Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 8-21-20

Letter To The Editor
The Complexities Of Race Relations
There is a long history of racism against African Americans in the United States of America. Presently, there is major division that has taken place from times past.
400 years ago was not long ago with the stench of slavery in America. The African American slaves were transported from Africa to America. Upon their arrival, the African American males were: castrated, hung and murdered. The African American fe- males were: raped, de- moralized, brutally beaten and other horrific acts that were unknown.
Ethical laws needed to be implemented in order to improve the quality of life for African American citizens in the United States of America.
The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, in hope for African Ameri- can citizens to have an equal opportunity in life.
This was 56 years ago. It is amazing how history repeats itself, and here we are again talking about Race Relations.
Currently, racism has continued to be a bone of contention and has taken a different form. Racism is in our public and pri- vate sector organizations, K-12 schools, colleges, universities and athletic sports.
Example: In high schools, African Ameri- can students can play ath- letic sports and there is very little discrimination displayed on the teams he or she plays on. The coaches need the student athletes to perform at their highest level to win games. However, when the African American male or female student athletes become adults, attend and graduate from an institution of higher education, earning ad- vance degrees, their de- sire is to have similar
opportunities and suc- cesses in a career, as he or she did playing athletic sports.
Why is there fear of African American male and female leadership in organizations? My as- sumption is, not all but some Caucasians fear that we as African Ameri- cans in leadership posi- tions will abuse our leadership authority. This is very untrue. From my personal experience, we just want an opportu- nity to breathe, survive and thrive in order to live a respectable life. This is not an easy task in the year 2020.
From my life experi- ences, after graduating from Florida A&M Uni- versity, earning a Bache- lor of Science Degree in Education, I strongly did not want to move back home to Lakeland, Florida. But I needed to return home to take care of my parents, because
they enabled me to be successful in my endeav- ors. I knew the job oppor- tunities were bleak, but I had to make positive choices in order to have a sustainable career.
A diverse culture of community leaders pro- vided opportunities for me to advance my career, and I thank you very much.
I commend The City of Lakeland Commission and other community or- ganizations for having Race Relations Forums. The discussions were very much needed for African American citi- zens to be heard. How- ever, I do understand that this is an election year, and candidates from far and wide want to have a discussion on Race Relations among African American citizens.
All citizens, in order to make an impact and pos- itive change, you must vote. Before you vote for
a candidate in the current election, review their leg- islation, ordinances, res- olutions, House Bills (HB), Senate Bills (SB) and other laws he or she have voted on in the past. The laws should reflect on how citizens are work- ing together instead of being divided.
Good ethnical leader- ship is demonstrated from the top manage- ment positions. On Capi- tol Hill, leadership needs to be demonstrated to bring all cultures to- gether. This is how you determine good laws and ethical leadership is clos- ing the gap among cul- tural-groups.
In conclusion, Black is a color, African American citizens are human be- ings.
[Dr. Shandale Terrell is an Educator for K-12 Polk County Public Schools, a Civic Leader in Lakeland, Polk County and the State of Florida]
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