Across the Race divide

Despite the outcry's for racism to stop it's still alive and well.  And it will stay that way as long as people continue to focus on it and use it as an excuse. How do we get across the race divide? This is something that has bothered me for years, actually probably most of my life so forgive me for posting what may be a touchy topic to some.
Growing up in Utah there wasn't much racial diversity, however I was raised that everyone is a child of God and has equal value in His eyes.  I remember once in a high school history class the teacher telling the class about how when he was "back East" and in an area where there were more black people than white people and how uncomfortable he was.  When I raised my hand to ask him why he went off on me saying how if I was around a group of people with different colored skin I'd be uncomfortable too.  It didn't make sense to me then, and although I can understand now why some people may be that way it still doesn't make it an absolute for everyone.  By the way he described the situation I thought maybe those he was around were criminals, rude, or perhaps he was in physical danger.  But just to feel like that because the people you were around had a different skin color?  That's silly.

People are people.  And although there are racial stereotypes  there are also stereotypes for women, men, rednecks, Americans, Canadians, blondes, etc. Stereotypes are not absolutes.  We are all accountable for our own actions.  If we choose to take responsibility or not, get an education or drop out of school, work hard or be lazy, serve others or steal from them, be positive or bitter, it's all our individual choice and determines what kind of person we are more than skin color ever could.

In my life I have met some of the kindest people of all skin colors, and some people that you want to shake some sense into or simply avoid of all skin colors.

But the more we focus on race as an excuse for our actions the more we keep racism alive and well.  And I'm sure there are some people that those excuses are simply valid reasons for their actions, however those are the people we can shake our heads at and say they are an example of what not to be like.  And guaranteed there are other people of the same race that see their bad example and disagree with them as much as you do.  Fighting hate with hate never creates love.

Racism encourages exclusion of other races.  So how about instead of programs, scholarships, and benefits being offered only to specific races we treat everyone as equals and set a standard of other qualifying criteria such as income, education, overcoming life tragedies, or even family situations (single parent household etc)?  And beside the fact that such programs should be something for a limited time to help in times of struggle so you have the ability to improve your life and not be a way of life that depends on someone else to provide everything for you.  It saddens me to see cultures that have been so provided for for such a long time that they have become unable or unmotivated to strive for a better life than what's given to them freely. (but that's a rant for another time)

So instead of focusing on race, how about we focus on good things and those people who are good examples of mentors and someone we could strive to be like spiritually, financially, educationally, physically etc. no matter what their skin color is.  Everyone has struggles in life, everyone has choices throughout their life to either stay in bed and be depressed or jump out of bed and face the world head on.  Lets learn from those who have overcome their struggles and become successful in areas we want to achieve.  And most importantly, lets take off our racial glasses and see everyone for who they are- a child of God, a person who came into this world just like you, and will someday die just as you will, meanwhile we are all here to help and learn from each other.