[Vision2020] systemic injustice

[rhayes at frontier.com]

To those who insist on posting the rightness of the death of a boy at the hands of a vigilante, I post a soft spoken message. And I would remind you that your words may be hurtful...
 
I live in a bubble far removed from the rest of the country and my past. When, as a young man, I moved to Moscow from just north of the Mason-Dixon line, I was relieved to be free from all the issues of race. Yea, I'm white. Privileged by my birth. As a kid, race and ethnicity were overwhelming to me. Italians hated the Irish, Poles were disliked and distrusted by almost everyone. The blacks didn't like whites in general. Whites distrusted blacks. Everyone had names for everyone else's ethnicity. Whops, spics, hunkies, kikes, hillbillies... the list of derogatory names goes on and on. 
I was despised because of being sometimes Irish, sometimes a sort of Polack. I learned to run and run fast to keep from being beaten up by what ever group that happened to cross my path. However, I didn't see/understand systemic racism until our Boy Scout troop tried to go swimming in the CITY pool. They stopped us because we were an integrated troop. Being young I never stopped to think why there never were black kids in the pool...EVER. The man that stopped us was a "greasy" (another derogatory slur)Greek with kinky hair and a pretty dark complexion. He stopped Jerome with his arm saying, "Not You!" Our scout master must have known what he was up to, and to this day I hold him in high esteem as a brave and principled man.  And when that Greek guy stopped him from entering the locker, I looked at Jerome, and maybe for the first time saw him as a black kid with whom I had camped, sang, cooked dinners, and saw what his life entailed. It was
 much more than name calling, being hated, distrusted. It was a system of hatred. 
 
Back to the bubble thing...
So I moved here and left ethnicity and race issues behind. Well, not really. It isn't so much an issue here because the majority, the vast majority of people are white, like me. It is inevitable that this will change. It is already changing and changing rapidly. How will this area deal with race and ethnicity? There are hate groups and hateful people conveniently located nearby. We need to be vigilant with our communities, and with ourselves. It is convenient to be blind to the hatred surrounding us.  

I suppose one good thing that the so called "jury" in Florida proved is that SYSTEMIC racism still exists. I sometimes forget that. I live in a bubble. Now I am reminded, but should a young man's life be sacrificed so that I would again see? People who deny that injustice exists live in a state of blind shame.   
 

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