Racism

The worst thing I could do is stoke the fires of racism. The 2nd worst thing i could do is never talk about it like it doesn't exist.

I'm going to talk about it. Truthfully, i don't think i've ever brought it up before this; lots of topics in my wordpress blog. Racism was never one of them.

I didn't bring up covid much either. Figure it's a good time to bring up the topic of racism. It's likely to be an issue that comes up in the 2024 election.

First thing i'm going to point out is that we have people who do want to stoke the fires-who see an advantage to pushing resentment.

I'm also going to point out there are people who find it under every rock. For them, it's very prevalent and there are people who are happy to contribute to the narrative.

You look at world wide genocide where one group of people set out to exterminate another group of people. Sometimes it was white on white. Sometimes it was black on black. Skin color had nothing to do with it.

You can take any group of people and demonize them-you can whip up any group of people into a resentment that ultimately ends in tragedy.

People can use skin color and have but you can use almost anything.There are plenty of examples where skin color had no bearing at all.

Rwanda. The Holocaust. The French Revolution. My point is that one group of people can be convinced to do terrible things to another group of people.

It all begins by convincing the one group that the other is less than human. You dehumanize the group to be targeted.

You have to wonder why that would even work [and think it's crazy] but history has shown us time and again it works.

You also have to wonder why anyone would want to do that but it's obvious that there are people who have made it their main purpose for living.

Our country was blessed. We were the first country to abolish slavery when it was a common practice world wide and had been for centuries.

The next step was the civil rights movement in the 60's that eventually put an end to discrimination. You can change laws but to end racism you have to change hearts and minds; changing laws is much easier.

Martin Luther King Jr's I Have A Dream Speech gave our country a goal worth aspiring to.He chose the path of a non violent movement even when it was met with a violent response.

I'm convinced that in spite of these flaws our country was blessed and we overcame them.There will always be patriots who rely on our Constitution. It gives us a framework so we can move forward.

Unfortunately i think some of the past resentments had bubbled under the surface and it only takes the right group of people to magnify them. How does this work?

They begin by encouraging the resentment. They convince the masses that this group is the cause of all their problems.

Hitler succeeded in Germany because they were in the middle of a terrible recession combined with loss of pride in their own country after WWI.

He had his personal hatred of the Jews and all he had to do is convince the public they were the cause of every bad thing that happened in Germany.

Hitler would have been a crazy nobody if he wouldn't have had a following that bought his narrative.

I'm not saying there aren't white supremacists in our country today who beleive they're superior to minorities. I will say they are few and far between.

They blame the black population for the problems our country faces. There are some in the black community who beleive if you're white you're automatically a supremacist.

There are whites, just as convinced as some in the black community, that white supremacy is rampant. They're both convinced we're a systemically racist country. I still believe they are few and far between.

Trust me, there's an agenda going on here.

There's only one way to get through this mind set. You have to build bridges.

A lot of the terrible things that have happened throughout history would have been resolved if only the people had built bridges.

It's scary how the few can easily control the many;all they have to do is build up resentment and mistrust.

The many end up giving the few a power they shouldn't have. I hate to say it but the many end up being the ones who pay a price for it.

Sure many of the Nazi War Criminals met with justice but the people who followed them paid a heavy price too.

Where are we at today? It's 2023-soon to be 2024.

On a personal note i never say i don't see color. Of course i do. I'm white and if i see someone who's black-i see that they're black as much as i see that i'm white.

I don't like that some statues of our past history are being removed. You keep them up as a reminder of where we have been as a country. History matters. One is taken down eventually they will all get taken down.

We can appreciate what ALL of us have contributed to make America the great country that it is and what many-especially in the black community-had to overcome along the way.

It was a terrible past they suffered through but you have to see the remarkable acheivements they can be proud of today given all those obstacles.

i believe that most people want to get along but there's those people with their own agenda out there.

It's to their advantage we don't get along.Let's not invite in more problems than we already have.

Relationships are hard work aren't they? It doesn't help when there are people who actually try to build up resentment and mistrust. We're less apt to move forward if we keep taking steps back.

There's 2 ways NOT to heal a wound. One way is to ignore it. We don't want to do that. The other way is to irratate it even more.

Anotherwords pour salt in the wound.

Yes, i've probably over simplified the issue. I didn't get into the weeds as the expression goes. If you pick out the shortcomings in my entry-any entry for that matter-feel free to comment and fill in the blanks from your pov.

The best antidote for racism-irregardless of where it's coming from or which group it's against-is mutual respect. It's where you begin any relationship. It's where you should start amy discussion. It's how you build up communities. It's how people get along.