Friday, April 27, 2018

silently 'loving your neighbor' isn't enough

I was part of the issue. I did not want to acknowledge it, but I was. I was taught as a child that if I was kind to everyone and didn’t discriminate other people based on the color of their skin I was doing great. This class brought to my attention systematic racism that takes place in America. I became enraged over the injustices that people of color face EVERYDAY. A lot of my anger stemmed from the fact that I had not learned about mass incarceration, racial profiling, and the disproportionate amount of Blacks living in poverty before. It was this semester that I learned that being kind to my neighbor was not enough. As a white liberal, I thought that bringing up the issue was enough, it simply isn’t. A lot of white people do not know where they stand in the fight of racial injustices, so they sit on the sidelines. Whites also have a hard time acknowledging their privilege. There is a fear of overstepping or falling into the white savor category that they chose to do nothing. This becomes the “silent white majority” they are not explicitly racist but since they chose to do nothing they become implicitly racists. Most of the time these are the people that say they are not racist because they have that token black friend. I cannot express enough that is not an argument that can be taken seriously nor is it valid. That is not going to be achieved by sitting in a classroom coloring a picture of his face. I am white. Both of my parents went to college. I am very privileged. Sadly, America is designed in a way for me to succeed. Becoming completely aware of this during the span of this semester broke my heart. I did not deserve this privilege. I now know that my job moving forward is to educate other whites of their privilege and to address racist remarks no matter how small. We love to throw around King's 'Dream' but what did King dream of? He dreamt of non-violent direct action, economic justice, equal education, decreasing poverty in America, and the end to housing discrimination. We consider most of these issues solved, but they are far from being accomplished. As we honor his legacy it is important to remember the progress he made while also recognizing that we still have a long way to go. Martin Luther King Jr. may have died 50 years ago but his DREAM has yet to be fulfilled.


1 comment:

  1. This reminds me of King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, where he calls out the white moderate. He explained how the majority of the white population who acted as "innocent bystanders" were hurting and hindering the progress of the movement. He challenged all white people to take action with a sense of urgency. Like you said in your article, simply being kind is not enough. Refusing to take action is wrong.

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