I genuinely believe that when we know better, it is incumbent upon us to do better!
My life experience informs me that America has been on a dark road since it’s inception. There has been, in my view, a conscious effort on the part of those who have controlled the historical narrative to deny and obfuscate critical aspects of our social underpinnings.
These efforts have, in large measure, been hugely successful in shaping an American self-image based on an outsized notion of our greatness and a decided minimization of our missteps and motivations as a society.
As a Black man in America, my entire existence has literally been governed by hate and the binding decisions made by hateful hearts.
For centuries, racism and xenophobia have presided over every aspect of existence in America for my ancestors, and people who look like me. As a consequence I have dedicated my life to the promotion of racial justice and equity through thought, word, and deed.
As difficult and painful as this period may be, as a nation, we have been here before. The previous schism precipitated the Civil War. I believe we are once again at that self same point of inflection.
Having made the choice to dismantle Reconstruction and perpetuate injustice based upon skin color through Jim Crow and other legislative methods of oppression, we succeeded in kicking the can of racial justice and equity down the road to this moment.
These are the growing pains we have avoided for too long in this country, and as uncomfortable and unpleasant as they certainly are, the resolution thereof resides first and foremost, in our willingness to be honest with ourselves.
This moment requires an unflinching honesty about who we have been, who we currently are, and most important, who will we be in the presence of one another going forward. Nothing less than the necessary hard work of extending whatever humanity we possess to one another, will do!
Talking about racism does not deepen the divide. Quite the opposite! If the racial overtones of the current discourse disturbs you, please imagine just how utterly exhausting it is to be on the underside of this equation.
If you are tired of hearing about racism and it’s systemic lethal injustices, imagine how it must feel to live in a society that would rather argue with me about the nature of racism rather than join me in my fight to right the wrong?
Was chattel slavery before it’s abolition, wrong? Yes! Does this mean that every soul who has ever benefited from it’s practice is evil? No!
Nonetheless the truth remains. For the entirety of its existence, America has embodied a disconnect around the tension between the idea of “liberty and justice for all” and the exercised practice of having “liberty and justice” available mostly to White society.
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