400
years ago, white men traveled to Africa to abduct thousands and
thousands of men and women, ripping them from the arms of their
families, loading them (in most cases, stacking them) into the holds
of crowded ships in filthy and inhumane conditions) for a journey
from and to hell. Those black souls who managed to survive this
dreadful voyage were then sold as slaves, many times they were
separated from whatever family unit might still remain. These slaves
lived out tortured lives working and living in sub-human conditions
until they died from either overwork, lack of care or a broken
spirit, usually a combination of all these.
Black people “lived”
this way for roughly 250 years. While white men ran the country and
created its laws and its systems of government, 10 to 15 generations
of white families got to grow and flourish and make choices that
could allow their lives and the lives of their descendants to prosper
and flourish.
Then 150 years ago
white men were forced to “free" black people from slavery, but
angry white men then created laws that made it impossible for blacks
to vote, to own land, or to participate in society. White people even
erected monuments glorifying people who had actively fought to keep
blacks enslaved.
All this happened while another 5 to 10 generations
of white families got to grow and accumulate wealth and gain land and
get an education and again pass these advantages to their
descendants.
Then 60 years ago white
people made it "legal" for black people to vote, and to be
"free" from discrimination, but angry white people still
fought to keep schools segregated while closing off neighborhoods for
white people only. White people made it harder for black people to
get bank loans, or get quality education or health care, or to (gasp)
marry a white person. All this, while another 2-3 generations of
white families got to grow and pass their wealth down to their
children and their children's children.
Finally we entered an
age where we had the technology (cell phones with cameras) to make
PUBLIC the things that had already been happening in private for
centuries- the beatings, the stop and frisk system, the unequal
distribution of justice, the police brutality (which in the south
began as slave patrols designed to catch runaway slaves) and which
have been going on in one form or another for four centuries. Only
now, are we BEGINNING to truly have a dialogue about what it means to
be black.
White privilege doesn't
mean you haven't suffered or fought or worked hard. It doesn't mean
that today’s generation of white people are responsible for the
sins of their ancestors. It doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of
who you are.
It DOES mean that we
need to acknowledge that the system our white ancestors created was
built FOR white people and FOR their prosperity.
It DOES mean that Black
people are, and have been (for 400 + years) at a disadvantage because
of the color of their skin.
It DOES mean that we
owe it to our fellow black citizens to acknowledge that, and to seek
a remedy to make our world just and equitable.
Why is it so hard to
understand that when we correct these injustices, we will all become
the beneficiaries of that correction. Until then ......
BLACK LIVES MATTER!
And God help us -
We haven’t even begun
to confront the gross injustices wrought to Native Americans.
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