I saw two films last week - one produced by HBO about "The Tuskegee Airmen" was viewed at our monthly Church Brunch and the other was the Oscar-nominated "12 Years a Slave." While watching both, I was horrified by the treatment of our African-American brothers and sisters throughout American history. It's not as though I'm unaware. I've taken history classes. I read books. I've had friends tell me about their experiences with racism. I've seen racism in action. Seeing it visually is somehow more, I don't know, powerful. Certainly worse. Or better, if you're looking for impact.
I've also been reading James McBride's "Good Lord Bird" and he has a character (Harriet Tubman perhaps?) state something about a slave isn't just a slave, but so are his/her ancestors and his/her descendants. He said it much more eloquently than I, and I wish I still had the book so I could use a direct quote, but essentially the idea that I've been wrestling with is our history remains with us today.
Don't get me wrong: I KNOW we don't live in "post-racial" America. I KNOW that white privilege still exists, that people of color are perceived and treated differently, and have different challenges than I have had as a white woman, even as my gender has informed and affected my experience.
What I want to know is how is it that I, perhaps unwittingly or unconsciously, treat people of other races/ages/creeds/sexual orientations/abilities in a way that is Other and then, by definition, Less Than. Where are my blind spots? How can I more fully treat all people with love and compassion and kindness - and how can I more fully forgive myself and try again when I fail?
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