While I am not African American, I very much appreciate the struggles of the Civil Rights and have always taken an interest in that era of our nation's troubled history and from other human rights struggles around the world and in history. While I have in many years past enjoyed the "day off" of work for Martin Luther King Day (although our current company does not have this as a paid holiday) and appreciated the role he played in our country's history, I'm not sure I have reflected so much in years past of the depths of his personal struggle, and how difficult it was to be calm and loving in the face of such hateful oppression. This year is different.
While I acknowledge that not everyone who voted for our president-elect is a racist or bigot, their votes spoke volumes to me in that those values aren't dealbreakers in a leader governing this country now or in the near future, which is something that I admit readily that I have had an extremely hard time understanding, talking rationally about, and moving past.
I would say that that my personal interest and investment in standing up to systemic racism was piqued by an extremely well done documentary on Netflix, "13th," by Ava Duvernay, which I watched last month and which chronicles the institutionalization of racism from slavery to (now) the prison system. If you think that we live in a country where we are purely judged "not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character," then you are mistaken (before this election, I was surely in somewhat of a more naïve bubble, believing in the triumph of fairness and individual merit, which totally popped). While we've come far since the days of slavery, Jim Crow and segregation, we have so much farther to go, and our pace will now be quite a bit slower.
Today, recognizing that this country elected a (half-) black president before we chose our current president-elect, who is due to be inaugurated in a few short days, I know we've come so very far. However, while we have come far, we have so much far to go, and so many marginalized people have so much still to lose. I admit that my reaction to the current state of this country and our elected officials has made be bitter, disgusted, disillusioned, and angry, including towards people who stayed neutral or voted a narrow line in this controversial time. That being said, going forward, I hope to reach out to people more like did the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who I celebrate today, and who I know, despite being denounced, oppressed, imprisoned, and hunted, preached kindness and love over all.
While I admit to being in a "Trump Slump," MLK deserves and would have done more, been tougher, and been kinder. In his honor, I am committed now to try to judge and blame less and to do more, for others, including those who have hurt me and hurt those I care about with their actions and words. I will continue to speak out against evil and about things that matter. However, my goal going forward is to always "stick with love" and hope and dream, like the great Reverend did, that love will triumph, some time and in some way "one day..."
P.S.
Some recent books which have really opened my eyes, seeing things from the perspective of an African American, and which I would recommend to all Americans, include:
Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson)
Small Great Things (Jodi Picoult)-- a work of fiction, but so scarily based in truth that it reads like nonfiction
Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
(On the to-be-read list, and more suggestions are welcome)
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander)
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah)
Hillbilly Elegy (JD Vance) is on my hold list, to see the "other" perspective, which I am really trying to understand, despite how hard it is and how much I feel it has hurt the cause for human rights.
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