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1/ There's no excuse 4 Northam, Herring or anyone doing blackface. None. AND, sadly, many white folk still don't get the history & why this is true. Removing such people from positions can't b the only response. Our schools are failing 2 teach the history/effects of racism...
2/ I meet young people all the time who sincerely don't know this history. Hell, there was even a young man on my campus 30 years ago who didn't understand the symbolism of a burning cross when some other students burned one, bc no one had ever taught him. Pathetic but true...
3/ So as we demand accountability from those who engage in racism -- as we must, because people SHOULD know these things -- we also must remember that we have to create structures that teach people the things they need to know. Right now our schools don't do that...
4/ As with all discussions of racism it's important to remember that the issue is mostly systemic and institutional, nor merely interpersonal. Racist systems and societies that normalize stereotypes and inequity produce people who act them out and ignore their damage...
5/ To merely dispense with the individuals without fundamentally altering the systems and larger structures is like cleaning up the outer rings of a toxic chemical spill while forgetting to shut off the leaky valve that was spewing the effluent in the first place...
