Racism has always existed

Racism is terribly rampant in today’s society. Sadly, it is not a new behavior. People have discriminated against another for a variety of reasons.

My ancestor, Robert Potter, 1606-1655, was born in England and came to Massachusetts in 1630. By 1637, Potter had Quaker leanings. For the rest of his life, Potter was discriminated against for his beliefs. In 1642 he was “disarmed and disfranchised (sic) for not conforming to the dictates of the (Puritan) church”; he soon relocated to Rhode Island.

In 1643, the Massachusetts colony governor sent troops from Boston to arrest those men “that held blasphemous and abominable heresies” and that “they must repent or go to trial.” During all this uproar, their homes were burned down and the wives and children fled into the woods where three women died, including the wife of Robert Potter. Potter was hauled to Boston for trial and escaped a sentence of death only because of public outcry at such cruelty; he was banished from the colony of Massachusetts. He spent the rest of his life in the colony of Rhode Island, where he was a respected civic figure.

Racism of any genesis or ilk is quite horrible. Sadly, it has been around since Day One and has never been just about skin color. Let’s all look in our mirrors and be better people than were our ancestors.

Donna Potter Phillips

Spokane