you’ll ask the good Samaritan what their skin color is? Do you think you’ll check to make sure of their race before they help you get the type of milk you like from the store? Would you ask your doctor what their color was before they treated you? No. You wouldn’t.

My point is: we hate with our eyes. If we closed them, we’d be left to judge people by their qualities, like their kindness, empathy, humor, intelligence, soothing voice, contagious laugh, and humanity. If we lost that sense, we’d have more sense.

I have biracial children and I can assure you they are better people than my white ass could ever be. I have loved a Native American man, an African American man, an Egyptian man, a Mexican man and a Caucasian man. The least of what makes a man who he is is the color of his skin, though that skin just so happens to be absolutely gorgeous and let’s be so for real: white people pay money to lay in tanning beds or spray on that beautiful color. Make it make sense.

I’ll get off my soap box now and leave you with a soap sale discount code for hearing me out. Remember history. Teach your babies to love blindly. Code JUNETEENTH saves you 19% on all body bars through Sunday.