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It’s time to end this fallacy that if you aren’t wearing hoods or Swastikas and using the “n-word,” it means you are absolved from many layers of prejudice.
Unfortunately, it’s much deeper and much more complex; and ALL of us have a role.
We saw the extreme end of the racism spectrum in Charlottesville. Thankfully, this is the exception and no longer the rule of the land.
However, since this kind of textbook bigotry only rears its ugly head infrequently, we oftentimes act as though everything is black and white and we ignore the gray area.
Hey! We elected our first black president. We don’t see color. It’s all good now, fam!
Far too often, this ideology leads to silence and apathy. These are the paths of least resistance: The issues of race don’t impact you directly so why bring that drama into your world?
It sounds nice, but this line of thinking is exceedingly flawed.
Let me be crystal clear right now: Inaction and silence are both layers to this cycle of oppression.
I’ve seen so many ill-informed rants on everything from Colin Kaepernick to Black Lives Matter. We lash out at things we don’t fully understand or have never experienced. It’s the easy way out.
But, the silence on the events in Charlottesville says more to me than any hot take about National Anthem protests.
I grew up in a vastly predominately white Southern town. For many, I represent the only person of color they knew growing up.
Yet most didn’t know I dealt with everyday aggressions:
From being threatened as a grade-schooler to being spit on a high schooler to being told I wasn’t black enough, or (my favorite) “you’re only HALF black.”
As if my blackness doesn’t count.
Not one person I know from my hometown ever bothered to ask me if I’d dealt with these kinds of stereotypes.
Not. One.
This is not meant to admonish as much as it is a request. To my white friends: I’m asking you to take a minute to ask some questions and conduct some introspection. Avoid missing out on another opportunity to learn and expand.
I’m far from trying to be the torchbearer for suffering. My fellow minorities from all walks of life—LGBTQ, Muslim, women, etc.—likely have many additional experiences to share.
We are angered. We are in pain. We are saddened and hopeless that this shit will never change, or that this cycle of oppression will continue, or perhaps even worsen somehow.
And we feel alone in this battle.
So here’s the call to action: It’s up to you to be just as outraged as we are today … and tomorrow and the next day.
Challenge that racist uncle at Thanksgiving. Call out the uncomfortable crap by pops. Stand up to your friends and coworkers. Demand more from your kids and get familiar with their acquaintances.
Stop being silent. Stop being comfortable even though much of the shit doesn’t affect you directly. Start speaking up.
And please, start asking some damn questions. Even if it means not liking some of the answers. And even if it means asking more questions tomorrow and the next day.
We can’t begin to solve these issues without the silent majority finally speaking up.
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Photo credit: Robert Edward Lee Monument This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Sorry dude, half black means half oppressed