With as many takes as there are on the 'race war' that seems to be the topic of the day today there is something that we all need to remember. We are ALL equal! That is what we all want, or at least what we say we want. Now, before people start chanting "Black Lives Matter" or "White Lives Matter" on me take a step back. Is there any life that doesn't matter or that matters over another? The answer is no, unequivocally NO!
Black Lives Matter is a movement that claims that they are wanting to draw attention to current racial tensions. They are claiming that they are fed up with being fearful for their lives and that the cops are killing them senselessly. Now, I say claiming because I cannot find out what they truly believe any more than you can find out what I truly believe. This is the problem at the heart of this issue in total. We don't believe what others are telling us. Society in general doesn't trust anything.
So, how do we stop it? Well, this has to happen in many different ways for many different people. Why does it have to be different? Well, we don't have all the same experiences with what the problem is. Blacks will tell you it's because the whites are racist and the whites will tell you it's because the blacks are racist. The media tells us over and over that we're all racist, why? Why are they able to get away with such a lie? Because we don't trust each other enough anymore in this world to be able to listen to what people say.
You can't rid yourself of racism. You can act exactly the same to everyone, not judge by race, ethnicity, color, gender, sexual orientation, hair color, eye color, disability, or any other discernible physical characteristic and still be deemed a racist in today's society. We are making the those who are not racist want to be racist as a defense mechanism. They're going to be seen that way anyways. Today people want proof that you're not racist, but actions aren't enough. They don't even know what proof they want!
Actually, that's not true, the truth is that they've already made up their minds. It's became split in philosophies, one group thinks that everyone is racist and the other group doesn't know why.
So that I can explain this let me explain my background for a minute. I grew up in Northern California. California, even Northern California, had, for the most part, the mentality that if you don't bother me then I won't bother you. We learned about racism in history class but all I could think about was "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!". Why would you judge someone based off skin color? That would be like judging someone based off of height, weight, age, sex, hair color, or eye color. Those things only have to do with our appearance.
As a kid I knew how much appearance counted in life, but I still didn't understand why people judge you based off your appearance. I was the tall skinny white kid with a pudgy belly who wore glasses and was smart. I was the epitome of what not to be in school. I was made fun of relentlessly for things that I couldn't control or at least felt like I couldn't. For all the talks about being true to yourself and who you are society was very unkind to those who were themselves. It still is today.
The friends I made in school were awesome people because they were willing to look past what I looked like and instead appreciated my heart and mind. They gave me a chance. What we need to do today as a nation is give each other a chance. We need to put aside our assumptions and try and find out what people are really like. We need to relearn how to put ourselves in the shoes of others and try to understand their point of view.
With social media we see so many things that are opinion and not fact. Our media makes assumptions without getting to the truth of anything on a daily basis but the populace runs with these things like they were facts. The news has came to be about ratings and viewers instead of finding out facts and reporting them for other people's information. News casters today have access to information that we don't as private citizens, at least not without a ton of money to get access, so we blindly believe whatever the television tells us.
Fifteen years ago our country mourned as a whole. We united with each other against a common enemy, whoever was responsible for toppling the World Trade Centers. I had never felt so heartened as a member of this society as I was at the reactions of the people of this nation to the mass tragedy that was before us. People from all walks of life and all corners of this country united to help do what good we could in the face of such evil.
Today all it takes is one report with unknown facts and a partial video of what happened to tear us all apart. The call is for justice but there is no allowing time for such justice to occur. People are calling for an eye for an eye without knowing if an eye was really taken to begin with. We as a country are allowing a few to divide us completely.
I have always lived by the code that I judge people on their repeated actions, not their temporary actions and most certainly not their appearance. I have been accused of racism so many times since I have moved to North Carolina that it's not funny. Why is that the case? Did I do something that was overtly racist? Did I talk demeaning to people of any race? Was I rude to my coworkers? Was I a horrible person who was just grumpy all the time for no reason? No. I was accused because of assumptions. There isn't even a way to battle such accusations in our society. I can't tell you about all the friends and coworkers that I have had who are black and who didn't have issues with me. Or the fact that my first friend in school was black. I can even work with people for months without issue and then have them suddenly accuse me of being racist simply because of my skin color; not because of any actions I have taken.
What I get over and over is "well, of course you'd say that". From personal experience those who truly judge people by any particular identifying factor feel justified in doing so and wouldn't lie to you about it. Why lie about your convictions? Maybe if you're surrounded be people who might threaten your life in some way you might say anything, but not in a relaxed conversation with someone.
This causes a secondary issue. Those who get fed up with being called racist when they aren't. They start to steer clear of conversations where they could be called racist and in the extreme even people who would just call them racist. They start avoiding certain races because of the repeated assumption that they must be judging that race only based on their skin color. Is this racism or listening to your experience?
Where do we stop it? What do we do? We've became a nation crippled by fear of the unknown. We don't know what the other person's feeling so we react in fear. There are different reactions types of fear and different reactions to fear. The definition of fear that I am referring to is "anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur". So, how do we fix it?
We have to learn how not to fear each other. The question is, how can we do this when the television and the newspapers does nothing but inundate us with new things to be afraid of? We hear over and over about all the bad things that happen in the world all day and night on ten different channels! Yes, the world isn't safe, but it never has been.
People take one death and spread it all over the media like it was the biggest epidemic in the world! Do you realize that the estimated population of the United States is almost 324 billion people! According to the 2010 census our population consists of 72.41% White, 12.61% Black, 4.75% Asian, and everyone else is classified under other. They also say that there is 17.4% of all races that are Hispanic. So, how does this break down? It means that we have 234.5 billion Whites, 41 billion Blacks, 15 billion Asians, and 33.5 billion others.
Out of all the people in this country Black Lives Matter has decided to riot over a handful. They say that two or three or even ten is a "spree" that must be stopped. Even if it occurred as isolated events in different parts of the country.
To give us some perspective in 2013 10.7 out of every 100,000 people were killed in traffic accidents. That is 0.0107% of the population. It doesn't look like much when you look at it as a percentage. The population at that time in the US was approximately 316.5 billion people. That is almost 34 million deaths!
Shouldn't it be more scary to drive your car everyday than to expect to be shot by a police officer for absolutely no reason? Shouldn't we stop worrying about whether we're the most unlucky person on the planet? Sure, we can dig up plenty of videos of hard take downs by the police. Sure we can dig up plenty of videos of what looks like excessive force. You can say over and over again that there are no circumstances in which that level of force is justified. The question is what lengths would you go to? If your daughter, spouse, grandmother, brother, or best friend was being threatened by someone with a deadly weapon or who was acting suspiciously as if they were going to pull out a deadly weapon what lengths would you go to in order to keep them safe? Now think about it in this way, let's say that a whole neighborhood was under your protection, what lengths would you go to then in order to keep everyone safe?
Life is rarely lived in absolutes. There is a whole sea of grey behind every action and reaction. We need to understand this and be willing to see others as people no matter what job they do. We need to be able and willing to put ourselves in their shoes. If we truly want to stop the violence erupting in our streets today we need to stop thinking about just ourselves and start thinking about the bigger picture. Every person you meet has a family (even if it's not traditional), beliefs, duties, emotions, and reactions to others. How can you judge another person's reaction calmly if you are not acting calmly? How can you scream about not being treated fairly when you aren't treating others fairly? You can't.
Sources - http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fear?s=t
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment