The Privilege to Look Away

Terrorism of Black people in our community MUST stop!

For those who continue to just look away (because you can), know that these acts of violence (from vigilante and police terror to 'individual' psychotic episodes) inflict deep trauma to people who believe they can be killed just for the color of their skin. You might want to think that racism is a thing of the past here in America. You might actually believe that. You may not have friends who are people of color, you may not have to see their tears and listen to their fears...of going to a public pool, of driving a car around town, of shopping at a store, of playing in a park, of walking to the store, of being in their homes, of going to a church for bible study... but the terror is SO REAL. And it is so wrong that we would allow our community members to feel this way.

People look back at Nazi Germany and wonder how a whole population could just sit back and let the SS and Gestapo terrorize millions of people...it's called privilege. And those Germans who were not Jewish, Black, or homosexual, had the privilege to sit back and look the other way. Thankfully, many of them fought back in groups of underground resistance. But too many just acted like the eugenics-based ideas of the pure Aryan race were moral and just. They looked at their own neighbors and saw them as animals - dehumanized and disassociated with them, turned them in, believing they were doing the right thing, in preserving 'their' way of life.

How are we going to be different? Recognize the humanity of your neighbors - even if they are not like you. Empathize with their experiences. Look into your own histories. I know my Assyrian ancestors were killed (are still being killed today!) for being different. Massive genocide and so many around the world look(ed) the other way. My great-grandmother was killed and her son Julius was raised by his aunts. They had to walk from Urmia in northwest Iran to a refugee camp, Baqubah, near Baghdad in Iraq to flea the terror, before many of them came to the US seeking refuge. I am lucky to be alive today, because of their will to survive. It's not hard for me to relate to groups that are killed for merely being different. Find your empathy.

Then take a stand. Talk to people at work, at church, at the mall, wherever. Tell them this has to stop. Talk to your children about racism. Talk to them about how we don't have to feel guilty. Channel guilt into productive efforts toward social change. White guilt can be debilitating. It continues to force people to be defensive and distancing. It doesn't have to. It can be a source of great power and motivation for working towards change. With great power comes great responsibility, right? Take responsibility for your community. Then, walk the walk. Disassociate with those who believe this is ok because it doesn't affect them personally. Talk to your kids about their friends and their friends' parents. If your kid is associating with haters, don't forget that birds of a feather flock together, and you are raising a child that might believe it is okay to look the other way, and they will raise their kids the same. Every time people look away, those who perpetuate genocide believe they are right in their actions. They will continue to inflict terror.

Stop believing that victims of terror, for some reason, deserve that terror. They don't. None of us do. Create communities of support for difference. Speak out against this in your online communities. When people start spouting victim-blaming rhetoric - start checking those people by drawing attention back to perpetrator rhetoric. Instead of asking and agreeing that Black people must deserve this behavior, continue to question what is happening in white communities to allow for these perpetrators to go 'unnoticed' until they actually enact their hate. Refocus the discussion. Challenge people on a moral level to recognize and work toward a better world.

Or not. Keep looking away. Wallow in your indifference. Sit back and be happy - better them than you, right? Ignore the plight of others. But be warned, when people REALLY begin fighting back, you've chosen a side. You've chosen to side with those who perpetuate hate and terror with your inaction. To me, you are just as bad as a man who sits next to a minister in a Bible study, listening to people explore the Scripture, while contemplating and then actually murdering those around him. That is who you have chosen to 'build' a future community with, rather than those of us who are working toward a more just, accepting community.

The choice is yours. Really. It's your privilege to make this choice.