Processing racism

It's the Monday following the atrocities in Charlottesville, Virginia and I am still trying to process what it means—to me and to the country. Charlottesville is a long way from Oregon, but Oregon has its own history of racial intolerance, so really, we have much in common.

I have been consuming news and Twitter for three days now, and much has been said that is good, even powerful. One phrase I saw over and over again. "This is not who we are." "This is not America."

I find that one distinctly odd, because of course this is who we are. We are a racist culture and we have been throughout our history. Our founders were slave owners. We fought a war to end slavery but white supremacy and white privilege never ceased.

Our current president and many of his staff and cabinet are known racists, yet we elected him, our senators confirmed his cabinet. The white supremacists/Nazis who marched in Charlottesville are outspoken fans of this president, and he has served them well; he has made it easier for them to come out from under their hoods and show us who they are.

I am happy there were people standing up to the KKK and the Nazis in Charlottesville, and I hope people will continue to stand up and speak out. But that alone will not end racism. That will not end intolerance. It will take more than that. It will take accepting who we really are—we are racists. If we're white, we must admit and own white privilege, and deny white supremacy.

Charles M. Blow, a black columnist writing in the New York Times, said today on Twitter, in response to others saying Black people must speak out: "I did not create America's racial caste system. I don't maintain it. I do not benefit from it. People in those categories need to dismantle it . . ." He also said, "Curing racism is not my job." I agree. It's the job of white people, because we put it in place, we allowed it, we turned a blind eye to it.

It will take listening, really listening to people of color to cure racism. And it will require paying attention to politics, to the people we elect and the sometimes hidden messages in their campaigns. We must think and read before we vote. We must change the way we teach history, the way we make laws, and the way we enforce them. Only political will can do this.

Charlottesville showed us nothing new, it just made it easier to see. I think it's possible to overcome this horror, but it will be painful, and slow. And we must begin with this. We must acknowledge who we really are. America is a racist country and those of us who are white all contribute to maintaining that racism. If we can acknowledge that—and I know it's hard—I think we are halfway there.