Racism is a two way street...

Video credited to AmericanForum

After roughly 200 years of being hated, I am supposed to just forgive all that my ancestors and myself have endured? … I am supposed to say let’s all get along grab hands with the oppressors and sing a song? … I am supposed to forget that my identity issues, due to lack of heritage exist and persist because of another race of people? …

OK let’s say I did, let’s say I could wave some magic wand and all was forgiven…Does that also mean that the 200 plus years of purposeful conditioning towards me, and my race, will also vanish? Does this mean you won’t teach your children to identify with people that look like them? Does it also mean that you won’t avoid people that look like me? Does it also mean that you will respect my culture, even learn it to learn more about me? Does it also mean that you will purposely condition your friends, family, and the world around you to reverence me?

For the last 200 years in America, African Americans have been hated, degraded, made infamous, and robbed at the same time. Rather than emphasizing the hatred, degradation, and infamy, I would just say look around you watch the news, listen to how your friends talk about us, pay attention to the shows you watch and the movies you pay for… We have been Robbed of our history and robbed of our culture. Now, after we have lived, loved, and supported so many others regardless of race, creed or color we demand restitution or at least acknowledgment attached to a real path to healing. Today we are told to let the past go, to forgive, to move on without accountability and correction of the past. Much like the Jews were told to forgive and forget, much like the survivors of 9/11 were told to get over it, much like you would tell a rape victim or a murder survivor…

Photo credited to memegenerator,net

Wait that’s not right… None of those groups have ever been told to get over it, and they witnessed accountability in action and ongoing corrections are made. Surely you don’t expect us to forget about it…how can we? How can we act as if decades of attacks on our character, intelligence, moral fortitudes, and contributions to mankind be so easily forgiven? A good portion of American history depicts a level of hatred towards us as a way of life. Which means even if we can find a way to forgive, we are still forced to live in the aftermath of what melanin deficient Americans have been taught about us, and in turn what they have propagated to the world.

My Point is this… How can society ask black people to let go of the past, and only look to the future when the past has consequences and lasting effects on how blacks both view the world and how the world views us? Most people say, “I am not racist”, however, how could you say you aren’t if you can’t even identify racism in yourself because bias exists in everyone.

this is original work by Daddyk314

Interested in learning more? Check out this article about hidden biases by Stephen Friedman LCSW;
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/contemporary-psychoanalysis-in-action/201706/hidden-bias-and-racism