First, I don’t exactly who YOU are…
but, THANK YOU!
As I sit here, these minutes trying to understand my own thought process, and how I think about, and want to think about the world, and our interactions, I am relaxed.
These moments writing, are cherished, are enjoyed, and are looked forward to with anticipation.
In this crazy lives that we all lead, trying to find 10 or 20 or 40 minutes, just to write… is tough sometimes.
But, THANK YOU… without you, I would be sitting here by myself ;-)
Send me a note via the contact link on the blog. Let me know who you are. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you agree with and what you don’t. Let me know which blog has hit home, and which one was useless…
THANK YOU for taking the time to read this…
On the topic of racism…
I have often used the example of President Obama’s election as an easy situation to help us understand “harmony” from “disharmony”.
FACT: Racism still exists in America and in the world. TRUE
FACT: Our willingness to look past race has never been more evolved, and the United States is arguably the least racist country in the world (despite the media’s attempt to make that sound untrue). TRUE
Multiple things can be true at the same time.
So, back to our President.
There are those who say…
Racism still exist in America. Despite the fact that we have elected an African American as president, there are still racist hate crimes, and there are still so many examples culturally and otherwise that racism is still alive and strong. If we haven’t beat it by now, with a black man as president, we will never defeat racism.
That is DISHARMONY talking.
There are others who say…
Look how far we have come. Less than 60 years ago we were fighting in the streets and black people could not eat at the same restaurants and drink from the same fountains. Today, the majority of our country has elected an African American as president. Sure, racism still exists. We are human and things that we believe take generations to undo and evolve, but look how far we have come. If we have come this far in less than 100 years… just imagine where we will be 100 years from now!
This is HARMONY
What bothers me, is that so many, that are purportedly trying to move the needle forward attempt to do so from a position of disharmony.
I was reading the February 3, 2014 Time Magazine article, “The Superiority Complex” by Suketu Mehta, where he is attempting to open our eyes to the problems that still persist with respect to culture and racism in an effort to “move us forward” I presume.
In the article, Suketu (cool name by the way) argues the new book from “Tiger Moms” Author Ms. Chua, and calls it out as a different type of racism. I don’t know if I agree or disagree with him. Regardless, I think his points are lost and confused, because of his approach of disharmony to try to help us understand.
Suketu writes, “The US likes to think it has moved beyond race. After all, we elected a black president, twice. But in reality, the terrain of race baiting has simply shifted. The condescension once aimed squarely at African Americans now also claims as its targets Latinos, Muslims…”
First, the terrain of race has simply “shifted”. Really? Are we saying that Latinos (previously Hispanics or spics), Muslims, Asians and people of other countries previously where fully welcome in the US?” NOT TRUE.
Human beings protect themselves by nature. And, when we see people with different cultures entering our space, we try to welcome them, but it’s a little scary. That is part of the absolute truth. Our intent, in most cases, is not to be racist, but its hard not to be. Our physiology pushes us in that direction. We tend to fear with our reptilian brain change and people who are different that we are. And, we’ve always been that way. We haven’t shifted that way in the past couple of decades. The author must be completely forgetting the issues with the Cuban migration or the issues with Asias during the second world war…
Secondly, “simply shifted”… NO PROGRESS at all, just shifted. Really? Has the author heard some of the interviews with kids in schools today? There have been studies done showing that the majority of kids don’t even see skin color or race as a “difference” when a bi-racial couple is shown on television. Today’s young people are fundamentally further evolved human beings on the concepts of cultural and racial diversity. They have grown up in a different time with evolved values… there is no “simply shifting” going on… we are on a whole different plane.
It bothers me when so little credit is given to the massive achievements that we have made as a country. And, yes, its true, racism still exists.
The author writes, “When my family went to America, we left behind a system in which people are often denigrated because of their caste, religion, language, or skin color. The US of course has its won deeply troubled history with regard to race, but its path has tended toward more equality.”
The article notes that 42% of Indians in the US above the age of 25 have a post graduate degree while 20% of Indians in India have graduated from high school and 26% of people in India are literate.
Fact is, the United States is making leaps and bounds on the topics of racism and culturalism… and true, we are far from where we hope to get to, but I don’t know of any country in the world that is trying harder or making more progress.
I just got back from Peru a week ago. I love Peru, but the racism that exists there and the classism that exists there remains on a very different level and much more pronounced than it is in the United States, and it is also getting better there.
We have real problems to focus on and improve on. TRUE
And, the more the people championing the debate can leverage harmony to do so, the more progress that we will make.
The absolute truth of the conversation needs to acknowledge the real progress, and acknowledge the on going issues. Without acknowledging the tremendous progress, the entire journey will remain negative, and progress will be slower.
Subtle, but true.
Subtle, but very important.
Don’t try to change the world by pointing out the deficits.
Change the world, big and small, by acknowledging the truth, the progress and the opportunity… and from that place of confidence and strength and accomplishment, fuel people to reach forward into the reality that we all want to live.
Yours in the pursuit,
Nestor