In my latest musings on Twitter, I have become a slayer against hate. I imagine myself educating throngs of people on their mental problem around melanin or lack thereof. I hope to appeal to CEO’s, mangers and GOP senators who also want to abandon a losing strategy in public relations. Specifically, on what can be done if one suspects their mind has been co-opted by a grave disease in fact, called racism. Racism is a public health threat for entire communities, especially for its recipients, who find themselves at the tip of such pointed aggression, that their daily interactions have been affected, suffocated, irrevocably altered by misguided hate, particular about who they interact with, who they let in and how they connect connect with other humans.
Left to my own devices, I would be left fuming after exposure to any online forum in which the indignant arrogance of white supremacist thinking — steeped not only in the idea that we are all separated by race and that certain characteristics are prevalent in each classification, but that only one tribe should be dominant above all others. It’s no secret that when Carl Von Linnaeus (170-1778), later known as the father of anthropology, wrote a decree in which he referred to Homo Afro as black, phlegmatic, cunning, lazy, lustful, careless and governed by caprice, so too, did it become enshrined in the public psyche. And so the were institutions which supported slavey, neo slavery were complicit in protecting this cast system which brought about the 3/5 three-fifths compromise aimed at dehumanizing a whole population through disenfranchisement later to be steeped through centuries of cellular trauma.
Racism is evil in ways I cannot express fully in this post. The people who endorse it, train it, traffic in it, embolden will continue to be the recipients of my pointed aggression and rage alongside millions of us, a multi ethnic coalition like BLM, who will continue to serve to eradicate it where it exists, else face the wrath of history. By all accounts, it is worth noting that we are one race, ‘separated’ if you wish to call it that, by melanin or lack thereof. Like my little Swedish friend Greta Thunberg adds “change is coming, whether you like it or not.”
Here are five things you should do right now if you think you might be Racist.
- Never say: “I am the least racist person you would ever meet” or “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” Part of not being racist, includes listening to someone’s lived experience and evaluating where you have room to improve instead of professing false virtue. Its disingenuous and it sucks. Also acknowledge where you have room to learn about a culture other than your own.
- Humble Yourself: If you find yourself looking on at someone who carries a different skin tone than your own and you can only offer pity or derision, you really have problems. Circle back to the stories you were told as a child and consider whether your own parents might have been racist. Likely, they were also terrible people. Be honest with yourself about this. I find many people often ask me what they can read to learn more about why they view black people, brown people as subhuman. Definitely do NOT turn to Fox, OAN or Newsmax for enlightenment in this topic.
- Never say (insert connection) is Black: Honestly many people of color are equally as lost. Much like assault victims have learned to love their abusers, survival mechanisms built into humans have paved the way for the oppressed to learn to love their oppressors. In America, people of color have routinely been offered less in every facet. Less education, less abundance, less space in which to live, in which to thrive, in which to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. All of this has led us to become subjects to a neo nazi interloper with a fifth grade education and a criminal rap sheet. None of it is right or normal.
- Pick Up a Book and Read It: It is not up to the learned to educate the masses. I would start with The Slave Ship but that one is heavy, so for something more contemporary, I would recommend Nicole Hannah-Jones’ Pulitzer Prize Winning #1619 Project in conjunction with New York Times Magazine. Her central argument is that America was built on slavery and that anti black racism is still responsible for the lack of progress we have seen to date in eradicating it. Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that few American high-school students know that slavery was the cause of the Civil War, that the Constitution protected slavery without explicitly mentioning it, or that ending slavery required a constitutional amendment. Lastly, actively lobby for an inclusive and diverse curriculum in your school board.
- Reach out to someone of a different faith, culture or ‘color‘ and spend some time getting to know more about what life is like for them. Honestly nothing comes off as more awkward than someone who tells me they don’t know much outside their small town. There is no excuse for this. Black people, people of color are everywhere and can be actively communicated with. Spend some time with someone you would like to learn more from and drop the concept that you are somehow more important than they are. As we learned during COVID, our time here is finite and our legacy will be shared once we are gone.
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