Thread by @fenrir_71

I've always hated the rebel flag. As a kid who was born in the south but raised in the north whenever I'd go visit my relatives I'd see hateful evangelicals and poorly educated people.

And it's where I learned "the other side of the tracks" was a real thing.
#BanTheRebelFlag

I remember going down south and the kids, who of course are generally cruel, would laugh and make fun of ke because I said "you guys" instead of "y'all."

I can still hear them: "you gahees!"

I figured I was just speaking proper English.

And my evangelical southern Baptist family never said "black people." It was "the coloreds" or "son" or "boy" to GROWN ASS MEN.

I'd spend time at my father's country club, which was amazing to this poor country kid from north of Chicago...

...until it dawned on me the only black folks there were cooking, or serving. Interestingly the ONLY service job not held by a black person was the pool boy.

Pretty easy to figure out why ain't it?

The thing is, after a long sojourn I went back to the south in the 00s...

...Memphis to be exact, and it was still the same way. We stayed at a hotel and there was not one black person in a position of authority.

And it's STILL that way.

How can people get a leg up when they're not even given a CHANCE?

Which bring me to the Republican party, a majority voting block in the south by the time I knew to think about it.

They love to say we don't need social programs, we just need to give people the chance to "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps."

Tell me this, if it's possible: how can one do that if one is denied even the chance to buy boots? If people are denied a good job, or a safe neighborhood, how CAN they realize safety and happiness, let alone buy a house?

If the system is stacked against you, YOU'RE FUCKED.

And that's what systemic racism is. It's more than the travesty that is law enforcement in our nation. It's folks being denied the basics of LIFE.

In our race to focus on the police we gotta remember that systemic racism affects every aspect of OUR lives.

Systemic racism denies PoC the ability to even SPEAK because we white folks aren't even taught the truth, the Tulsa massacre being a perfect example.

Know who's known about that history their entire lives? Black folks. How could they NOT know about it?

The fact that so many white people don't know about the Tulsa Massacre brings up another point: systemic racism denies ALL of us knowledge and wisdom.

As Twain wrote, history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes, and he was spot on.

If we don't take the time to educate ourselves, and listen to folks who know more than us, Dixie will play on an endless loop, forever rhyming.

Let's have the humility to end that loop my fellow white folks, because our fellow humans have been suffering for far too long.

Another thing: we all suffer in the long run because of systemic racism.

Think about this: for every black or latino brilliant writer, director, actor, musician or whatever, it's likely there's 100 more that never got the chance to enlighten us because of systemic racism.