“Racial inequity is a problem of bad policy, not bad people.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
It has been a devastating period here in the USA. On top of the unnerving daily anxieties we are all living through with the Covid-19 pandemic – which has been compounded by the failure of the federal government to treat the crisis with the attention and focus it clearly merits, leading to a chaotic, poorly coordinated response – we as a nation are once again confronting the horrific consequences of our failure to unconditionally address the gross underlying inequalities in how individuals are valued and treated as a result of perceived differences – differences that have been constructed by the dominant class with the primary purpose of maintaining power, and largely condoned by the presiding culture as a result of an unacknowledged desire to maintain privilege. These constructions of difference can – and must – be deconstructed to reveal their largely fictional, imaginary and false bases, and the debilitating effects of these hurtful constructions on those outside of the controlling group can – and must – be acknowledged. We can – and so must – do this, we can – and so must – change, as individuals and, together, as a nation.
Here is a link to the Policy Platforms of the Movement for Black Lives, to get a better idea of the work ahead.
