Angry: It's Not Personal, It's Business

I find that there is huge difference in the way many white people and most black people view racism.  Many white people see racism primarily through a personal lens. They see it as a matter of one person's feelings and actions. They tend to see racism as defined by individual actions against other individuals.  As a result they also tend to take black folks anger over racism personally. When a black person speaks out they take it as personal attack. They also tend to overestimate the amount of anger black people have towards white people.  Several white friends have commented that they've thought about maybe going out to one of the protests but feel pretty sure they wouldn't be welcomed because of the color of their skin. In my mind I was like Really? I think the opposite is true, as long as you're okay with taking a back seat and not insisting on running the show, I can't imagine most black people having an issue.  I mean there's always that one person whose just mad at everybody, but doesn't everybody have a crotchety person in their group?

Most black people on the other hand see racism primarily as a systemic rather than a personal issue. We're less concerned with the feelings and even the actions of individuals and more about the societal roadblocks that make life more difficult for us as black people. We are upset, of course, about the evil actions of one horrible person against another. But we're even more upset about a system that allows that evil action to go unprevented and then unpunished. I don't think I'm out of place to say that we really aren't mad at you, personally (I mean unless you personally, had your knee on our actual neck or that of someone we love, well then yeah we're mad at you).  But your whiteness doesn't enrage us by it's mere presence. 

This also explains a big difference in what we view as the solution to the racial challenges our country is grappling with.

The way I see it there are two ways we can strive to achieve racial harmony, the long way and the short way.  The long way is to do the painstaking work of changing each and every individual heart so that everyone is filled with love and sees every person as of equal worth under God and the law. This is what leads people to sigh that we'll never achieve this this side of heaven.  And in a sense they are right since there will always be hatred and prejudice in the world. But there's another reason this is going to take a long time. It's more than filling each heart with love, because racism isn't just about hate. There are many loving people who unknowingly, unintentionally hold racist ideas and so then there's the process of educating those people, helping them see what they are blind to. It's good work, noble work. Work we should all be involved in.  But that method is going to take forever!

I kind of like the short way.  The short way is what we have used in the past in this country and I actually think it's pretty effective at fast-tracking us to racial progress.  The short way is to change the structure. Change the laws. Do that and you'll be surprised how quickly the heart will follow.  Slavery didn't end because white slave owners started feeling really bad about it and decided to change their ways.  Slavery was ended with a war, and then with the force of law. And in a generation, it was a given that of course slavery is wrong.  Same thing happened with segregation.  Segregation didn't end because suddenly white people didn't mind black people sitting next to them in restaurants and living next door.  It ended because it was the law.  And sure enough, within a generation only the extremist white supremacists were arguing that segregation was a good idea. (This works in other arenas too, by the way. It's only been what five years and the attitudes towards gay marriage have shifted a lot. What changed? The law first, then people's hearts.  Imagine where we'll be in a mere generation.)

So, as I've already stated, when it comes to police brutality, the solution isn't to convince those on the police force to be less racist. The solution is to make it the law that when you kill unarmed people of any color you're going to be held accountable.  I predict that in a generation, "black guy running away with something that might be a weapon" won't automatically lead to shots in the back.

This is where our fight is at, dismantling and remaking the system in a more equitable way.  That's always been the fight; it's still the fight today.

What I want from you, my friend, is not reassurances that you love me and aren't mad at me. I know that, and I appreciate it. I love you and I'm not mad at you. But that's not what this is about.  What I'm hoping for from you is that you'll join me in the fight, like an abolitionist in 1853 or a civil rights marcher in 1963 (neither of those positions were popular with the majority of white people at the time, by the way), focused on improving an unjust system. 

 And for those that hate me, and are angry at me. That's cool (keeping an eye on you though. I'd like to stay alive). When this is all done, the rest of the country will have moved forward and you'll be left alone shouting into the wind.  

It's not personal, it's business.