Do you think that people will get used to a world that recognizes genders outside of the traditional gender binary, when in America, people can't even get used to a country in which race doesn't determine the success of a man, child, or community?
I have been raised to think the people are generally good at heart. My mother taught me you get more flies with honey than with shit, The Bible taught me to treat others the way I want to be treated, and media dumps happy endings and "love conquers all" plots on society form a population of people who generally believe that good conquers evil and everyone lives happily ever after.
Three days ago, Dylann Roof killed nine black Americans after Bible Study at Emmanual AME Church in Charleston, my hometown. I will admit, when I first heard the of the shooting, my first thought was, "This was not about race". Oh, was I wrong. Not only was the massacre about race, but it was an attempt to reclaim White Supremacy in the US and a call for action-- a "race war'. The irony of the slain is that for Black Americans, the race war is a war that we have been fighting for centuries. Yesterday was Juneteenth and marked one hundred and fifty years that Black Americans have celebrated their freedom as Americans and not slaves.
Black Americans have been shouting that change will come for hundreds of years, and some change has come. There is not doubt of the evolution of Americans in the last one hundred and fifty years-- but the pain that penetrates through me right as I write this blog comes from the fear that mahierarchal change--complete change-- won't come.
Racism exists in America, both subconsciously and blatantly. The subconscious racist get scared when they see a person of middle eastern decent at the airport and get scared when they see a hooded black male near their car. The blatant racist uses the N word and other derogatory language to demean people they feel are inferior to them and kill people simply because of their race. While racism exists, race is not always the leading issue in every situation. In the Charleston Shooting, race was the issue, but even bigger than race, the shooting addressed the issue of hierarchy in this country.
Racial equality will never be achieved in America because it is impossible to have equality with a hierarchical structure in place. One cannot construct equality without deconstructing the system that serves as the primary benefactor of a group socially specified as the best and the other group busting their asses to be exactly like group in control. Everyone wants a stencil to draw their own individually mimicked life. Everyone's different looks exactly the same.
I hate that I have come to the realization that the people in America have sondeeply internalized the hierarchy of rich white patriarchy, that they have become mindless drones produced to continuously serve the system that advances the country. We can't get rid of the system without getting rid of the thing we love about the system (i.e. capitalism).
So what are we to do? Continue to fight or give up? I am perplexed and seriously contemplating the future and my community.
I have been raised to think the people are generally good at heart. My mother taught me you get more flies with honey than with shit, The Bible taught me to treat others the way I want to be treated, and media dumps happy endings and "love conquers all" plots on society form a population of people who generally believe that good conquers evil and everyone lives happily ever after.
Three days ago, Dylann Roof killed nine black Americans after Bible Study at Emmanual AME Church in Charleston, my hometown. I will admit, when I first heard the of the shooting, my first thought was, "This was not about race". Oh, was I wrong. Not only was the massacre about race, but it was an attempt to reclaim White Supremacy in the US and a call for action-- a "race war'. The irony of the slain is that for Black Americans, the race war is a war that we have been fighting for centuries. Yesterday was Juneteenth and marked one hundred and fifty years that Black Americans have celebrated their freedom as Americans and not slaves.
Black Americans have been shouting that change will come for hundreds of years, and some change has come. There is not doubt of the evolution of Americans in the last one hundred and fifty years-- but the pain that penetrates through me right as I write this blog comes from the fear that mahierarchal change--complete change-- won't come.
Racism exists in America, both subconsciously and blatantly. The subconscious racist get scared when they see a person of middle eastern decent at the airport and get scared when they see a hooded black male near their car. The blatant racist uses the N word and other derogatory language to demean people they feel are inferior to them and kill people simply because of their race. While racism exists, race is not always the leading issue in every situation. In the Charleston Shooting, race was the issue, but even bigger than race, the shooting addressed the issue of hierarchy in this country.
Racial equality will never be achieved in America because it is impossible to have equality with a hierarchical structure in place. One cannot construct equality without deconstructing the system that serves as the primary benefactor of a group socially specified as the best and the other group busting their asses to be exactly like group in control. Everyone wants a stencil to draw their own individually mimicked life. Everyone's different looks exactly the same.
I hate that I have come to the realization that the people in America have sondeeply internalized the hierarchy of rich white patriarchy, that they have become mindless drones produced to continuously serve the system that advances the country. We can't get rid of the system without getting rid of the thing we love about the system (i.e. capitalism).
So what are we to do? Continue to fight or give up? I am perplexed and seriously contemplating the future and my community.
