coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Thursday, May 28, 2020

The horror of racism

This morning I read 37 Paddington's blog post entitled "I can't breathe" wherein she describes George Floyd's pointless death.

The horror!  

This murder diminishes us as a country. If justice is not served, then there is no justice. Don't look away. George Floyd was our brother. Racism is the great evil that divides our country. If all we do is "care," then we are allowing this evil continue. 

What do we do?  I'm trying to figure that out. Feel free to share ideas, but we white folks need to do this for ourselves, because if goodness is an achievable goal, then this is the right thing to do. 

I googled "How can I combat racism" and it said there were 29 million results.  


21 comments:

  1. It's an appalling situation. And it happens over, and over, and over again.

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    1. It is so important for us all to understand that it DOES happen over and over to people of color.

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  2. It is horrifying. In my suburban town, someone has painted graffiti saying, "White Pride" with a large white cross. It sickens me and I don't understand why this hate is still around when no one I know seems to feel this way. I grew up in a Chicago suburb with little diversity but my parents always taught us that all people get respect and that we all have a lot in common. Treat others the way you want to be treated. I taught my kids the same. I have one daughter-in-law who grew up in China and I have another daughter-in-law who grew up in Rwanda. My grandchildren are the future of what this country should be - not divided but made up labels but united as peaceful humans.
    Those police in Minnesota should stand trial for what they have done.

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    1. Darn, I hate when I find a typo after I have published. I meant to write ..."not divided by made up labels but united as peaceful humans."
      Peace!

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    2. If those police don't stand trial and be convicted, there is no justice.

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  3. A friend on Facebook posted this, written by her friend:

    "It's hard to express the amount of outrage I feel with all the right words, but here's where I'm at: Every day I see my friends who are people of color and a nation full of people of color express that they are afraid for their lives because of the racism ingrained in our society and how it effects every level of our economic, legal, and justice systems. It breaks my heart. I see you. I hear you. I'm listening and I'm trying to respond with action, though I'll admit that often feels abstract.
    Here's something real: I promise to intervene on your behalf in a police encounter. Evidence has shown that as a white woman, it is safer for me to enter into a physical confrontation with a police officer than it is for you to lay on the ground, incapacitated, pleading for your life. I promise to use my privilege and put myself at risk because it's safer that way.
    And if I die? I died doing the right thing."

    Scary times we are living in, scary times.

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  4. I don't know. I would do what Robin Andrea would do. But how do I get to where this happens? In the meantime, we can only do our best. A friend said she agreed the white woman who would not leash her dog was wrong, but losing her job was extreme. And I replied losing your life is extreme; a job, not.

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  5. I am always dismayed when too many fixate on the aftermath of an atrocity like this... the Riots and more concern for a highly insured Corporation being robbed of stuff that can be replaced, than by the torture and execution by prolonged suffocation of another Human Being who can never be replaced... and what is behind the Rage of being incited to Riot! Dr. King said it best that Riot is the language of the Unheard. Only when the Majority refuses to be Silent and Confront these Issues, will the Minority being persecuted have any Positive Change in their tragic exposure to such hatred, violence and total disregard for the sanctity of their Lives and the Value of their very Being.

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    1. A riot is indeed "the language of the unheard."

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  6. I know people that are appalled at the protests and the looting. How is it they do not see WHY there is protests and looting. "How does this solve anything?", they'll say. The same people who were appalled by Colin Kaepernick taking a fucking KNEE!!!

    I am more confused by their blindness than they are to the protests.

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  7. It's heart-breaking and infuriating. What have we come to? And how are we okay with a leader who promotes this sort of violence and racism?

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  8. Is there a solution anyway? Are the areas of what are described as peaceful co-existence nothing more than uneasy truces? Has anything improved? Since Watts? Since the lynchings that form the basis of Strange fruit?

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    1. At first glance, no. But unlike the 1960's I see black doctors, dentists, neighbors. I was biking past a golf course and saw a couple of black men golfing. I thought, "That would never have happened 50 years ago." So there has been change, but not nearly enough. What is missing is respect for difference. Racism still lurks within us. We don't listen, we don't empathize. We turn our heads and go about our business, not feeling the overt racism that makes black mother's fear for their children's lives. Not believing the casual hatred and dehumanization that people of color contend with every day. Will it change? Can white people stop feeling superior? I hope so. It is part of the age old struggle of good against evil. We have to choose our sides, because turning away is no longer an option.

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  9. George Floyd's death has had huge coverage in the UK as well, even knocking the endless virus updates into second place. How outrageous and how depressing that these deaths happen with such monotonous regularity and little is done to stop more of them.

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  10. Apparently it explodes. I am so hoping this current racial crisis is an anomaly. I think the real answer is getting Trump and his cronies out of power.

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  11. I think you are right that racism is not even close to ending but I find hope in the conversation becoming more nuanced and more frequent.

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So, whadayathink?