24 Feb 2018 How Can We Talk About Race Issues?

How Can We Talk About Race Issues?

I have found people will generally talk about any topic like politics religion or sex.   You know the ones you are not supposed to talk about at a dinner party or work.   But, bring up race and people get real uncomfortable.   If we can’t even talk about it, how can we change?   White people are afraid of being called a racist if they say anything that is perceived as negative about another race.   Blacks don’t think they’re voice is heard at all.

I would love for a roundtable discussion where each can say what they see and feel.   Even if it may be wrong or insensitive.    But everyone has to be open and honest about what each really feels.   You can’t sit back because you are afraid of what someone may say about you.   People have to bring facts to the table as well as feelings.   Facts may be uncomfortable for every viewpoint around the table.   I am an older white male and have seen the world through a very different lens then a 20-year-old inner-city black guy.  I have seen racism.   Have I always confronted it when I did, honestly no.   Have I held my thoughts back at times, yes.   Once was during a private setting that would have only caused a lot of hurt.   It involved an old man who was a close friend of my parents and who was not going to change.   I just walked away.   Some may argue this is exactly where I need to speak up.   I hope we can just agree to disagree on this one.

It is easy to be in a crowd to voice an opinion.   However, when it is just you sitting around the table, are you willing to say what you really feel?   Do I understand where the Black Lives Matter movement comes from, yes I do.   Do I agree with everything they say, no.   Am I afraid of being labeled by not accepting everything, no.   I know I can bring reasoned arguments to my beliefs.

Will our nation be colorblind.   I doubt it, not with 300+ million people.   But, do I feel our legal and educational institutions can be, yes.   Will it take a lot of work and money, yes it will.   Is it worth it?   Absolutely!

The entire foundation of a democracy is that the collective society agrees to abide by a set of laws.   However, the laws need to be equally enforced.   Also, each member of society needs competent legal support.   That is just the legal system.   There are a multitude of other areas that need equality or at least an equal starting position.

I want to have that discussion about race. I don’t care if it gets uncomfortable.  All I care is that we hear and understand each other.  That we hear things from a different viewpoint or experience base can only make us a more informed society.