Today, it's difficult, if not impossible, to find anyone willing to admit to being a racist. Even the avowed racists believe they're not racists. Not to mention all the politicians, news reporters, bankers, business and civic leaders, sports franchise owners, managers, and players. None of them is racist. Yet we know that racism exists in the social, political, and economic fabric of our society.
For those of us working on overcoming the obstacles preventing us from achieving empowerment (enlightenment), we frequently tread timidly when the issue is racism. Racism is tricky, sensitive, and difficult for many of us to discuss. And 21st century racism, with its new and varied definitions, has become even more difficult for us to comprehend, much less discuss with others.
To be sure, for those working on overcoming the obstacles causing us to feel constant pain and suffering, we find that racism is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome. Perhaps this difficulty is caused by its deceptive nature of being buried so deeply in our consciousness that we don't even realize it's there.
Nevertheless, we prod along on our journeys, working diligently to overcome our anger, jealousy, self-hatred, envy, success and failure without giving much attention to the root cause, racial beliefs, of many of the issues we are working to overcome.
Whenever we define our problems, it's easier for us to bury our racism by not admitting its existence. For sure, we receive less criticism from others if we write and talk about anger, jealousy, envy, and so forth rather than racism. Yet, it is racism, identifiable or unidentifiable, that is the untreated victim belief that's responsible for most of the problems we are working on overcoming.
Many of us feel we are not victims of racism, because we believe we treat everyone fairly. Moreover, we argue to ourselves and others that we're not the ones preventing someone for obtaining a job, renting an apartment, or buying a house in our neighborhoods. No, we truly believe we are blameless when it comes to racism.
Regardless to how we frame our answers to racial beliefs, we cannot deny that something is causing us to experience constant pain and suffering in our lives. Even though we have brief, infrequent moments of happiness, we find they're interrupted with unexpected outbursts of anger, jealousy, envy, and hatred. Yet, amidst all of these uncontrollable emotions, we continue to ignore the obvious: we are all victims of societal racism.
Meanwhile, some of us, including the well-intentioned empowerment adherents, believe only certain types of people are able to become racists. Some of us claim our divine righteousness by hiding behind our enlightenment training. We believe our work allows us to be the self-proclaimed moral arbiters between right and wrong behavior, which includes racial beliefs. In this position of regal authority, we choose to remain free from ever having to examine our own racial beliefs.
Whenever one race decides what racism is to another group, both groups become pawns in the victimization game. To illustrate this point, many African Americans strongly believe significant numbers of white people are racist. Oh, I know the polls don't reveal this, because most of us lie about it to others.
Many blacks believe whites are responsible for the pain and suffering in our lives. Moreover, we believe their positions in government, business, education, and the judicial system provide them with advantages over those who are unable to wield such power. And it's from whites' positions of institutional power that many blacks believe make them responsible for disseminating racism throughout the country.
Similarly, today, many whites label blacks and Latinos as racist. From U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to President Barack Obama, we hear shouts of racism being hurled against individuals previously believed to be victims of racism. Yet, it's this type of racial nitpicking that's preventing us from ever understanding that both races are victims of societal racism. And this makes us angry.
The problem with identifying racism in ourselves is that we don't recognize its existence. Yet, nearly all of us identify people of different races by their race. When we enter a crowded room of individuals of a different race, we feel some discomfort, even it's no more than realizing we're the only one in the room. For some of us, this seemingly innocuous feeling is not racism.
Whenever we watch a television program or movie and discover we are identifying more with the characters of our own race than with others, we don't consider this racism. Nor do we consider it racism when we identify ourselves by race when meeting someone at the airport or restaurant who has never seen us.
As we know, we can use similar examples ad infinitum and still not be any closer to recognizing our own racial beliefs. So, with clouded visions, and undeterred commitments to ignoring our racial beliefs, we continue to seek enlightenment.
Whenever we can, we congratulate ourselves for not cursing the driver (black, white, Latino, Asian, etc.) who cuts us off on the freeway. And whenever we can, we tell those who will listen how proud we are not to be racists. After all, only whites are racists. We can't be racists because we are powerless victims of whites' power.
Meanwhile, most blacks that have been victimized by whites, particularly those who wield great power over our institutions, don't accept whites' arguments that they are now racists. For them, racial beliefs expressed by victims are different from those expressed by individuals in positions of power, even if one or two from the victim class are allowed to participate in those positions.
Nevertheless, the victims of this society, particularly those working on ourselves to overcome all our victim beliefs, including racial ones, that's preventing us from achieving empowerment, must empower ourselves to go deeper into our consciousness and find the racial beliefs causing us to think of ourselves as victims.
Similarly, for those victimized by racism, we must understand it's not possible to achieve enlightenment until we overcome this illness. The cure for any illness is to first identify the illness. After we do, then we can asses the damage done to our minds and develop an enlightenment treatment plan to cure the illness.
Some suggestions to assist us on our journeys:
1. Begin by acknowledging we are victimized by racial beliefs.
2. Evaluate how racial beliefs have affected our behavior.
3. Develop an action plan to overcome racial beliefs.
4. Remain committed to our plan of treatment in spite of recurring setbacks.
5. Liberate our minds to illumine our thoughts with objective love towards all sentient beings.
No comments:
Post a Comment