How would you feel if your own father told you to never contact him again and that you are “dead to me”?
This actually recently happened to a high school senior named Anna Hayes from a small town in Arkansas known as Lake Village. Even though she does not live with her father because her parents are divorced, she knew that he would be absolutely livid if she went to her prom with someone who is not white, but she did it anyway. Now the texts that Anna and her father exchanged following the prom date have gone viral, and they are sparking meaningful conversations about race relations all over America. (Editor’s Note: We cannot link to them here because of their graphic nature.)
If you ever doubted that racism is still alive and well in America, know that this story proves its existence.
Normally I would be quite hesitant to have such offensive language on my website, but in this case, I believe that there is a very important lesson to be learned here.
We are not going to defeat the evil of racism by sweeping it under the rug and pretending it doesn’t exist.
Racism is actually quite widespread in the United States, and I greatly applaud Anna Hayes for being willing to take a stand against her own father:
“He had always been openly racist around me when I was growing up in his household, but it never really occurred to me what it exactly meant to be racist, when you’re a child you look at the world completely different,” she said.
She added that her father’s views are especially hurtful because her half-sister on her mom’s side is biracial, so the issue is personal for them.
“He has told me that if I ever dated a black guy that I will and would be dead to him,” she said. “I stood my ground for what I believe in. He has called me several horrible things before.”
Please share this with as many people as you can. The more light we shine on this sort of racism, the sooner that we will be able to eliminate it from our society permanently. {eoa}
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