It’s been a while since my last post, but it has also been a news filled month. Some of it has been historic and some of it has been tragic. It’s been an overwhelming month. There was the inauguration of President Barack Obama, a much too close to home shooting spree and horrendous rape on the part of a man wanting to kill all “nonwhite people,” a brutal decapitation at Virginia Tech, and just today I read about an adoptee in Ohio who shot and killed his father, mother and step-sister then set the house on fire.
I apologize for all the bad news but I think it’s a reminder for many of us that the inauguration of President Obama has not signalled an end to racism or discrimination in this country. There are still wide-sweeping psychological and mental health disparities amongst people of color. There are still people who are racist, in fact I heard a story recently that white supremacist organizations are on the rise across the country. But for me one of the most terrifying realities of this whole “post-racial” era they are heralding is that in many ways our country is returning to America’s colorblind roots. An ideology that denies that there are histories of discriminative policies, slavery (colonial and modern day), health disparities that have shaped generations and generations of people of color today. They are histories that have created many of these wide-sweeping racial and socioeconomic disparities. And to attempt to “see beyond” these color differences is to turn a blind eye to issues that NEED to be seen more NOT less.
It’s been a while since I’ve engaged in a conversation regarding these sort of issues, but I’m going to attempt to bring these sort of issues up more often when I’m posting. Thanks to everyone for reading and for your support!
-GS
