I once described talking about Jesus as being uncomfortable, like vinyl seats on a hot day.
Talking about racism is the same way--no one wants to say the "r" word and no wants to point a finger and say that is racist, because it is really uncomfortable, right? We've come so far. We made it through civil rights. We marched on Washington. Slavery was abolished. We've sung Kumbaya. It is all over--right? Because we have a President who is not white and we all have black friends and Asian friends and white friends and Latino friends and friends who are mixed and blended. And no one is racist anymore--no one important, at least--because we took care of that whole mess a long time ago.
Only, we did not, not completely.
But, we won't talk about it--because it is messy and sticky.
Only, we have to--or it will grow bigger and bigger and bigger--like mold growing on a wall--you have to get rid of it all; you cannot leave a speck, because if you do, it comes back and keeps coming back.
And children are shot. And mothers mourn. And our institutions of justice become institutions of injustice. And we all lose pieces of our humanity at the hands of something we refuse to acknowledge because it is uncomfortable. And suddenly we are back right where we started.
It's time to get uncomfortable.
#hoodiesup for Trayvon. For our sons. For our daughters. For all of us.
Talking about racism is the same way--no one wants to say the "r" word and no wants to point a finger and say that is racist, because it is really uncomfortable, right? We've come so far. We made it through civil rights. We marched on Washington. Slavery was abolished. We've sung Kumbaya. It is all over--right? Because we have a President who is not white and we all have black friends and Asian friends and white friends and Latino friends and friends who are mixed and blended. And no one is racist anymore--no one important, at least--because we took care of that whole mess a long time ago.Only, we did not, not completely.
But, we won't talk about it--because it is messy and sticky.
Only, we have to--or it will grow bigger and bigger and bigger--like mold growing on a wall--you have to get rid of it all; you cannot leave a speck, because if you do, it comes back and keeps coming back.
And children are shot. And mothers mourn. And our institutions of justice become institutions of injustice. And we all lose pieces of our humanity at the hands of something we refuse to acknowledge because it is uncomfortable. And suddenly we are back right where we started.
It's time to get uncomfortable.
#hoodiesup for Trayvon. For our sons. For our daughters. For all of us.
I realy liked this post. Part of being an adult is talking about hard things. None if the issues you wrote about will change until we start having hard conversations and doing hard things.
ReplyDeleteI realy liked this post. Part of being an adult is talking about hard things. None if the issues you wrote about will change until we start having hard conversations and doing hard things.
ReplyDelete