It’s up to us, white people, to fix this now
This is directed at white folks like me. Black folks will correctly find it inadequate.
As our nation deals with yet another reminder of our humanity deficit, much attention is being paid to one white police officer brutally suffocating one black citizen. That’s how most whites prefer to interpret it: “Bad cop, power trip, mental, kills innocent man. Aberration. Not good. Punish him.” Which conveniently ignores the other three officers, watching, saying and doing nothing, while murder occurs. That’s impossible to explain, without substantial discomfort. Watching, seemingly unaffected, as injustice occurs, is a scary metaphor for white America. It leaves an unanswered question, how can anyone not love his fellow man, who he has seen, yet claim to love a God that he hasn’t?
I’ve been privileged to parent children in the foster care system. When our first African American son entered our home, I was clueless. Yes, black kids are just like white kids in virtually every way. But the America black kids navigate is shockingly different, because the America white adults created is still shockingly broken. There’s not enough space here to share what I saw. Suffice to say, I experienced how tricked-up our society is. And to be honest, white Americans reward the wrong thing by not demanding better.
Like most, I have racist biases lurking inside. Learned as a child, they’ve been anecdotally reinforced throughout my life. I have to check them constantly and battle them quietly. It’s embarrassing. Yet, there it is. Generally, I’ve always tried to make sure my tongue, feet and wallet are all headed in the right direction. When it comes to racism, it’s been complicated. I’ve spoken out, protested and donated - but only on occasion, when convenient. I live as a non-racist. But we are what we do. Not what we say, not what we believe, not how we vote. Doing our best isn’t enough. We must do what is required. And in that sense, like most of my white brothers and sisters, this non-racist has failed to be anti-racist.
Systemic racism will never change until white folks work for and demand change and accountability. There is no them or they. This is a “we” problem, as in we white people need to fix this now and end this American-born racial nightmare. Straight up, black folks have never had the power nor influence to change this. Our white ancestors created the systems from which we now benefit. These have been adapted and altered over the years to maintain as much of the status quo as possible. Systematic racism exists because our forefathers created it and persists because we tolerate it. Yet whites tend to think, speak and act as if we play no role.
In his book The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin says white innocence constitutes the real crime. The appalling silence and inaction of good white people is hard to explain - consensual hallucination or entitled ignorance? Or do we think it’s not our problem? Ignorance and arrogance are a deadly combination.
Discussing this with other white folks is like being a blind man in a room full of deaf people. Unlearning white supremacy and sharing responsibility for building a just society is going to be one of the hardest things our nation has undertaken. Yet we must. Otherwise, as Baldwin concludes, “If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in a song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!”