I had a fundamental shift in my thinking tonight. I’ve been racking my brain, praying, and meditating about what we (as a family) should do about systemic racism. Maybe I’m late to the party here, but my perspective shifted when I changed my thinking from, “What do we do?” to “What role do I play in the problem?”
That’s a pretty broad question, and an easy one to let go in one ear and out the other if you consider yourself to not be racist. Here are some examples of how I (maybe “we”) are passively perpetuating racism:
- Do I allow certain comments from friends and/or family members go unchecked? Instead of speaking up, do I turn my head and let off-color comments and hurtful words slide because I don’t want to stir up trouble with someone I know?
- Do I blindly take advantage of white privilege? Do I even recognise white privilege when it’s happening?
- Am I engaging with people who are different than me?
- What areas of my life are most racially segregated and why? Church and school certainly come to mind (not just ours, but we see this as we travel and visit other churches all other the country).
- Do I use terms like “they” and “them?”
- Do I think that it’s someone else’s problem?
- Do I think my efforts won’t make a difference?
As someone who’s been in marketing and sales since I was 16, I can say with a high level of certainty that it’s the grass roots efforts and the conversations at home around the dinner table, at the coffee shop, in the break room, on facebook (…sometimes), in church, etc. that actually affect people’s beliefs and decisions. Can we apply that here? Big marketing campaigns are helpful for awareness – no doubt about that, but it’s the (often uncomfortable) one-on-one engagement that’s going to bring actual change in the long run to a very complicated problem.
Join me in asking yourself what part you’re playing in perpetuating racism.