We Can Never Be Done Learning
What if you were done learning after high school? Or after college? Or after you became a parent? Or after you retired? At what point in your life is it ok to stop learning?
Every time we are presented with new info we have three options: Shoot it down, hear it and ignore it, or do something with it. At what age should either of the first two options be your go to?
A lot of white people don't like that they are being called racists right now. Most of us are good people, don't say racial slurs, and know that overt racism is wrong. So that means we aren't racist, right? If we didn't ask for the privileges we’ve been given, that clears our names, right?
Well...not quite. Because we, my white friends, have benefited from our country's rich & thorough history of racism. Beyond the huge historical issues of real estate redlining, inequality in bank loans, & hugely disproportionate incarceration rates, there are much smaller things that we forget about. For example, who wrote the books you learned from? Who approved the curriculum you were taught? Who controlled what you learned at a time where you did not know any better?
White friends, we were taught a version of history that made us feel comfortable. And who doesn't like comfort? Give me a rocking chair, a sweet tea, a cool breeze and I'm set! Comfort in the mind is not the best, however. As your brain relaxes it closes and doesn't think it needs to learn anymore. That's dangerous. We can never be done learning. Which means we can never be done questioning what we know.
So I ask you, my fellow fair-skinned folx, what are you going to do now? We have been reminded (yet again) that racism is alive & well in the United States. It is not in the past, like our history books comfortably made us believe. It's not just a few bad people who we ignore at family gatherings. It's not just one or two police officers that need a little more training. It's pretty much all white Americans. We all need to get uncomfortable with the idea that we may each be a little racist. Because if we are uncomfortable with it – maybe we will finally do something about it. #blacklivesmatter