Been a long time again, sorry about that. I hope to do better at writing now that I am settled in my new home and life is moving on. I painted, updated and unpacked most of my things. There will always be things left to do, and that is a good thing.
Being from the Minneapolis area, I was moved by the death of George Floyd like most people from this area and around the country. I watched my city explode with fear, anger, and frustration. I also saw many people of reason reacting and calling for action not war, calling for peace.
I am a white person. I do not understand what it means to be a person of color, but I want to understand as well as I am able. I chose intentionally to move to an area of the cities where I am not the typical resident, but one of many races and cultures that live there. I can go places in my neighborhood and be the only white person there. I enjoyed living in a diverse community before, and I am enjoying that again now. I hope that my neighbors do not see me as only a white person, but if they do, then I will get to know what it feels like, just a tiny bit, to be seen only for the color of your skin and nothing else. I will never know the injustice that has brought to people of color. I will never feel that level of prejudice or fear against me, or maybe I will one day if the tables turn, but I don’t see that being the point of all this, to reverse the hate. No, I see what people are asking for as appreciation of differences and value of differences.
A few weeks ago, Mark Manson’s Monday email talked about how we are all horrible people destined to do horrible things and how trying to deny who we are and stop us from doing those things only makes things worse. He’s talking about punishment and shame. If you take a man who is struggling, who has no opportunity to be successful, has any slight opportunity to rise above where he was born, and you take that opportunity away also, what does he have left to do? While I do not know if it is true that there are more people of color who commit crimes, I do know there are more people of color in jail being punished for doing those crimes. I also know that putting them in jail does not do anything to stop crime. It really only makes it that much harder for a person to become successful. Yes, there are people who get out of jail and turn their lives around and become highly successful people, but that is not necessarily the norm. People with criminal records have a hard time finding jobs. It does not matter why you did the crime, you did it, and from now on, you will be seen only as a criminal. That stinks and is wrong. People can change, but that is hard when others will not let them or see them differently. Punishment does not stop people from doing bad things, it just makes them hurt and feel bad about themselves, and then they don’t know how to succeed and stop the hurt.
I don’t know the answer. What I know is that what we have been doing is not working. Hate, anger, fear, punishment, shame, war on crime, war on drugs, none of this has made America great, safe or peaceful. It has made a ton of money for some, and put many more into a state of emotional unrest and poverty. War is not the answer. War is the problem. We need to stop fighting each other and try to learn to love again.
I saw a Trump bumper sticker for 2020. It said, “Make liberals cry again.” This is what is wrong with our country. That this is a political campaign slogan. That this would be a good thing to have on a sticker. I have not seen just one of these. In a mostly liberal state, I have seen many of these. It is a slogan people are embracing because it is what they believe is good and right, to make others suffer is what it means to them to win. That is exactly the problem. Making others lose is not how you win this particular challenge. When we all smile, that is when we win, because we all win. Who out there is ready to become a leader to bring us together as a people, not tear us more apart and separate us.
Racism is being perpetuated because white men are in charge of this country and frankly much of the world. It has to stop. Racism cannot be stopped by white men in charge of things. If my only choices of who I have to vote for are white men, I cannot vote for more of the same. I want someone who can actually make a difference and actually make this country great again. Unfortunately, I doubt that person will be anyone who will run for president, because it will take a smarter man or woman than one dumb enough to take on the impossible job of running this nation. There is a lot of work to do here, and the politicians will not get it done. They are too invested in their own success to care about actual people. That is a generalization. I acknowledge that there are politicians who do care about the people and really do want to make a difference. It just seems like most of the people in charge are more interested in being in charge than doing anything about the problem. It will take more than a few good people in leadership roles in a country to make a difference in this world. It will take the small things, that ordinary people do from day to day to make this a better country.
Politicians will do what they do, that is their role. The rest of the people though, we can make a difference every day in how we live and learn and love one another. As white people, we can refuse to comply with white supremacy. We can refuse to ignore our own racist acts large and small every day. We can stand up for the people of color in our world and tell them we know it is not just or right that they are treated badly simply for being a person of color. We can say, “No, I will not condone violence and racism!” We can try to learn how to be better people. I recommend that we learn what we can about what it means to be a person of color. Obviously, that is a message to white people.
Look at who you follow online. Look at who you read, pay attention to, see in the world around you. If everyone looks like you, perhaps, you can start to make a difference in the world by looking around for who is different from you to learn from, rather than more like you.
To make a real difference, it will take all of us rejecting the status quo and trying to do something different in our lives. I plan to do what I can.
-Namaste