An Inconvenient Truth

I will warn you ahead of time - there are some of you who may really not like what I have to say in this blog. However, I do wish that you will bear with me, keep an open mind and allow yourself to receive a possible message of value and importance.
And the reason that this may be greeted with a degree of dislike (perhaps, to say the least!) is that this is a current very hot button issue. However, much as I would like to avoid it, I do also believe that I have a responsibility to speak.
The issue - and here it comes - is Racism!
We don't like the sound of that.
We don't want to deal with that.
We just want to shove it under some carpet and pretend -and I do mean PRETEND - it just does not exist. At least not for "Me."
And yet, how many times have we heard someone insist, "I am not racist!"
And how many times may we, ourselves, have made that declaration.
But do we even really know what racism is? What it looks like? What it sounds like? How it manifests itself?
We could be so very much better if only we could just dig down deep and discover and admit, it is there. It is real. And it is likely a part of every "me."
If we can face it as a reality, we can better deal with it.
I hear that word and remember the time, so many years ago now, when I actually met and shook hands with what had to be the very first Black person I had ever met. You know what I felt I had to do as quickly as possible after that handshake?
Wash my hands!
It is true and I confess it and I am still ashamed!
Nothing was said negatively. There were no negative signals outwardly exhibited. Nevertheless, there was something deep down inside, something that made me feel unclean. That is a manifestation of racism.
The thought of that experience still reminds me that, in spite of all my fine "liberal" talks and Christian upbringing, I was racist. But facing that gave me the power to deal with it.
Racism is an ugly, subtle and very hidden force that seeks to drive us. It is there and it is real and we can only begin to overcome it by actually admitting its existence.
And admitting its existence and its hold on us, we can move to conquering its force by learning what we can about its power, its history and its effects.
Knowledge is power.
Ignorance is the doorway to defeat.
What I am getting at here is that we need do way better in educating ourselves. We need to know and own our history. We need to know the tensions that may exist and the reasons why they may exist.
We do no favors either to ourselves or to our very diverse neighbors by avoiding the issue and we make no progress at all by denying the issue.
I have shared with you just one small, seemingly innocent, action and reaction I had, one that woke me to something dark within me, something I had to come to grips with and deal with.
What about you?
Can you look back at your days and years and find just one example that you might call out as being an indication that that darkness is present within you?
Do you dare?


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