Burning Walls, Building Bridges: Colin Kaepernick

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: My journey to learning about what institutional racism is, and how to help dismantle it.

Welcome to the first of a new series on combating institutional racism in the United States! I hope this will be a good chance for all of us who are hoping to help make a change in this country, to figure out the best way to go about it. Since this is the intro post, I will explain what I think is the most helpful way to engage in this issue, and also tell you a little bit about myself. My hope is that this will spark a dialog about the issues that we can all come away from a little more enlightened about.

The "Rules": Obviously any and all people are welcome to read and participate in this, but I am assuming that most people reading this will be white. As a white person living in this country, I can see how segregated we still are in our lives and acknowledge that most of the people in my life, who will have access to this blog, are also white. Because of this, we all come from a place of privilege but may be in different places of realizing and acknowledging it. My hope is to create a safe place for people to ask questions or comment on things without having to worry about being judged for it. One of the things white people who are further along on their journey of dismantling racism in their lives tend to do is rely on self righteousness to make sure they feel better about themselves. "I'm woke, so I'm good, but look at what that white person just said! Let's destroy him so that I can keep showing others just how woke I am." It becomes the "I'm the most non racist person" contest and it doesn't resolve anything. If anything, it makes the problem worse and it plays into our own insecurities. We stop growing when all we do is accuse others of being worse than we are. So, that stops here! No more of that! Unless you make a comment that is blatantly and unapologetically racist, I will do my best to never attack you or respond in anger and I ask anybody else following this blog and commenting, to do the same.

The Format: I will try to do a post every other weekend or so, depending on where I am in reading books and articles on this subject. I would like this project to be sustained over time and I have to tendency to do too much too soon and get burned out. 

About Me: I am a liberal woman from Seattle. I'm 40 years old. I don't post where I work online so I won't be sharing that information here, but it is a place that works for the public in a non-profit setting. I identify as "whitish". What in the world is that, you are probably asking me right now. I am white, that is how I look, that is how society sees me. I have been granted full white privilege. However, I actually have a small (2.5%) amount of African DNA in the two DNA tests I have taken. This confirmed what I had suspected based on my research over the past several years. While I acknowledge that I have no place in today's black communities in this country, and I would never try to worm my way into them(see Rachel Dolezal for an example), I know that I have black ancestry in my history. I have chosen, unlike other white people who choose to ignore it, to embrace it. I do not share a present with today's black communities, but I do share part of a past. And because of that, things like white privilege stand out a lot to me. The arbitrary nature of how it's assigned, I feel that very sharply. How can I not? And certain issues hit me on a more personal level now than they did before, even if they still don't actually affect me or my life. So, I decided that instead of ignoring my history, I could embrace it and use my white privilege to reach out to other white people in hopes of helping us as a community to move forward in how we handle racism.

And now, a definition: Racism. We prickle at this word when it comes up in conversation or is used in relation to us. We don't hate anybody! We don't even see color! We're colorblind. We don't actively try to keep anybody else down, so how can I be racist? Not all white people are racist!-Which translates to, other white people might be racist, but I'm not, so make sure to acknowledge that when you talk about racism in this country. I am exempt. The problem is, racism doesn't mean what we think it means. Even though the dictionary defines racism as more of the hatred and active oppression of people, the meaning has changed to now mean a person who benefits from living within a system meant to benefit one group of people over another group of people. What we think of as racism would really fall under the category of prejudice.

Here's a good article about the definition of racism. And I would highly encourage you to read the comments on this article to see the kinds of things people of color have to deal with in order to point out racism to white people. White people can be incredibly angry and defensive when they are told that they benefit from a racist system. It isn't the job of people of color to teach white people about their racism, and most of those who do take the time to point it out, get attacked. This is one way we can take on fighting all levels of racism, by taking on those hostile white people ourselves.

This Week's Topic: Colin Kaepernick's Thwarted Message
Because I'm just starting out and I haven't read any books yet, my topic is something that has been in the hearts and minds of a lot of Americans since it started in 2016 and had resurfaced when Kaepernick teamed up with Nike for an ad campaign that began last week.

(Source)

Here is a timeline of Kaepernick's first year of protesting police brutality and racial inequity in this nation's justice system, and people's reactions to it. When it first started, nobody really knew what to make of it, but when he started gaining national attention, people began finding reasons to disagree with it. The one that stuck, though, was the idea that sitting during the anthem, or even taking a knee, was somehow disrespectful to the military. Conservatives and conservative news sources latched onto this idea and used it to change the conversation from police brutality and inequity in the justice system, to one of who has the right to protest and under what conditions protesting was considered acceptable. As liberals and liberal news sources fought back, they further continued the discussion of protesting and how it should be done. The message Kaepernick was trying to promote, was buried and the status quo of inequity has continued unchallenged. The conservatives won this battle, with help from us. White privilege is still very much intact and we can go about our day not worrying about what happens if we get pulled over by the cops or have to go to court for something. Too bad for the people who do have to worry about those things, but we had to stand up for the right to protest, right?

I am not going to debate the merits of Colin Kaepernick and whether or not he is "good enough" of a person or a citizen to be the conveyor of this message. I tend to look at all those arguments as continuing to take away from the discussion of racial inequity in the justice system(notice I'm using that phrase a lot? That's because I'm trying to put the focus back on the message, not the debate on protesting. This is a simple tactic we can use to help move the argument back to where it needs to be.) This issue is something very important to Kaepernick and he has the ability to use his current position to bring awareness to something very wrong in this country, and he is doing it. And since nobody else is really standing up for it, he's the man. He's the one, and he is not standing down. The moment we bog ourselves down in "But he doesn't do this or he did do that, and that makes him not a good enough person to convey this message," we are ending the message. We are saying that we will only support this issue if the person talking about it fits our narrative. We're saying that we're waiting for a more ideal or "model" minority to convey this message and until that happens, we won't have anything to do with whatever the message is. This is what is known as "gatekeeping". It makes the white people who do believe in the message, but don't want to align themselves with the messenger, upholders of the racist status quo. This undoes everything we claim to stand for and only works to make us feel more superior than others.

Here's one thing to keep in mind about him, if you are having issues accepting him as the face and voice of this movement: Do you think he's really happy that he has to be taking this stand at all? Do you think it excites him that his football career has been decimated and that he himself is in danger any time he is pulled over by the cops? That he has to see his own community torn apart by the inequity in this country? I highly doubt it. He probably hates this just as much as the people who hate him for standing up to it. 

So, going forward, if you believe in Colin Kaepernick's message of racial inequity in terms of the police and the justice system in this country, the easiest thing you can do when you hear others talking about it, or see them online, is change the conversation back to that message. When we hear the debate going on about protesting and taking a knee during the anthem and being respectful towards the military, take it back to the original message. Don't fall for those red herrings. We're only upholding a racist system by doing do.

Does anybody have any thoughts or questions about this? If you have suggestions on books or articles I should read about institutional racism, please share them with me. And if you have any thoughts on a particular institution or industry that we should explore in depth to see how racism affects it, please let me know those too. I have a list going but I'm sure it's hardly comprehensive. I am currently reading a book that I hope to finish and talk about in the next post. So, until then, keep fighting the fight for equity!
-Summer

Bathroom Bills and Mass Hysteria

There is a lot of hysteria making its way around the news and social media right now regarding "bathroom bills" and which public restrooms transgender men and women can use. I thought I would write this out as a handy guide for people who are not very familiar with the concept of "transgender". Educating ourselves about issues that frighten us is the best way to grow as people, and become more compassionate towards others.

The first, most basic place to begin: What is "transgender"? Trans, a Latin prefix, means "Across, beyond, or through". Gender, at its most basic meaning is "The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences, rather than biological ones." Basically, a transgender person physically inhabits the body of one gender, but mentally identifies as the other gender. Please note that this has nothing to do with one's sexual orientation.

Some other terms you may have heard lately, but not really know what they mean:
Binary: Is defined as "relating to, composed of, or involving two things." People who are transgender are "Non-binary gender," meaning that their gender identity does not fit into the male/female binary.

Cis: This is a word that simply means the opposite of "trans". It is a Latin prefix meaning "on the side of." Cis-gender people are people who identify as the gender they were born into.

So, now you know the basic vocabulary. Next up is how to handle the concept of transgender people.

There are two steps a person needs to take to help work through the fear of transgender people using restrooms that they feel most comfortable using.
Step One: Accept that transgender men and women truly exist. They are not troublemakers or perverts or just being difficult because they want attention. They are not a concept, they are real.
Step Two: Understand that a transgender man is a man and a transgender woman is a woman, regardless of what body parts they were born with or currently have. Some men have breasts. They are still men. Some women have a penis. They are still women.
Once you master these two steps, this should dispel most of the fear of the unknown you may be feeling towards transgender men and women.

Once you get used to the idea of transgender men and women truly existing, you will be ready for the next level: Compassion. Did you know that the suicide rate of the transgender community in the United States, is 41%? To put that in perspective, imagine a room with 100 people in it. Of that 100 people, 41 will kill themselves. Compare this to the overall national suicide rate, which is 4.1%. That is a disturbingly large number of deaths. As a person who has lost a loved one to suicide, I can tell you exactly the sort of pain this type of death leaves on a person's friends and family. I've made it one of my goals in life to help prevent other people from experiencing this sort of pain. Compassion is as much of a choice as hate.I choose to be compassionate.

And now, for some responses to some of the more frequently asked questions and arguments used in this issue.
1.)Why do we have to make accommodations for such a small group of people?
Why not? The amount of hateful bigots in this nation is hopefully a small percentage of the overall population in this country, and yet they are asking for accommodations for their hate, fear, and ignorance. I would rather accommodate people who are just trying to live their lives without being harassed and physically endangered just for existing. Just remember, when you ask questions like this, what people really hear is this: Why do we have to be nice to people? Why can't I openly hate and discriminate against anybody anymore? Isn't there any group of people it's ok to hate? This is how I feel better about myself as a person, by oppressing others. I need to feel justified in my actions, so I need laws to protect my right to be horrible to others.

2.)Why is this happening so suddenly?
The transgender community has lived in obscurity for hundreds of years in Western society, but they have always been here. Now that we, as a nation, are moving towards being more accepting of others, it is time for us to catch up on groups of oppressed and marginalized people. Basically, it's making up for lost time.

3.)Why can't things just stay the way they've always been?
I know change is scary and hard. It's difficult to adjust our sensibilities to new ways of being or thinking. But life is about change and adapting to that change. We don't have 40 year lifespans anymore, but we're ok with this. We no longer dress like people did in Elizabethan England, and nobody minds that, either. This is just one more really big thing we all need to adjust to. And you know what? We're gonna be ok.

4.) Won't perverts use this opportunity to dress up as women, sneak into women's restrooms and rape and attack women?
Again, once you have mastered step one of the process, you will see the fallibility of this question. Transgender women are not men, and since we don't know what their sexual orientation is, we cannot assume they are all attracted to women. On top of this, it is already illegal to rape people, and since that still happens, a law to force people to use the bathroom of their birth gender won't stop that. When you think about it, what it will really do is force men into women's bathrooms and women into men's, exactly the opposite of what people assume the laws will do. And, if a truly perverted man wants to attack women in restrooms, he will not go to the lengths of dressing as a woman to sneak into the restroom to do so. He will merely barge into the room and attack somebody. I'm sorry to scare you even more, but a sign on a bathroom door doesn't change anything. There is no guarantee of safety in any public place, unfortunately, but we shouldn't put other people in even more danger than they need to be, in order to continue some illusion of safety and security.

In conclusion, I will use a phrase I have used several times before in my writing. It comes from last year's live-action version of Cinderella, and I have adopted it as my own personal mantra: "Have courage, and be kind." I like this phrase because it has a double meaning. In it's entirety, it means to be simultaneously brave and nice to each other. But in each section, it explains how to do it. Sometimes, to be kind, we must first be brave. Sometimes you are asked to take risks in life. Reach out to somebody different from you, and what you gain in return far outweighs any perceived risk. We will all be better off for it.

Sources:
Gender Definition

The article that inspired this

Suicide Statistics