Sunday, June 14, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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As a white man who studies this nation’s history, I am weary of the selfish ignorance of my race that permits this burning down of America to continue.
The term “racist” applies to so many white people these days, many at the top of our government, that it is no longer effective to label people as such.
George Floyd was murdered by police; also murdered were Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Sean Reed, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Eric Harris, Eric Garner, etc., inciting public unrest in each case.
White people do not experience this type of systemic injustice, and since it’s not happening to them, the need to fix it isn’t especially important to them. Since many white people haven’t figured this out, let me drop thisnugget of wisdom: If your first words about such a tragedy are, “I’m really sad that an unarmed black man was killed again” but follow it up with “but those thugs shouldn’t be burning, rioting, and looting,” then you’re either racist, ignorant or uncaring.
Fix the former and the latter doesn’t happen. It’s that simple. The killings open many negative social dynamics. No one reading this, in their entire lifetime, has ever witnessed a riot occurring without some form of systemic social injustice occurring first. It matters not who is rioting, burning and looting — none of that happens without injustice.
The entire world is now protesting America’s human rights violations against its own people. Think about that.
