I was just watching a program on the 50th Anniversary of to Kill A Mockingbird, and it got me thinking about the nature of racism and hatred within contemporary society. The program was an author's exploration of the experiences that surrounded the publishing of To Kill A Mockingbird and the town of Monroeville, Alabama as it is today.
The part of the program that really got to me was when a High Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan was interviewed. What was really interesting about this segment wasn't the point that the programmers were attempting to get across, but how the High Wizard himself came across.
As a young black man I expected to be completely put off by this segment. However , as the cab driver (who was interviewed after the High Wizard) said 'you cant live with hatred in you're heart'. Instead of hating in him, I was both intrigue and scared of him.
The High Wizard acknowledged the fact that he was racist and close-minded. My preconception of people of that variety was that they were not self-aware enough to know the realities of their believes. However, this guy went against that preconception.
His self-awareness was scary because it shows that the hatred is so assimilated with in his entire being that he just doesn't care. I have naively always believe that the way the world works is that when people like him where exposed to the wrongness of their actions they would change their ways. What I have believed to be the case is that people who harbor hatred are not aware of how close-off they are to the realities of the world.
To have acknowledgment that some people truly acknowledge their close-mindedness and just do not care, actually doesn't make me hate me them. In actuality it makes me sad for them. All the experiences that you are open to in this world when you are open-minded is being withheld from people like this.
Hatred is a life sucking cancer. When we hate others the person who really stands to lose the most is ourselves.
That is the reason why I found this High Wizard so interesting. He got me thinking of the nature of hatred and how it affects us all. Hating others based on purely arbitrary means does nothing but belittle all human beings and prevents/slows down the advancement we could be making through cooperation.
