I don’t make a habit of standing on soapboxes (God knows, I’m tall enough as it is), but I have been kind of collecting my thoughts after all that has been happening with Michael Brown and Eric Garner (and Trayvon Martin and countless other examples that don’t make the national news), and I feel compelled to say something as a straight, white male living in a society that caters to straight, white males. The cries that have been ringing out for the past several weeks (and months, and years, and decades, and centuries) are because black citizens of this country are still not being treated equally. Is it better than it was before the Civil War? Before the Civil Rights Movement? Yes, of course. But we can do better. Just look at the numbers. Blacks comprise 13.6 percent of the U.S. Population but only 1.4 percent of the top 1 percent of household income (as of 2010). And to quote an April 2013 New York Times article, “By the most recent date, the average white family had about $632,000 in wealth, versus $98,000 for black families and $110,000 for Hispanic families.” And now, in less than two weeks, two separate grand juries decided not to indict two white police officers for killing two unarmed black men. They decided not to indict them…not convict them, not sentence them, but indict them. Just for a refresher, “indict” means to formally accuse of or charge with a serious crime”. So, in two cases where there is clearly competing evidence on either side of the argument (at an absolute minimum), two grand juries decided, “Nah…we don’t need to let a jury decide this one.” That’s a problem. It’s a problem that I don’t know how to fix, but that I recognize. #blacklivesmatter. And when someone fires back with the hashtag alllivesmatter, SOMEONE IS NOT LISTENING TO THE MESSAGE. I know, life is not easy, no matter who you are. White, black, Hispanic, gay, straight, politician, celebrity, entrepreneur, bartender. Everybody has their mountain to climb. But as a straight, white male, it would be ignorant to say that I don’t experience privilege. Privilege that I enjoy because of traits that are completely outside of my control. It’s not about apologizing for or defending this privilege, but just recognizing that it exists. The minimum that I can do as a privileged, straight, white male living in a society that favors me in many ways before I’ve even opened my mouth is to listen and to be open and to empathize with the inequality that so many of my friends experience on a day-to-day basis. And to lend my voice and to have a voice and to recognize that there is an equality issue in our country, and the people who believe that there is not are going to end up on the wrong side of our children’s children’s history books. Ok, I’m going to take a step down. All my love. Free soapbox.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 00:50:00 +0000
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