Saturday, June 13, 2015

Racism - it's not my fault or is it?

I wasn’t in St Louis when a young man was shot by a police officer. I wasn’t in New York when a man was tazed and then died because of selling tobacco products on the street. I’ve never been to Baltimore so how can I be responsible for the death of a young man that was injured when shoved into a police van? One of the main causes of racism is the ongoing unwillingness of everyone to stop pointing the finger at someone else and admit to the fact that I’m part of the ongoing problem. Yes, I admit that I have a part in what’s unfolded in our country over the last 50 years whether that’s because of my silence to stand up against racism or the simple fact that I really believe I’m better than other people with different racial backgrounds from mine!
My choice at times is to stand on the sidelines and pretend that I’m absolved from any responsibility because the race issue in our country is strictly between ‘White’ police officers and crazy ‘Black’ men is a huge part of the problem. It’s my choice as to how I relate back to people of racial and socio-economic differences. It’s so easy to live in a very isolated world where I just don’t see people that are different from me unless I chose to enter into their world. It’s so easy for someone like me that came out of a great family with a strong moral and work ethic to be very critical of someone that is unemployed and living off the system.
I purposely work and live in a racially diverse community. I love having many cultures come together or at times collide because of their differences. I’ve had Hispanic, African American and Anglo teens and adults live with us over the years. I’ve learned much about my prejudices and those of others through this journey over the last 20 years. Simple fact is that everyone sees their life choices as being better than the person next to them.
I was fortunate to have parents that weren’t racists because of growing up in St. Louis. They taught me to never judge someone according to the color of their skin but according to their character. My dad amazed me after a stellar career in the Air Force as an Officer he ends up working for his Master Sargent who helped with the B-52 Simulator. His friend ended up discriminating against my dad because of his position in the Air Force as an officer.
The first step for racism to lessen is for everyone to admit that it exists. I’m around a lot of people that truly believe there isn’t any poverty or racism in our city. Yet, it doesn’t take much effort to look around you and discover that racism is alive in our work places, governments, schools, churches and neighborhoods.
I live in a racial diverse neighborhood. So my neighbors should understand that there isn’t anything wrong with having teens of different ethnic background walk on our streets or come into my house. Yet, the assumption is that when something bad happens it’s been done by one of my teens of a different racial background. It’s easy for me to judge my neighbors outward racism until I hear their story of how they have been burglarized by Hispanic and African American youth.
So for racism to be addressed I have to be willing to step across my cultural boundaries, comfort zone and do something radical. What would happen if you and I purposely choose to make real friends of people with different racial and socio-economic backgrounds? If you were to look at your contact or address book how many people on it would be from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds?
I brought a Hispanic ASU student to a men’s lunch that had mostly ‘Anglo’ educated types that have been involved in the high tech sector as engineers. What surprised me was how a few of my friends that were very successful in their careers went out of their way to welcome my friend, Michael! It would have been rather easy for young Michael to have felt totally out of place in our lunch study. Yet, his comments after the lunch was a pleasant surprise that these high-powered corporate executive types treated him with respect and showed a real interest in his pursuit of engineering.
The ongoing dialogue has to continue or at least start with my choice and yours to get involved with someone totally different. I know that my neighbors won’t necessarily change tomorrow when it comes to their view of at risk youth. Yet, I can purposely choose not to irate them and also give opportunities for friends that struggle with people living off of governmental assistance to meet a single mom who is doing her best to raise her kids without much help from family or friends.
Racism isn’t going away without all of us working together!

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