Racism in America Is Very White

Racism in America is real and blatant and until white America recognizes it and does something about it, it will continue, mostly unchecked. George Floyd's arrest and murder is just the latest high profile example of this unbridled racism and of racist actions by public police authorities.

We have to accept that racism in America is baked into the daily routines and actions by those in authority and that this is being done in our names as white Americans. We've seen it enough. The examples are all over the place and they continue every day. But it all comes from someplace. Belief in superiority, inferiority, threats to or against women as property, manhood.

Think about what we've seen in the past few weeks. A young, black jogger,  tracked, followed, challenged, harassed and shot in a white neighborhood. Then a white woman in Central Park being asked to leash her dog in an area where leashing is required. The person making the request was a black man, following every social norm imaginable. The woman's response was to threaten him, using her whiteness and his blackness in a call to 911, and she does just that, believing it would bring the weight of authoritarianism down on this man. A black man threatening a white woman, the basis for so much historical racism. All of this followed by George Floyd being stopped, arrested and killed by a police knee on his neck while he pleaded for a breath.

Mr. Floyd's death is criminal and the racism that led to it is criminal. My eyes and brain are in fact the judge and jury because our justice system continues to fail black Americans. Please be honest with yourselves. If you had passed a $20 counterfeit bill in your hometown or even if you were traveling out of town, would multiple police cars show up? Would you be dragged and put against a wall while you protested? Would you end up on the ground with a knee on your neck and a police officer taunting you, threatening you to get up or resist more? You know the answer as well as I do. No, this is racism in America today and it doesn't happen to you or me.

The fact that these officers, who caused Mr. Floyd's death, have not been arrested is another example of the racism and police authority that continues to threaten our country and our people. The lack of police accountability is blamed on union contracts, poorly written policies and procedures or the need for never ending investigations. What is wrong with municipal leaders, police chiefs and district attorneys along with rank and file police officers? Are they blind or are they just fulfilling a long accepted practice of making excuses for authoritarian racism? And yes, people had to force justice's hand in every other case through videos and/or eyewitness accounts.

Until white Americans speak out and do something about these practices and incidences of racism that take place every day in our names, all of this will continue. We have a responsibility to force the change that needs to happen. You know it's there. You know it's happening. Speak up whenever and wherever you can.