Thank you for your thoughtful insights, honesty, and bravery in speaking up. You're right...it's the least we can do. I'm trying to be a better human being, but I've had so many years thinking I was better, only to discover that I really just did the very least to be a good man. Your introspect is inspiring and prods me to do, and be, so much better in this world I share with everyone else.
Well said, if a trifle over the top in the sense that people may find it daunting. Shortly after becoming aware of my inward racism some years ago, when I thought I was free of it (intellectually at least), I heard another white man say that he was at best a recovering racist (like a recovering alcoholic - recovering but never escaping racism). I realized that was/is the best I can say. I continue with my recovery, do the best I can, learn from my mistakes (we make them), learn from others, listen to my Inward Guide. It may indeed seem daunting, but every little bit of my racism that I can let go of/recover from feels like a liberating load lifted. So keep up the struggle, Friends. It is long and fraught, but the rewards are great for ourselves and for others, and for the world.
Yes, it's important to speak up, and I encourage others to speak up even if they disagree with me about the topic at hand. If you think that there's a big problem in the US with white men killing innocent Black men, I want you to speak up. If you think that the African American community is the most successful African-descended population in the history of the world, I want you to speak up. Sometimes I've been harassed & disciplined for speaking up, but so be it.
Thank you for your thoughtful insights, honesty, and bravery in speaking up. You're right...it's the least we can do. I'm trying to be a better human being, but I've had so many years thinking I was better, only to discover that I really just did the very least to be a good man. Your introspect is inspiring and prods me to do, and be, so much better in this world I share with everyone else.
Well said, if a trifle over the top in the sense that people may find it daunting. Shortly after becoming aware of my inward racism some years ago, when I thought I was free of it (intellectually at least), I heard another white man say that he was at best a recovering racist (like a recovering alcoholic - recovering but never escaping racism). I realized that was/is the best I can say. I continue with my recovery, do the best I can, learn from my mistakes (we make them), learn from others, listen to my Inward Guide. It may indeed seem daunting, but every little bit of my racism that I can let go of/recover from feels like a liberating load lifted. So keep up the struggle, Friends. It is long and fraught, but the rewards are great for ourselves and for others, and for the world.
... to take the lives of non-white people.
Each item in your list belongs on a daily checklist, magneted to the refrigerator and taken as seriously as daily vitamins or supplements.
Yes, it's important to speak up, and I encourage others to speak up even if they disagree with me about the topic at hand. If you think that there's a big problem in the US with white men killing innocent Black men, I want you to speak up. If you think that the African American community is the most successful African-descended population in the history of the world, I want you to speak up. Sometimes I've been harassed & disciplined for speaking up, but so be it.