The Racism I See

Racism sits and waits to show itself and then claims it is anything but what it is.  As with everything, you cannot deal with or heal anything you refuse to discuss.  For most black people, we know racism does not lurk in the shadows because for us it sits behind desks and decides if we qualify for a job, not based on our experience but based on our names.  And even when our names are not a deterrent our hair may be.  For some black people, they still live in such an oppressed way that they refuse to acknowledge or they don't even notice when racism reveals itself.  When people say "I don't see color", what they are really saying is, I refuse to see you. And in that refusal, they can pass you over for a job, follow you around a store, appropriate your culture, and tell you they are not racist.  Racism shoots unarmed black men and women at a high rate.  Racism inflicts a war on drugs by sending black men to jail for long periods of time for marijuana, and then making marijuana a multi-million dollar business in Colorado for white people as there are not many if any black people who are in the Cannabis business.  Racism is the refusal of politicians to have a real conversation about race in America because they are afraid of losing the white vote.  There are many facets of racism that have little to do with confederate flags.  Racism is not as outspoken as it once was, though it still shows itself in that way.

For me, "I love my blackness and yours" (Deray McKesson), does not mean I hate anybody who isn't black, just as saying Black Lives Matter does not mean other lives don't.  If you believe it does, then by your reasoning saying #FuckCancer means people are saying that AIDS/HIV, heart disease, and diabetes are okay. Put that in perspective for a minute.  Do you see how crazy that sounds?  Racism and hate are taught and learned.  No person is born to hate.  I love who I am as a black woman.  I refuse to downplay who I am to make you comfortable or fit into your box.  Audre Lorde said "If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive." That is how we should live!!! 

Erica R. Campbell