Privilege, Hatred and Division

Dear Friends,

I have been overwhelmed by the graphic videos of the killings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas and am writing this blog in an attempt to clarify my thoughts.

I was born and have lived a life of extreme privilege.  I am a white, male, financially well off, well educated, straight, raised Christian person.  In this country it does not get any better than that.  I was raised in an environment where there were no people of color.  It was not until I got to college that I had any classmates who were persons of color and then they inhabited a world different from mine.  It was ok to have Jewish friends, but Jewish doctors needed to start their own hospital because they could not get privileges at the "Christian" ones.  In fifth grade while writing a paper, I spoke with my father about hiring black people.  He said that he would be worried about hiring a black lawyer at his firm because many clients would object.  There was, of course, no talk of being gay, and I never saw the ghettos of North Minneapolis.

Overt racism, anti-sematism, homophobia, etc. has been eliminated from visibility in polite society, and our society has made progress at eliminating legal discrimination; but our society continues to be rife with racism and fear of "others".  Those of us with privilege and hence power in our society must be held accountable for permitting the continuation of this institutional fear of others.  The question is what can I do.

I do not know and cannot really imagine what it is like to be black (or gay or female or of some other persecuted class of people).  How can I learn to see the world as I would if I had been born a black male in a poor family in north Minneapolis without the privilege and opportunities that I have had?  I know I would not be where I am today.  While the video by Diamond Reynolds of the aftermath of the killing of Philando Castile is sickening and heartbreaking, it has done more to help me understand what it might be like to be black than any other thing I have seen or read.  But there must be a better way for me to understand.

I, and the rest of the society, must see, feel, believe and truly know that we are all human beings of equal worth who deserve respect, compassion, love and empathy.  It is possible that over time we can achieve that result as we all know and love people who are "other".  Unfortunately we do not have time.  We have squandered so many decades and so many opportunities to become one.  In recent years, we have become less of a community not more of one.  We think too much of ourselves and too little about each other.

I believe that the vast majority of people in our society want peace, justice, equal opportunity, love and happiness for all people.  Unfortunately, we in that group are failing to hold others accountable for their actions that fracture and divide our society.

For years the fringes of the Republican party have used racial dog whistles and other fear of "other" tactics to gain and maintain control.  The vast majority of the Republican Party who want an inclusive society have not held the fringe accountable and now they have Donald Trump and many of the Republican leaders are endorsing him.  The "good" Republicans must reclaim their party and put the fringe back on the fringe.

The vast majority of the people on the police forces are people who want an inclusive society and are members of the police force because they want to serve and protect the entire community.  Unfortunately, they have failed to hold the small minority of police officers who thrive on power, hatred, fear and division accountable for their actions.  The "good" police must reclaim the police forces everywhere and hold each other accountable.

The privileged white liberals (I include myself in this group) in general believe in an inclusive society free from hatred and fear of "other", but have failed to confront the issue with the full force of their privilege and power.  It is not enough for us to say and believe that we are all human beings and deserve respect, equal opportunity, etc.  We must use our privilege and power to rid our society of institutional racism and fear and hatred of "other".  We let the Democratic Party move to the right, to be controlled by monied interests.  We have failed to hold ourselves accountable for a government and a society that continues to be run and controlled by division, fear and hatred.

Governor Mark Dayton made history when he said of the killing of Philando Castile

Would this have happened if those passengers or driver were white? I don’t think it would have. 

Why is it that by saying what everybody already knew was true, Governor Dayton is making news?  I am afraid the answer is that we liberals have for some reason not been willing to fully acknowledge that driving while black can get you killed by the police because our society continues to be racist.  While I will never know what it is like to be black, I can stand up with all my whiteness and privilege and speak truth to power, and I can truly and intentionally listen to my fellow human beings who do not have the privilege that I do and join with them in their struggle because it is my struggle as well.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal