Tuesday, October 10, 2017

More Thoughts on Historical Racism


There was an incident on campus yesterday, I guess “in honor” of Columbus Day, where someone painted racial slurs on a space sacred to Native Americans. It really bothers me that people would do such things, and then they say, “There is no more racism in this country. So stop talking about it.” Really, people are posting things like that on social media. They say talking about racism is what’s causing it. I just say imagine that you had a nice house, and I stole it from you and said, “Tough, it’s mine now – I’m stronger and better, so that’s God’s will.” Or imagine that I dragged you to another town that you had no connection to at all, and I made you get a demeaning job, and then I stole your paychecks. Now imagine I had a daughter and she was still benefitting from everything I stole from you. Would you be satisfied if she said, “That was my mother who did that – I’m innocent”? Wouldn’t you still want your house back, or your lost wages? All this time later, I am not sure exactly how we would calculate what is owed to the people who had so much stolen from them, but we still have their houses and stolen wages, and some people say it’s ridiculous that they even want an apology, never mind what is rightfully theirs. I think if you can’t understand their anger, you are not trying very hard. To me the problem is painfully obvious.

Famous Hat

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