Working Towards Ending Racism

Last evening (Christmas Eve) the four of us in my immediately family went to see Queen and Slim .    I knew nothing about the movie.   As soon as I entered the theater, it was immediately obvious that it was a “Black movie”.       The theater was far from full and the audience was 75% Black. Here was a movie that provocatively dealt with police killings of Blacks, and of course relatively few white people will get the message. Madea is a Black icon, but how many white people even know who she is?    Black humor is appreciated by white people, but within narrow boundaries.    We need to not be made too uncomfortable. The Hate U Give is an incredible movie!      It focuses upon the senseless police killing of a young Black man, clearly showing how the reactions to the killing differ between Black and white people.    The movie is both very serious/difficult, as well as being uplifting at t...

Being in relationship with a Black woman for over 17 years has made racism very real to me.    I wasn’t totally naïve in knowing for example of Strom Thurmond’s Black daughter as well as Thomas Jefferson’s hypocrisy in being a slaveowner who had an entire Black family .   The rape of Black women by white men has been covered over by the myth of the Black rapist assaulting the innocent white woman . I was, however, shocked early on when my cousin said to me: “There is more to a relationship than Black pussy”.    He was offended when his words were shared with my partner.    When we went to NYC we were surprised, when after waiting in line for coffee, chatting continually, the clerk innocently asked: “Are you together?”.    The same cousin, when we got together, explained that while “Joe” works in Manhattan with his multi-racial co-workers, he goes home to his white neighborhood in an outer borough where he can be “honest” with his fr...

Recently, I have read a lot of writings by both Black and white women, criticizing white women for not being significant allies in working towards equality.    I’ve not read much focusing upon white men. We are the core of Trump’s support.    Many of us seemingly find something wrong with every potential female candidate for president in the 2020 election.    Some of us speak out frequently on various issues, but what do we really do to go deeper and work to bring serious positive change. Being a white man at the Refounding Conference of the National Alliance Against Racism and Oppression (November 22-24, 2019 in Chicago) was most interesting and challenging.   I am not used to being in a setting where many people may believe that I am “irrelevant” or that my motives may be oppressive because I am white and male.   It was a useful experience. More than a few times mentioning my involvement in Organizing White Men for...