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.

Justice and freedom

Much as I try to keep news and politics out of the blog, there are some topics I can't ignore. Yesterday George Zimmerman was declared not guilty of shooting Trayvon Martin. Today the New York Times reports that in the last 12 hours over a million tweets were sent on this subject. I received some of those, and I agreed with most of them. This verdict was a travesty. We must, if we believe in the rule of law, accept that jury's decision. But we don't have to accept the NRA-sponsored laws and the social constructs that encouraged Zimmerman's actions. Those can be changed, with determination and hard work. But personally, I am ashamed of Florida and ashamed of this country. It's the 21st century and we're still struggling to end racism? What's it going to take?

As a woman I find it equally frustrating that this week in Texas they voted to limit abortion to 20 weeks and severely reduce access to clinics that provide abortion and other health services for Texas women. Yes, there will still be five clinics left open—in a state that that covers 268,820 square miles and has a population of 26.1 million residents. Texas residents have the highest uninsured rate in the country (nearly 29 percent, in 2012, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index), and Medicaid is closed to anyone earning more than $196 a month, so how low-income women are going to get help is a mystery.

Legislators declared that they're "protecting" women and the unborn, though without doubt some women will now die from botched abortions. And should they decide to have the child, they can't count on help or medical care for it either. Governor Perry has so far refused to participate in the Affordable Care Act, which would expand Medicaid.

Those on the right see all this as a reflection of true freedom. They deplore government intervention in all its forms, but think it's fine to dictate to women when it comes to health and personal decisions. If it weren't so serious it would be laughable, since many of these men don't appear to have a clue as to how women's bodies work.

Since one definition of freedom is the right of self-determination, I wonder how our freedom-loving legislators justify their thinking. Depriving women or blacks of their right to determine their personal lives (which includes going for Skittles and getting an abortion) while at the same time promoting "freedom," is contradictory, stupid, racist, and anti-woman. Are we really in the 21st century?