She seems not to know that we all want to be judged not by the color of our skin but by the lives we lead.
A lot of white people have done far more to achieve the goals of racial justice than she has. And some of them were probably in that crowd. Because a lot of the work that has been done that has moved our country from institutionalized segregation and the deprivation of rights at almost any level for Black people -- segregated bus seating, segregated schools, segregated drinking fountains, Jim Crow in every aspect of life, segregated neighborhoods, menial labor only for Black people, all the things I remember from the 1950s, to at least the point where police killings and racial profiling by police are viewed as problems to be solved, was done by committed white people working with their Black brothers and sisters.
Last night at the Bernie event, I met an elegant white lady who did not look like the stereotype Bernie supporter. I asked her why she was there. She said she had been a social worker all her life. We looked at each other with a knowing look. Two white women, each knowing more than either of us really would like to know about the misery in the world. That woman and I are not young. We have seen the wrongs and done what we could to make the world better. We agree that it is Bernie who has the simplicity, the directness, the dedication to actually make some changes in our society. We have walked the walk and we know how hard that is.
When I was 24, i thought I knew everything. I had ideals, hopes and dreams and I thought I could achieve so much more than my parents' generation had.
I did not realize that others older than me had paved the way for me, that I would be able to move just a little further toward achieving my dream of a just society because other dedicated people had paved the way for me. I did not realize that the world is not nearly as simple as I believed. I did not understand how hard it is to achieve justice, how many hurdles you have to jump, how many times you will fall, how hurt you can be, how what you have achieved will be disdained by those who follow you and take what you did for granted.
There are a lot of white people out there who have made lifting the poor regardless of race, visiting prisons, helping the sick and sacrificing for justice, their life's purpose. There are many black people who have done the same.
One day, this young woman will look back at what she did in Seattle and realize that she did not invent the civil rights movement and that she is part of history but does not dominate it. It takes slow, steady work, one person at a time, one police officer, one judge, one district attorney, one hand reached out to someone in need, one journalist, one Congressman, one policeman, one person at a time to make change. And that is why change comes slowly and then suddenly it is there and you can finally measure it. But that sudden change was actually slow in coming, one hand reaching to another, lifting the other up, over time.
We do need justice, and we need it now, but to get it we have to be united. Anything that detracts from uniting our energy around our goals of justice, both with regard to race and to economics, with regard to the rights of women, children, working people, students, all groups that are the victims of injustice just increases the injustice for all.
Young people need to appreciate the sacrifices that older people of all races have made to at least get a world in which they, the young people, can carry the torch of justice a bit further.
I said I would not post on race issues any more. So many of those who post on these issues don't know what they are talking about, can't distinguish friend from foe. It's pitiful.
Right now, the first order of business is to get Black voters and young voters to vote in mid-term elections. Congress presents and passes the laws. And if Black Lives Matters thinks that the Democratic candidates for the White House are a problem, they need to think again. Because it is the Republicans in their state and federal legislatures who are the real impediments to police and justice reform. And when Black voters refuse to support progressive candidates because of the color of their skin, and when Black voters stay home at mid-term elections, they seal their own fate. They should not be accusing people who have fought for their rights. They should be getting out and voting. I realize that DUers are voters. I'm talking about people in our communities who don't vote unless it is a presidential election. We have to end that. That is the impediment to real reform.
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