“My fellow white Americans, I know this will discomfit some of you, but Barber was right: The killer remains at large, and the killer is us. Collectively we remain committed to beliefs and behaviors that result in the destruction of black lives.”
The passage above comes from the opinion piece of Edward E. Baptist in the Los Angeles Times. After reading it, I wonder what opinions you might have. The title of the article is Forgiveness won’t atone for 400 years of racial violence in America.
In short, I agree with the writer. it’s pretty much impossible to grow up in America without getting some racist programming. You have to dig it out of yourself and replace it with a more realistic view of the commonality of all humans. It’s not easy, and it’s usually embarrassing to face your own biases honestly.
I also see racial violence as a subset of our acceptance of violence at every level in our culture, everything from corporal punishment of children to domestic violence to road rage to gun fetishism to making war.