A Message To My White Brothers & Sisters
BY ETHAN ABERCROMBIE
On a Monday in June, peaceful protesters gathered in the plaza of St. John's Church and Lafayette Park. Simultaneously, these protesters were forced aside by U.S. Park Police and D.C. National Guard through the use of physical force and tear gas, President Trump made his way to St. John’s Episcopal church for a photo-op. Many of the Black and Brown majority protesters were injured whilst the event went on by authorities, and this is not the only instance. This is seen to be true as so many other Black Lives Matter protests have been disrupted through the use of police force, sometimes lethal.
Following, just recently the United States Capitol building was breached by insurrectionist, right-wing extreme, domestic terrorists, who made up an overwhelming majority-white population. Police used little to no force to stop them, as the terrorists, some even displaying flags of the confederacy and Nazism, made their way into our Capitol midway through a joint election hearing, protesting on the notion and biased falsehoods that our election was “stolen” [from Fmr. President, and second-term candidate, Donald Trump]. This is just one of the many strong examples of what we face as a nation regarding systemic racism both implicitly and explicitly, as actions taken by the same forces who used to tear gas peaceful protesters, were not used on domestic terrorists whose threats posed a great deal of danger to the lives of our political leaders, local citizens, our country as a whole, and our democracy. The chances are, if these terrorists were Black or Brown, they would have been shot.
Systemic Racism affects all walks of life of any individual simply for the color of their skin. This can range from explicit racism, such as advocating for white supremacists, or implicit, such as condoning comments one hears and choosing not to speak up, making them a “systemic bystander”. To add, people of color are disproportionately affected by discrimination in housing leading to residential segregation and an unfair disadvantage within educational opportunities. This then ultimately creates a lack of opportunities throughout the years hindering the obtainability of future careers, thus preventing stable income from jobs with a required educational background.
As a whole, this is something that we as a community need to address and take ownership of. My white brothers and sisters need to come to terms and realize, the community is not met until amends have been made, and working towards common ground results from that. For us to accomplish these goals, we need to be made self-aware, realizing our mistakes and stereotypes that we’ve been given holding white privilege, and accept personal and constructive criticism, taking the action yourself to move forward as a new individual. We need to look at how we build relationships, choosing to be inclusive but embrace diversity, as being “colorblind” suppresses our identities of who we are and what we’ve experienced. Lastly, promote inclusive environments, social accountability, and equity to provide equal opportunity for all, regardless of the color of skin.
(minor stylistic changes from the original)
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Thank you Ethan for this submission!
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