Prejudice is ugly

I saw something horrible happen yesterday that I’ve ever seen parents do to their own child. My son graduated from college yesterday in Pittsburgh and a girl that we totally love was dissed by her parents because she is not prejudiced.

They were ashamed because she dated a black boy in college. They are from another country, I was shocked to see this. The girl had to ride in our car from the Dormitories to the graduation because her parents didn’t want to pick her up. They started not to go to the graduation in the first place. I was shocked that they finally showed up. They argued with her before and after the graduation. Never spoke to anyone. It was horrible.

After the graduation, we were so proud of Ja’red for graduating but sad about her. It was a 50/50 situation. Her face is so beautiful and she has the innocense of a child to the point that even her voice is childlike in a way. She’s a baby doll. After the graduation, the parents told her that they didn’t want to take their truck to the dormitories to get her belongings because Pittsburgh had too much traffic. Her parents went home. She stood in the door of the graduation hall with her cell phone in her hand, and her mouth and chin shuttered from the hurt and shock. I still see her face. I still see that horrible look on her face. I actually have a headache from crying as I type this. We rode her back.

All of this happened because she dated a black boy. This lesson taught me so much. I ask God to forgive me if I ever felt that in my heart. Having an Italian grandmother myself and a bi-racial daughter, I don’t think that I ever really had that problem.

Prejudice is ugly.

That girl actually helped us put Ja’red’s belongings into our car but she had to call a cab to take her and her belongings to her parents home. What gets me is the fact that I have a 97 Dodge Neon and they have a brand new truck. If my car wasn’t burning and smoking so badly as it has been, I would have driven Ja’red home 50 miles, gone back to Southside Pittsburgh 50 miles, taken the girl home 15 miles and returned back to my own home. I am sick about it. My kids laugh because when I drive too long and the engine heats up, if I stop at a red light too long, I puff on the person behind me. My daughter calls it our “anointing.” She says we are just anointing the people behind us. It makes my nerves bad but she makes me laugh about it.

I can still see this girl’s beautiful angelic face crying in the doorway of the graduation hall. I can’t get it out of my mind. Her parents ought to be ashamed of themselves. They came over here from a poor country and are going to ditch their daughter because she dated a black man.

Please pray for her? God knows her name.

Once again, prejudice is ugly.

Thanks for listening,

Rev Essie