It is hard to look at my country and hear people in my community claim that racism does not exist. We all see the same videos, hear the same victims. We see the same irrefutable evidence of systemic racism, and some are still choosing white blindness over empathy. We recently enjoyed a day of relaxation in the name of Martin Luther King, Jr, but how many in my community will tell their children the real history of Dr. King? How many will realize that the black community does not have the choice to “protect” their children from our collective past? This is our reality. Not since the election of Trump, but amplified by it.
I didn’t vote for Trump, but it is still my responsibility as a community member to atone for the atrocities committed by our leaders and also to acknowledge the atrocities of my ancestors that led to this day. I believe the first step is to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves and Indigenous people.
Our black children are being fed into a school-to-prison pipeline. You’ve probably heard this before and shrugged it off with the reports of the disaster of Providence schools. If you feel it doesn’t affect you, your kids are probably in Barrington, Coventry, Foster or anywhere where folks own their own homes and drunk drivers are politely escorted home instead of arrested. A place innocent folks can’t pay bail and spend a year in jail awaiting trial.
No one is innocent in our community if they are a person of color. There are two systems: white until proven guilty and color until you are proven innocent. No one is above the law, but white people invented the law and wielded it as a tool to oppress and enrich ourselves off of the lives of black and Indigenous communities.
It is time for white people to acknowledge and take responsibility for the harm that the American Experience has caused. Maybe the first step is to acknowledge the power and privilege we experience simply because our skin is white. This will feel uncomfortable, but our community and our world will become better with our discomfort. We got here by keeping minorities down. We have to examine our own behavior and recognize the internal racism that has been bred into us. We have to be prepared to give up our privilege and let our community members come to the table. We have enough bread to break when we extend arms instead of fists.