|
I know quite a few white people who really are afraid, or at least uncomfortable around, black people. In the end, all it comes down to is fear of the unknown. It's natural to fear what you don't know and don't understand.
I grew up in a very small, all-white country town. There wasn't one single black person until a local family adopted a black baby and it became the talk of the town. Sad, but true. People are afraid of what they don't understand. If you live in a small, all-white community and the only connection you have to the black community is what you see on MTV, of course you're going to fear them a bit. It's not like MTV or even BET exactly portray the black community in a positive light.
That being said, once I moved to a larger city and actually hung out with black people and was able to understand them, I realized that they're nothing to be scared of in the least. They're just people, and not all of them are gun-toting gangsters who are going to do drive-by's on my house. In fact, my buddy Jay, the guy who taught me most of what I know about photography, is black. I had a great time working side by side with him. It was the first time I had ever spent time with a black guy and I enjoyed every second of it. A real stand-up guy and the experience really opened my eyes.
|