One issue that has bothered me since I was a teenager is racial injustice/white supremacy. I have written that I did not learn about racism and bigotry in my classrooms. What I learned came from independent reading. The more I read, the more disturbed I become about it. The catch word seems to be “woke.” I do not use the word for myself because it started in the Black community, a way of recognizing and looking out for acts of racism.
I am becoming increasingly aware of the injustices that surround me. I am increasingly aware of my own white privilege and the ability to go about my business without bigoted laws restricting me. It first hit me when I read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I noticed news stories highlighting the differences in treatment of people of color. This year I read Across That Bridge by the late Rep. John Lewis, The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
I read articles that focus on injustices not only against Black people but also any people of color: Native Americans, immigrants from the southern countries and from the Middle East. I saw the differences in the way we treated immigrants from South America and Afghanistan compared with refugees from Ukraine. The immigrants from South America or Afghanistan are not treated as well as the whites from Ukraine. Disgusting.
What set me off today was an article from NBC about a boarding school called Red Cloud. They are trying to right the wrongs the did to the Native American community. One of the actions they are taking is looking for the graves of Native American children buried there. These boarding schools were meant to kill Native American culture and indoctrinate them to join white society. That fact got my internal fires going. It brought back memories of my mother’s experience at a school that forbade the students the use of their own natural language and tried to force them to fit into the hearing world. What an awful thing to do to children.
Not too long ago, I saved an article from Daily Skimm about systemic racism. The article covered our history, detailing how we treated Black people until the civil rights movement. But despite all the gains, there is still racism built into our foundation. The article explained how things are now, and we still do not have equality across the board.
There was also an Arca Max opinion piece by Leonard Pitts called The Caucasity of Nope. I was chilled by these words:
“The word is a new coinage, a portmanteau of “Caucasian” and “audacity” denoting a brand of white arrogance and entitlement that has become tiresomely familiar in recent years. It often plays out in episodes — sometimes fatal — wherein some white person takes it upon themselves to police people of color who are just trying to live their lives.
“Nope,” it says, “you may not jog down that street without identifying yourself to me.”
“Nope, you may not barbecue in that park without justifying yourself to me.”
“Nope, you may not swim in that pool without explaining yourself to me.”
If last week’s headlines are any indication, there is now a new nope. It says, “You may not vote early in certain precincts without confronting me. And I will be armed.”” It brought back memories of Trayvon Martin killed just for walking through a gated white community and white people calling the police on Black people just going about their business. They were not doing anything wrong; the whites who called in complaints just did not like having people of color there.
This systemic racism is not only against Black people, immigrants of color, and Native Americans. In the dark souls of people who claim to be Christian is a hatred for the LGBTQ community. They are often the victims of vile invective, rejection, and now mass shootings. Just recently a shooter entered Club Q in Colorado Springs, a place in which the LGBTQ community could feel comfortable and accepted and began shooting people. Fortunately, a couple of brave patrons got the gun away from the shooter and beat him up, restraining him until the police arrived.
Following that came articles about how much the LGBTQ community has suffered over the years. I knew that “Christians” condemned the community. I thought it was stupid and hateful, but it did not register with me until a friend at my church confided that she was gay. She could not come out in the open because she would not be able to serve as a deacon anymore. That got me and I learned there was a group of church members who were afraid to come out.
It made me mad. My faith is wrapped in the New Testament. Jesus’ great commandment was to love God above all and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. There was no command to love only our white race. There was no “love all your neighbors except if they’re Black, brown, Native American, have a different faith, or of the LGBTQ community.” Fortunately, the leaders of my faith voted accepting members of the LGBTQ community.
Unfortunately, that did not extend to other evangelical, right wing conservative churches. My National Memo newsletter featured an article with the headline “Trump Lawyer Ellis: Club Q Victims Deserve ‘Eternal Damnation’”. How awful and disgusting is that? Her point was she did not know if any of the dead had found Jesus and if they did not, they were burning in Hell. Remember that good old saying: if you cannot say anything nice, do not say anything at all.
These people classify the LGBTQ folks as evil predatory groomers of young people. They think God and Jesus condone extramarital affairs and sexual predators if they are straight.
My feeling is that the LGBTQ community is more Christian than the christian nationalists. I give them a small c because I do not believe they follow Jesus’ teachings. Jesus supported the poorer, outcast people.
When he threw over the tables at the Temple, he was protesting against the upper classes who took advantage of the poorer people and defiled the Temple with their money-making stalls. The merchants and Pharisees Jesus disapproved of is very comparable to the GQP as it is now and to the billionaires who do not pay their fair share of taxes. Why should we lower classes pay more in taxes than billionaires?
I still hope we can change. The recent election gave the Democrats a thin win, but it was still a win. That is in part due to Gen Z, and that is where my hope is. Gen Z is made up of young people now 18-25 or so. Gen Z is much more diverse than my Boomer generation was. Like Boomers, they are not willing to take the status quo put into place by Newt Gingrich and Republicans thereafter. Whereas Boomers took to the streets to protest, Gen Z is much savvier and more than tech capable. They have conducted peaceful rallies, but I think much of their action is done through their phones and their votes.
Gen Z is proactive in signing their younger peers up to vote in the future. In 2024, Gen Z teens who are now juniors and seniors will be able to vote too.
Because Gen Z is so diverse, I am also hoping that they can break down the systemic racism. It must start with the kids, preschoolers. The teachers need to be free to explore diverse cultures and different abilities so that the little ones become accepting of each other. As they get older, they should learn the painful but true history of this country. How else can there be change in the system without understanding its roots?
One more book keeps my flame of hope going: Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall & Douglas Abrams. I wish christian nationalists and young people would read the books I did. Reading them could open eyes, as they did for me.
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