Racism. It Stops With Me.
I remember the day clearly. I was taking a course on cross-cultural communication. It was a sunny and warm afternoon, but a storm was stirring in my heart. As the clouds rolled in, churning and rumbling, the thunder brought with it a promise of cleansing.
There had been scales over my eyes. Plaque in my heart. The occluding buildup of ignorance and privilege, combined with the high-cholesterol luxury of blue collar comfort, had numbed me completely to the daily pain and struggle of my ethnic minority compatriots. It had also concealed my prejudice.
Of course I hated racism. I believed my fellow humans, of all races and nationalities, deserved equal rights and treatment. But I also knew that I was better than black people. I would never say it, but it went without saying.
To read this, you’re probably horrified. Because you’ve lied to yourself as well. But deep down, there are entire people groups—perhaps with individual exceptions—that you consider inferior to yourself. You’d never really see one as your equal—“one," because they are categorically other.
When class finished that day, I literally ran to find two of my closest friends, one from Haiti and the other from St. Croix, in the office where we worked together. I had to apologize. It was so shameful and difficult to admit to these men what I had harbored in the cove of my heart against them. But until I did, I could never begin to truly set things right.
On Thursday, May 21, 2015, The Passion of Purpose Group will be joining the Clarence City Council of Tasmania, Australia in launching our support of Australia's Racism. It Stops With Me campaign. This campaign is so important to me because of the quiet racism that resides in every heart. Racism. It Stops With Me is not only about standing up when you see the obvious maltreatment of others and declaring “that’s not right.” It's also an internal battle with the deeper, personal struggles of prejudice, stereotypes, and racial pride.
Until you can stare squarely into the deepest parts of your soul and recognize the ugliness of the pride and prejudice lurking there, you cannot hope to defeat it. For racism to stop with me, I must first recognize that racism starts with me. I must take responsibility for the contortions of my heart, and the malignance of my belief system. Racism begins in my own heart and mind, and it is from there that the end must begin.
Do you have the constance of character to face your own prejudice? Can you admit the secret racism that resides in your heart? Are you ready to recognize that racism starts with you? Will you stand up with me, and declare:
