Acknowledging Racism. And Then What?

Racism is more than I hate you because of the color of your skin. It’s, I can create laws, policies, procedures, and systems, that can adversely affect your life, because I don’t like the color of your skin. If we don’t acknowledge that, we can’t change it. So acknowledgment is the first step to change.

You look at what works in your life and what doesn’t. If it’s working, you keep it going. If it’s not working, you have to stop and say, this isn’t working for me. I need to make some changes.

Coming Together

The reason racism persists in America is that people say, racism is working for me, and I don’t want to change it.

Enough of us need to come together and say, racism isn’t working, classism isn’t working, sexism isn’t working, ageism isn’t working, and ableism isn’t working. We have to come together and change the laws, systems, policies, and procedures to create a more just and equitable world.

Until we do that, we will remain exactly where we are, comfortable in conservatism. Because if you’re not fighting for ways to end the institutions of racism and white superiority, you’re just looking for ways to live more comfortably under racism.

What We Need To Do

So the first step to change is acknowledgment. Then it’s time to repeal those racist laws. It’s time to fight to undo the racist policies and procedures that uphold racism in America.

Laws in republican-led states like Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arizona, that prevent teaching history as it happened in favor of a whitewashed history, need to be undone. We need to do away with that so we can create a more just and equitable world of laws, policies, systems, and procedures, that deem one group of people worthy of praise and another worthy of demonization.

That’s where the fight is. That’s why they don’t want critical race theory being taught in school because it teaches how laws, systems, policies, and procedures adversely affect the lives of non-white people.

To make the world a better place, you have to get rid of unjust laws, policies, and procedures.