Five Race Issues Everyone Needs to Acknowledge

[KamaAina]

http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/12/04/five-race-issues-everyone-needs-to-acknowledge/35302

I remember having to explain to my then three-year-old why the Taliban shot Malala. It was a difficult conversation because he loves Malala, but it was easy to explain why killing is wrong and that the Taliban is evil. The world condemned the Taliban and, thankfully, Malala survived.

So when my now-five-year-old asked me why “they” killed Eric Garner, and why the cop isn’t going to jail, I felt a lump in my throat. How do you explain that to a five-year-old?...

As a father, a lawyer, and an American of color, I find myself analyzing this issue from multiple directions. The reality is that Americans of color have a different experience than white Americans. Exacerbating this race debate is the amount of misinformation that exists, promulgated by those I’ll call “obstructionists.” I won’t use the “r” word to describe them because — as we’ll see below — open racism is not necessarily the issue.

This list is not exhaustive, but if we expect to move forward as a country, here are five issues about race in America we need to acknowledge.

[el_bryanto]

1. That's quite a good article - number 4 in particular made me pause, because I catch myself

thinking that at times.

Bryant

[Maedhros]

2. Here are the five things, for clarity:

1. America has a prison problem, and race has a lot to do with it.
2. America has a police brutality problem, and race has a lot to do with it.
3. America has a racism ignorance problem.
4. America embraces the myth of “black-on-black crime.”
5. America embraces the myth of “black rioting.”

Good article.

RE: #3: I'm always surprised at the amount of anger some people display when it's suggested that racism is the cause of a problem (e.g. police brutality in Ferguson). I'm sure, in their minds, the justification is "We passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and ended racism. Why are you bringing it up again?"

[etherealtruth]

3. #3 sums it up

1. America has a prison problem, and race has a lot to do with it.


2. America has a police brutality problem, and race has a lot to do with it.


3. America has a racism ignorance problem.
...
Too many white Americans refuse to acknowledge a problem exists, or are ignorant to it altogether. That ignorance and obstructionism perpetuates our race problems.
...

4. America embraces the myth of “black-on-black crime.”


5. America embraces the myth of “black rioting.”