PAGE 04 June 2020
Countering Racism
Requires
Understanding
and the Will to
Activate Privilege
and Influence
The recent killing of George
Floyd has intensified the hurt
and anger from years of
targeted violence, oppression,
and racism that many black
Americans have endured. With
days of social unrest, there is a
sense of sheer devastation
about the role race plays in
American culture.
Parents of black children pray their sons and
daughters are never listed among the litany of
black people who have been unmercifully killed by
police. They pray the younger generation will
accomplish what their generation couldn't –
demanding parity among all people, the kind of
parity that evens the scales, and levels the playing
field.
As this country experiences a reckoning with
centuries of racists acts, practices, and brutality,
there is a shift in the atmosphere. The veil has
lifted. Now, the putrid stench of an American way
of life, dressed up in the guise of democracy, is
exposed for the world to see.
Many parents of black boys made it a point to have
"the talk
" with their sons before they reached
middle school. These boys received explicit lessons
about how to respond if ever approached by a
police officer. These lessons were reinforced as
they grew older. In the last few years, it has
become apparent that this talk should be extended
to their daughters too.
Many white Americans are having the talk, as well.
This one is not about the dos and don'ts when
approached by the police. Instead it's about white
privilege defined by Oxford as inherent advantages
possessed by a white person based on race in a
society characterized by racial inequality and
injustice.
The truth is, so-called white privilege will continue
to lace American culture as long as white people
leverage this false sense of superiority to maintain
the higher rung within the power dynamic – at the
expense of people of color. [This] caveat should
also be included in the discourse about how white
privilege, when not used for the greater good,
endorses racism, social injustice, and inequality.
For those who believe this is all much ado about
nothing, it is truly important to understand that
racist constructs run deep and take on many
facets, to the extent of crippling access to life lines,
like health care and behavioral health services, for
black people and other marginalized groups.
According to National Center for Health Statistics,
black women die during pregnancy or in the
months after giving birth at 2.5 times more often
than white women, and three times more than
Hispanic women. Lack of health care access and
racism play a role in the maternal death rate
among black women.
By Tonia Wright, Publisher
