By Malachi Lachlan
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02 Oct, 2020
Something I’ve been thinking about lately. (I have a problem with thinking too much!… haha… yeah, let's stop there). Anywho… Here’s the latest social construct I’ve been thinking about. My question is... Do you think a racist would get it if you asked them how long it took them to select the skin color they were born with? "When did you select that skin color? Were all the options, benefits and pitfalls explained to you before you made your choice?" Or, ask a xenophobe when they decided to be born in the US? Or the UK? Or any democratic country, as opposed to say, Sub-Saharan Africa or a third-world South American country? "Did you do much research, or just throw a dart? "Did you pick it straight away, or did you narrow it down by region first?" "Oh, and one last question, why did you decide to be born with that gender?" I know some moms might fight me on this... but... as far as I can tell, no human being alive picked their skin color, their height, their eye color, or what country they were born in. But, those are some of the most judged attributes we use to decide who is better when compared with another human being. And you know what, considering no human being alive had a say in what skin color they were born with, or what country they were born in... being judged on something no human alive has ever had any control over, just don't seem right. Do you think it would matter if we spent some time and money reminding people of that fact? What type of societies would we have if we were all simply children of Earth? Anyway, my thought is, what would the answer be if you asked someone you saw judging another person on an aspect of their humanity they had no control over... "When did you decide to be born with that skin color?" #notqualifiedtojudge