Racism Is a Festering Abscess

Picture credit, Rod Long

 Is racism over?

If we don't teach the lessons of the past, will they just go away. 

Two quotes that tell us that the fight against hate is hardly over...

The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.

Toni Morrison

As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

The MAGAs have been picking at this wound since before they became associated with the name MAGA and Donald Trump. It is now open and festering. The healing begins in each of us. We need to learn how to love one another no matter their skin color, their faith, their sexual orientation, their age, or their disability. Are we capable of this? Can we set aside our prejudices? Will we be allowed to learn from our past? 

I think we can. It starts with awareness. Dare I say, woke? Then we must teach our children well.