While I agree with this 100%, I am going to do a little bit of what my Grandma used to call "splitting hairs"!! I think "ALL" is an absolute word to make an obvious point. I think it is time for us to admit that SOME cops really are bad, SOME blacks really are thugs and SOME whites really are racist.
We love and respect our police officers and what they do and what they stand for and well we should. Because of their sacrifice, we want to go above and beyond to give them the benefit of the doubt in all situations. But the fact remains, that some of the boys in blue are simply grown up bullies off the playground. While most are noble, honorable men who are there to protect and serve, some use their uniform as an excuse to victimize others. The 16 y/o run away who was "rescued" by 2 officers, so she thought.....until they raped her. The wife who was brutally murdered by her officer husband, who had threatened it for years. The cop who married my birth mom, then beat her senseless for several months until she could find a way to escape. No one would believe her because he was the local "good ol' boy". I have had my own run-ins with a variety of officers in routine traffic stops. Most were respectful and wrote me out the well earned ticket with extreme professionalism. A few, unfortunately, left me wishing I had a little more recourse to seek justice against them. Bad cops are bad, not because of their victims, but because they choose that out of the evil in their own hearts. The uniform becomes an excuse. Those that are good cops train for situations and react in response to a situation, regardless of race, gender, or class. They are good because they hold themselves to a high moral code and take their oath as a grave responsibility. These are the men and women in blue that I salute. Thank you for your service.
We say that we believe that not all blacks are thugs, but secretly we think that if a black person is not a thug, then they are the rare exception to the rule. And if those "exceptions" still express frustration, grief or anger over racial inequalities, then we consider them reactionary. Unfortunately, the sad truth is that a significantly higher number of blacks live in poverty and have lower levels of education and employment. They are more likely to have single parent homes or instances of family members raising children, instead of parents. They are also, statistically speaking more likely to choose lives of violence and crime. Thankfully there a those who have chosen to rise above the statistics and work hard for the good of all. While we have made great strides in our country in the area of civil rights, we have not arrived yet. Both sides have a lot to learn. A lot to forgive. A lot to let go of. When I was a child I longed to be black; not just darker skinned, but really dark black! How differently my life would have been if childhood wishes came true! While my outer skin has remained white, in my heart and behavior I have always sought to be understanding, as much as possible, of people with different skin colors and the situations they face. Blacks in our country have family histories that deal with issues I will never experience. This history has shaped their perceptions of whites and this country. It takes courage to forgive generations of injustice, especially when it would seem that at times there is no repentance for wrongs done. But I would humbly ask our black citizens to consider the many whites who sacrificed their lives and homes to fight for freedom and justice for all through the Underground Railroad, the Abolitionist Movement, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's and the legal battles since then. Thankfully we now live in a nation where anyone of any color can choose to work hard, overcome poverty, live by higher moral codes and become anything they want. I would encourage each one to choose forgiveness and remember those times when each race left their comfort zone and built a better nation together.
When it comes to our own white skin, we seem to think that racism is limited to the Ku Klux Clan and skinheads. We refuse to admit that a lot of everyday white people harbor racism in their own hearts. The white pastor who refuses to marry a bi-racial couple. The father who tells his children (jokingly, of course) that if they touch a black child the color will rub off on them. The store clerk who follows a black person around, expecting something to be stolen. The upstanding businessman who referred to my husband's black friend and equal co-worker as "Brian's boy" or when the two of them were doing an equal job and the lady slipped my husband a couple hundred extra dollars, saying, "I know you are really the one in charge, doing most of the work." (Which was not true and my husband just split it with his friend after they left.) Most of these people would not consider themselves racist....and yet....... It is time for the white community to stop patting ourselves on the back for all that we have done and work on changing our hearts, not according to political opinion or talk show rhetoric, but as human beings. It is time for us to acknowledge that the wounds of our nation are shared with each of our citizens regardless of color. We are as much a part of the problem and the solution as the next person. I would challenge those of us with white skin to let go of preconceived notions of race relations and reach out. Get out of your comfort zone, forget about our differences, join hands as Americans, and work together to bring healing. Who knows? Maybe some of that color *would* rub off on us! And we would all be better for it.
In closing, I am reminded of how grateful I am that this great American Patchwork is not all one color! We are a woven pattern of black, white, tan, brown, blue, and green, all bound to life by the same red blood flowing in our veins. Last evening we were at our local town festival. We stood and cheered when our police officers went through the parade. We are grateful for their sacrifice and service. Later in the evening, we bought a delicious slab of BBQ ribs from a black lady in her food truck. She was wearing a Martin Luther King t-shirt that proclaimed, "Pray for Peace". I couldn't agree more.
