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The last few weeks have been a firestorm of activity with issues around a volunteer firefighter saying he would “rescue a dog from a burning building before saving a nigger.” He was suspended, but since he wasn’t working for pay, it seems as if it were a moot point other than to keep him from interacting with anyone, which in essence is at the heart of my issue.
His being suspended was not the story. His racist statement wasn’t either. The takeaway from this conversation is not that a volunteer said terrible things while he was supposed to be helping people in extremis.
It’s that his job required him to come into contact with people who are at the lowest points in their lives. And that he chooses to do this job supposedly, to help people when they need him the most; as a volunteer, no less.
Then he says: “I would sooner rescue a dog from a burning building before saving a nigger…” The takeaway, in case you were somehow unable to discern this on your own was: How many white men who are in positions of power, of authority, of respectability, where they hold the lives and livelihoods of people of color in the palms of their hands will do the right thing versus the wrong thing?
This young firefighter has stated he would do the wrong thing. Without coercion from an outside source. No group need egg him on for this to happen. When you think of all the White men who showed up in Charlottesville, marching for the Alt-right, who have other careers outside of carrying racist flags and shouting racist screeds, the scope of the issue suddenly grows much larger.
How often does the wrong thing happen in other critical junctures? How many times will people of color have to deal with men who will:
- Determine where they live if he is a realtor and rule against him for no reason other than his race? (See: Economic Redlining)
- Decide if they go to jail for five years or fifty years if he’s a juror or a judge. (See: Uneven Sentencing, New York Times)
- Create jurisprudence which will affect the lives of a minority group for decades if he rules against them? (See: 10 Racist US Supreme Court Rulings)
- Determine if their evidence bears accurate witness if he is a coroner or other specialist in a trial. (See: Detroit man cleared with sexual assault, murder of 8-month-old girl)
- Determine whether they get a car, home or other expensive service if he is a financier? (See: Blacks Pay More; New York Times)
- Determine the quality and type of healthcare they get if he’s an EMT, nurse, doctor or an insurance salesman. (See: Health Disparities Experienced by African Americans; CDC)
- Have the capacity to determine whether these people live or die if he’s a policeman holding a gun? (See: Blacks are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police; Washington Post)
People of color are forced to sit and assume every white person they interact with may not have their best interests at heart. In its way, a form of terrorism; certainly a stressor capable of taking a toll on even the most robust of individuals over time.
Given the history of this nation, the hatred of its minority citizens by the dominant white subgroup, the fear and loathing created by the unequal distribution of resources which is engendered and maintained by White people, the reality is, White people often hold the lives of people of color in the palms of their hands and all too often history has show them dropping us in the abyss with a casual cruelty.
History is replete with tales of legalized abuse against people of color from chattel slavery to the release of dogs on Civil Rights era protesters. That’s the takeaway, precious.
So when you see angry Black men and women in your life, when you see them looking at you with mistrust, when you see them unwilling to place any degree of themselves in connection with you or your organization, remember this is still our reality. The abyss is just one accursed handshake away. One betrayal, one casual glance, one look of disregard, one failure to hear a cry for help, or one well-placed bullet in the back, away.
That’s the story here. Who do we trust? Who has earned it? What this says to me is simple. We can’t even pay them to care.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
What would you do, as a person of color, to combat racism?
Assume you could take any action you wanted, what would you do to reduce the threat of racism as mentioned above for people of color?
Do you think it is even remotely in your power to affect the outcomes of racist decisions in America?
Do you think when racism is discovered in service providers such as emergency service workers, do you think they should lose their jobs?
Do you think a worker’s social media account should reflect upon a person’s occupational life? Should things they write on social media be considered by their employers?
When you’re ready to submit, click the red box, below.
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