General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Dear Whiny White People: Great rant from a Native American Facebook friend [View all]Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Your not being able to vote due your British accent is one thing. I understand that, especially working with a good number Brits here in D.C. who have been working on obtaining citizenship for years.
But there's another side to this: There are Hispanic Americans--born and raised here with no accent--who are routinely harassed and accused of being "illegals" when they are as American as American pie. They are denied their citizenship rights. That is racism no matter which way the pie is sliced. Many Hispanic Americans are stopped while driving or walking, prevented from entering certain places, and are racially profiled.
I guess this is to say that we have much more in common than we think.
The underlying problem in my mind is that we must start to listen to each other's stories and not be so quick to dismiss them.
I appreciate that you understand what I face on a daily basis. It doesn't matter that I sit here with two Masters Degrees and a doctorate from Ivy League institutions, and yet, I can still expect to be followed when I go into a shopping mall. Of course my parents and their parents and their parents before them had it much worse than I, but still...
We must be willing to listen to these stories and learn from them.
The Trayvon Martin case has affected me very deeply as I'm sure it has many people, particularly in the black community. What do we tell our children? How should we teach them to behave in public, not just when confronted by authorities, but by ANYONE who could potentially cause harm? What should they wear? How should they speak? Should they run? Walk? Scream? Remain calm? Call the police, lest the police believe them anyway?
These conversations that we have on a daily basis with our children are not had by white families (at least not to my knowledge). And so, in order to bring awareness, our white friends who say they truly care about racial progress and justice must at least be willing to hear those stories and not becoming defensive or dismissive of them. This is not about white guilt. It's about learning and understanding, or at least trying to.
On the other hand, I am seeing that the black community is making tremendous progress on the LGBT issue. And as a proud daughter of a gay father, I am thrilled that that progress is moving faster than I ever thought it would. And say what you will about Barack Obama, but I do think his coming around to support marriage equality has been a major catalyst for that, along with the support of many in the black clergy, political circles, power levers, advocacy and education.
We still have a long way to go on all of these issues, but I do think we have come such a long way.
Now the challenge is not allowing the Teabaggers and the racists who are fighting to the death to keep legalized bigotry intact to win. All they want to do is divide and conquer us, and we cannot allow that to happen!!!