Thread by @aliamjadrizvi

Thread.

"The United States is one of the least racist countries on the planet."

This is a fact. And most immigrants in the US who grew up in places like the Middle East, Asia, or even the nation-states of Europe know this. The US and Canada are two of just a handful of

countries composed almost entirely of immigrants. And when you do see racism in countries like the US and Canada, it's not because it's more PREVALENT than in China or Saudi Arabia; it's because it's more VISIBLE: we have robust systems of transparency, accountability, and

justice — thanks to the public, the free press, and the government.

But it's really important to remember HOW America became one of the least racist, misogynistic, and homophobic countries in the world. It is precisely BECAUSE of protests like the ones you're seeing now.

Whether it was the suffrage movement, abolition of slavery, desegregation, civil rights, or LGBTQ rights — protests and public uprisings have been the key driver for the transformative changes that actually DID make America great.

Ideally, these should be

peaceful protests (a fundamental First Amendment right), but many of these struggles for change in the past have been much bloodier than what you're seeing today, even if you don't count the Civil War itself.

So when you're in the thick of it, as we are right now, it feels like

chaos. It feels like everything's being ripped apart, like the country is headed for disaster, anarchy, and self-destruction. This is very normal.

You see the opportunists and the looters and think, in the moment, that they are the face of the movement. This is also normal.

But ultimately when you look back on it, sitting at a NASCAR race a decade from now as they celebrate the tenth anniversary of banning Confederate flags from their races, you will have a different view of things. Your children will have a different view of things.

And then, when another issue arises about some residual aspects of injustice for some other marginalized group, you'll hear—again—that "the United States is one of the least racist countries on the planet."

And hopefully, you'll remind people—again—HOW it got that way.

/end