May 12, 2018
I am an older white woman living in the U.S. right now. I am following with horror the ongoing harassment of Black people going about their daily activities, living their lives. It seems that each day another story breaks about a Black person doing very normal things at coffee houses, at their colleges, in gyms, on buses, on golf courses…on and on. And then some disgruntled or nervous, “frightened” White person thinks they are “suspicious” or “don’t belong” where they are…and calls the police! Thereby subjecting the persons of color to searches, embarrassment, even at times being taken away to police stations. These things are happening to completely innocent people, here in America in 2018…what the Hell is up, what the Hell is going on?? Racism, race based fear, race based suspicions…call these incidents what they are, please. When I am in shops, coffee shops, in stores, on buses, I’m with people of all colors, races, ethnicities. And please believe me, a person has to be doing something really outrageously dangerous or suspicious before the thought of calling the cops occurs to me! I am deeply disturbed and very unhappy about the actions of my fellow whites…but I do not know how to make them change, except perhaps through education about bias awareness. I do know that kids do not hate other kids unless they learn that from adults…I do not have all the answers but I know things must change for the better, the kinder…we must be inclusive, we must.
