I appreciated our President's honest, frank and poignant comments about race in America. We want leadership from the Oval Office; he delivered that to the Nation yesterday.
I urge white America, don't be dismissive of what the President said to us. That's the knee-jerk response; don't own that. Reach down, find the empathy to put yourselves in the place of our citizens who are people of color. Have a conversation with yourself--about that time you clutched your purse, or locked your door or whatever it was, JUST because you saw "color" and that produced irrational fear.
Crime, violence, rage, and bitterness are all a part of the fabric of our culture--but they come in all colors; not just blood lines from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Native America. Those flaws of character that create so much chaos in the "American Experience" also find significant place in the color White.
President Obama calmed the Nation; he affirmed our due process and charged us to embrace the outcome. But, he did much more; he reminded me that people of color deal with "death by a 1000 cuts" every day. Humiliation is such a strong negative message that diminishes its victims in profound, permanent ways. My President helped me get past my frustration over seeming unreasonableness, to understanding; to empathy and softness. For me, that's leadership.
We can only pray that this becomes a significant next step to healing the self-inflicted wounds of Slavery and Manifest Destiny.
bN
I urge white America, don't be dismissive of what the President said to us. That's the knee-jerk response; don't own that. Reach down, find the empathy to put yourselves in the place of our citizens who are people of color. Have a conversation with yourself--about that time you clutched your purse, or locked your door or whatever it was, JUST because you saw "color" and that produced irrational fear.
Crime, violence, rage, and bitterness are all a part of the fabric of our culture--but they come in all colors; not just blood lines from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Native America. Those flaws of character that create so much chaos in the "American Experience" also find significant place in the color White.
President Obama calmed the Nation; he affirmed our due process and charged us to embrace the outcome. But, he did much more; he reminded me that people of color deal with "death by a 1000 cuts" every day. Humiliation is such a strong negative message that diminishes its victims in profound, permanent ways. My President helped me get past my frustration over seeming unreasonableness, to understanding; to empathy and softness. For me, that's leadership.
We can only pray that this becomes a significant next step to healing the self-inflicted wounds of Slavery and Manifest Destiny.
bN
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