Well, this is it. My thirtieth post on Small Acts of Racism. I am truly surprised that we made it this far. Thanks for going on this journey with me. When I started this I wanted to illustrate the small, incidental ways people of color experience racism on a daily basis. I made a list, 30 days ago, of things that stood out to me over the course of a lifetime, but as I stated repeatedly, I rarely got to my list. That is because literally on a daily basis, unless I stated otherwise, I experienced some level of racism. 

These posts could have gone by a number of names, such as, Subtle Acts of Racism, Everyday Racism, Daily Acts of Racism, etc. I chose Small because we are encouraged to engage in Small Acts of Kindness on a daily basis, but in my experience, I am far more likely to be struck by an incidental act of racism before someone goes out of their way to be kind to me. 

Furthermore, I wanted to illustrate how Small Acts of Racism, lead to HUGE Acts of Racism. The underlying attitudes and opinions of even the most well meaning people undergird the policies and procedures that have real effects in the lives of people of color. From overrepresentation in special education to disproportionate populations in prison to 911 calls on people of color for living their best lives to police violence to border policies to gerrymandering to kids in cages. I hope people understand this is how we get from A to Z.

Not too long ago, I saw the son  of a grand wizard of the KKK on CNN talk about how white supremacy/nationalism purposefully became mainstream. His name is Derek Black and a book called “Rising Out of Hate” was written about his experiences. The PR department of the KKK basically started to back mildly racist policies that people could agree with without the label of racist being tagged to them. So, they introduced concepts such as Black on Black crime, even though they knew most crime victims are of the same race as the perpetrator. All you have to do is watch Dateline to figure that out. They used words that made racist concepts palatable. They knew what they were doing. The American public did not. They started talking about, not oppressing minorities, but advocating for the survival of the White race. People bought into the concept. This is how you get to the Isolationist/Nationalist/anti-immigration policies of today. Small Acts of Racism undergird these policies and belief systems. 

There was a lot I didn’t get to, such as: Are all White people racist? Can Black people be racist? Christianity and racism. Why are Black people mad they were enslaved when they were first enslaved by their own people? It’s the choices people make, not racism that predicts their outcomes. Are racist jokes funny? Is it okay to laugh or is there a danger to them? I could go on and on, but we are out of time. 

I think I am going to turn this into a blog post or a small book (you know because we are talking about small acts). I will let you know and at very least alert you if I write on the subject again. 

If you have questions, inbox me. 

Peace and Hair Grease!

*I lied….I’ll be back tomorrow! Racism didn’t let up in me, so there are many more posts to be had by all! Naw! We ain’t done!