Tag: racism

One Year Ago Today: The ‘Very Fine’ Stranger Beside You

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Found this in today’s social media archives, from one year ago today. Author unknown, but incredibly on point.

Aug. 16, 2017

You know what worries me? It’s not that a group of racist idiots lit some tiki torches and decided to have a rally.

I worry that on Monday they’ll go back to their job in human resources and decide who gets hired and who gets fired.

They’ll put their uniform back on and “serve and protect.”

They’ll sit on a jury and decide the fate of a young person of color.

They’ll teach in a kindergarten class. Continue reading →

One Year Ago Today: Confederate Statues

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One year ago today, Tuesday the 15th of August 2017, we were deep into the aftermath of Charlottesville, the city in Virginia where a violent, white nationalist rally led to the death of an innocent counter-protester. It’s hard to believe a whole year has already passed, but here we are.

And though it has been roughly 365 days, nothing has changed. The U.S. appears to be just as divided as it was then, if not more so. Locally, last year on this day there was a Durham rally in my homestate, which ended with a Confederate soldier statue being pulled down by protestors. This happened because, as quoted in the article: Continue reading →

Man Says “I’m Not a Bigot” In Response To Viral Video: Watch & Decide For Yourself

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Today in viral video land, we have a perfect, prime example showcasing the insidious commingling of racism & white privilege.

The story is basically that a white man (Whitman) followed a black man (Lovett) to his home after a minor traffic dispute, and stopped in front of Lovett’s driveway after Lovett pulled in. Lovett got out of his car, calmly approached Whitman, and asked if there was a reason why he Whitman had followed him to his house. Whitman responded, “I just want to let you know what a n—– you are.” Continue reading →

A Privileged White Person Saying Something

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(originally published on The Huffington Post)

I am a privileged white woman. I know I’m going to make some people angry with my words. But I have to say something. In a world of finger pointing, a world where we need to be angry that black lives are being mercilessly taken every day, it’s time to acknowledge our white privilege and educate our kids about it. Several people have been anger ranting, or pleading with heavyhearted sorrow on social media. My friend Jessica Rotenberg summed the problem up best when she said, “for the record, police officers are lovely. This isn’t a police problem, teacher problem, or any other problem. It’s a human problem.” Continue reading →