I am because we are

I first heard the expression in a comment on my aunts blog.

I liked the idea that came to my mind, something like the "it takes a village" (before the H. Clinton bastardization of it anyway).

So I googled the expression and I read more on the "origins" and have become much more intrigued.

Race relations have always interested me, not because I see people as different based on skin color or ethnicity, but because I have felt myself so flummoxed by the whole idea that people do that at all. I see people as parts of a whole, that there is not a "right way" nor necessarily even a "wrong way" (criminal minds and such being an exception)... I don't love people because they are white, or brown, or red, or black.... I love them because they have spoken to my soul and equally, I don't dislike someone because they are white or brown, or red, or black.... but because they have tried to hurt my soul. It is only when they have hurt me because of the color of my skin or even because of theirs that this may even become an issue, this does not happen often.

I know not everyone sees the world as I do, some people may like having ethnic enclaves, and since I have no real country to call "home" I consider everyone my sister and brother, that I am "in it" with them, in an attempt to make life bearable and joyous, and as with family, relationships are hard and must be worked on, it is just sad when folks don't want to work on them with me, but then, that is their perogative... sadly, not everyone sees anyone as a family member in their life.

The article I link to in my header talks about dehumanization... I have often pondered if there may not be such. But then, the book it is reviewing apparently speaks on race relations and the African American diaspora from a North American view (though the Caribbean and Afria have contributing writers). Race, in my experience in South America was profoundly different. We did not base social relationships on race as much as two other factors; class (the haves and have nots) and region (the coastal folks and the mountain folks). It could be equally as ugly as racism.