I have to say Ive been shocked at this overwhelming display of racism in MO. I’ve worked in prisons and inner cities. I know America is a racist country with a severely racist history, but I thought we had made some progress within the general population over the last generation or two. There was such celebration for so many of us that it was even possible to elect an African-American president. Then the sale of guns and the old rumors of a race war increased with white supremacist groups. And these obscene dramas of cops shooting black kids seem to get more regular. I know it’s nothing new, but it seems to me to be more so and in part a response to having a black president. I was most shocked to hear polling numbers saying most Americans, white Americans, don’t think the troubles in Ferguson are racial. Hello? Is it really possible to unconsciously disrespect and hate black people so much that one cannot see that this was somebody’s child? Are we really that separate as a nation that we don’t see the possibility of what it would feel like to lose our own children to such injustice? Can you imagine your response to have your child die in such unworthy circumstances? Why aren’t we seeing that these are all of our children, not theirs and ours? This tragedy is all ours. It’s not separate from any of us. And when we make it separate, we increase and compound the injustice. We prolong the crisis. We deter justice and healing. We make another generation of us and them. The hatred/acceptance of gays is largely generational. With some exceptions, the younger generations are not as fearful and ignorant of gay people as older generations have been. Why has this not happened regarding race? Didn’t the Cosby Show bring some of the transformations that Will and Grace brought? Is it the legacy, guilt, and systems following slavery all this time? Is the color of skin and all the history we have just too wide a chasm for so many of us? What will it take to give up the illusion that they are not us, that we are more, better, and deserving? I can’t believe we are stuck here lost in our own madness so far from our human best, our spiritual obligation, and our best democratic ideals.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 03:06:38 +0000
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