coldhearted scientist وداد

By Carmen of All About Race. Via Tom of Automatic Preference.

Recently, I’ve been asked both directly and in roundabout ways, “When do we get to press the racial reset button?” The people who’ve asked this question seem to feel tired of dealing with racial issues and in particular are frustrated by the level of “black anger” they encounter. Those who ask this question want to move on to the point where race is a non-issue. They want to embrace the level playing field so many of us have imagined.

I think it’s a fair question and one that I’ve been thinking about for some time. And I have come to the conclusion that I, too, would like to hit the “racial reset button.” I say to those looking to “just move on” that I will “move on” with you if you will do one thing with me. I ask that you become dedicated to seeing, surrendering and dismantling the benefits of white privilege.

I ask that you care for the well-being of all children the way you care for the children in your child’s play dates. I ask that you get just as enraged by the injustice taking place in Jena, Louisiana as you do about the injustice of the Duke Lacrosse case. I ask that you are as angry at popular culture when you see a little black girl pointing to a black doll as “the bad one” and a white doll as “the nice one” as you are about rap lyrics.

Often, even well-intentioned people interject Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into discussions to bolster arguments against affirmative action or spending more on successful social programs. They cite King’s legacy as evidence that a move “past” color is long overdue. What is critical to remember is that Dr. King was about social justice. Fair and equal treatment was always laid out as the precursor to all of us being able to walk hand in hand into America’s future. We are not there yet. But we can get closer.

Will you stand with me and assume an anti-racist stance in your own life? That means not just shaking your head or rolling your eyes and silently disapproving when you see racism. It means speaking out about it, sending emails contacting local officials and doing whatever you can to call attention to the situation.

Will you stand with me in the work to reshape America’s growing and increasingly privately owned and for profit prison industrial complex? And will you help me create support for shifting dollars away from this prison industrial complex and toward establishing sound and easily accessible education and support programs for urban youth? Will you help me explain to others that our ever expanding prison system is the most expensive, ill-conceived, inefficient “social program” there could ever be?

Will you stand with me to make sure that American elections are fair and transparent? Will you work with me to call attention to any patterns of voter suppression in black communities?

Yes, I want to build a community with you. I dream of an American community in harmony. My definition of community includes the idea that you will hear and understand my concerns as I hear and understand yours. We may not agree as to how to best address those concerns, but we will work together to fix problems that should matter to all of us.

Yes, I want to hit that “racial reset button.”

But when I see this. And when I see this. And this.

I will not and cannot turn away.

Will you?

Axé, Carmen. And: everyone remember to do the Self-Tagging Town Meme!

Axé.