What Grinds My Gears: Racism in America
This week’s post comes to you from my husband, Derek. He has dubbed it a “What Grinds My Gears” post and I expect this might become a regular occurrence. (Turns out, a lot grinds his gears.)
Full disclosure: I didn’t contribute to the content of this post, but I did contribute to the semantics. Those of you who know me well will recognize my style, though I tried to let his voice stay at the heart of it- including some lines he insisted stay exactly as he said them, like the first one.
I am speaking out because I am white and I have a penis and that means our society places a higher value on what I have to say. It’s ridiculous but I am taking advantage of that because what I have to say is important and I need you to hear it.
Racism is a problem in America. It is impossible to deny and irresponsible to ignore. But the only thing more dangerous than ignoring it is criticizing it. You can’t say, “Well yes, racism is a problem in this country but rioting and looting isn’t the way to fix it” and then “people have a right to protest but they should do it peacefully” and then criticize NFL players who peacefully protest by kneeling during the national anthem. If you think that those players are disrespecting the military you are missing the point. They aren’t protesting the existence of the military. They aren’t protesting war. They are utilizing the greatest power we have as Americans, the one our brave military men and women fought for and continue to fight for- the right to free speech. They are protesting a society that says black lives are less than.
NFL players are utilizing a platform available to them to bring awareness to an important issue. I am not a professional athlete. I don’t have a platform with anywhere near the scope they have. But we all have a platform somewhere and today this blog is mine.
N.W.A released “Fuck Tha Police” in 1988. Whether you agree with that particular tactic of protest against police brutality or not, it was a desperate response to what felt like a hopeless situation. Nearly 20 years later and I’m still seeing a disproportionate number of black men killed by police and that is bullshit.
I’m not going to try to convince you that racism is a problem. Other people have already written about that. I strongly encourage you to read their words, but I will not try to repeat them. (Links below.) Instead I am going to ask that if you are white, and particularly male, to recognize that you have privilege and that privilege comes with an obligation to speak out against injustice. The benefit of our privilege is that we don’t have to speak. Being a passive quiet bystander is much easier. Likely, I will never get shot during a traffic stop or even fear getting shot during a traffic stop. If I have a son someday I will never have to fear how he interacts with police. It’s easy to let jokes with racist undertones slide when my friends make them. It’s easy to roll my eyes and sigh and ignore it when someone responds to the Black Lives Matter movement with, “But, all lives matter!” (Seriously though, stop doing that. If you wouldn’t go to a lung cancer rally and be like, “But all cancer matters!” then don’t do it in this context either. Obviously all lives matter, but that isn’t what we are talking about right now.)
Here is the thing: I can’t take the easy way out anymore and neither can you. Racism in America needs to be acknowledged and addressed. “Preach to the choir. It is how you inspire them to sing.” (West Wing, Aaron Sorkin) I know there are other white men who agree with me, who understand the importance of facing racism head on even if it doesn’t affect us. We can’t be silent any longer. This is me preaching. Join me and sing.
– Derek
Here are some links to check out:
U.S. Veterans Standing With Colin Kaepernick
We Need To Talk About Race In America
How Many Black People Have Been Killed Since NFL Protests Started
Judy
September 22, 2016Nice job Derek. You brought up important points. I am perplexed about the reaction of people towards an NFL player who is just exercising his free speech rights, who in the process is not harming anyone. If people want to be outraged they really have enough to be outraged about: black men being shot by police; a banking system that is still unregulated, pharmacuetal companies predatory practices.
I sometimes think that our priveleged class wants to play the victum. Whoa is me and who are you to suggest that you may have it worst and blame me to boot. “If only you would work and behave like me you would not get shot or you would have a good paying job.” Bullshit- I am grateful that I was born in this priveleged class in a country that has afforded me certain rights, as my life is easier because of it. I also know that given time my descendents will no longer have this privilege so I had better treat others today as I would want my descendents to be treated. Sorry I blathered on.