Acknowledgment Is the Antidote

During the 2020 election, I found this video by chance of Eddie Glaude speaking to American culture, racism, and how President Trump is the "manifestation of the ugliness that's inside us."

After it was done I sat on my couch and stared at the wall for a good 10 minutes thinking of what he had to say. As a white woman, his words stirred a revelation in me. I am sad it took me 26 years to see some of the fundamental truths Mr. Glaude speaks of. I am sharing it with you in hopes that it may impact you the way it has me.

The video started with this opening idea: “America is not unique in its sins. We are not unique in our evils.....Where we may be singular is our refusal to acknowledge them.”

I resonate with that strongly. I have been to Italy, Mexico, and France. I have seen people of other races be treated differently across the globe, not just on US soil. What I didn’t hear while visiting those places was excuses and denial that these prejudices existed.

While studying abroad in Italy we watched a movie about the Italian government sinking ships with African refugees on them. Trying to keep them from entering their country. This piece of history is wrong on every level. The lack of value given to human life was and is heartbreaking, but the Italian government doesn't deny that history.

In the United States, we are taught all about World War I, World War II, the Spanish Inquisition, the Cold War, and more in school. History books filled with tragic circumstances, injustices of power, ordinary people fighting for what they were being directed to believe in.

One thing I have wondered was if we include these things in our books so we have to talk less about the battles fought on our land.

Where is the required lesson on the Civil War?

Where is the acknowledgment that this country was built on the backs of people we enslaved? A few treaties and government programs aren't enough to pay back a land we stole.

Giving Black people the right to vote and making it seem like they are equal isn't enough to repay the amount of pain or anguish we caused or continue to cause in our systemically racist society.

What if we stopped running from the truth?

What if acknowledging our part in the brokenness of our country would set us free?

What if the white community finally let go of the power they seek, realizing that freedom was on the other side for everyone, not just the minority groups?

He is right. Blaming Trump is too easy.

We see a figure on a stand and point our fingers at him, hoping that others might see the hatred in his words. But that is all smoke and mirrors to distract us from the brokenness of our country and our people.

There has been no shortage of pain at play here. The Black community, Hispanic community, and other minor groups are in pain every day for the injustice they face.

In comparison my pain is minimal. As a white person, I do have white guilt. But I get to live my life without that additional layer of fear that I could be mistreated or die because of the color of my skin. There are many days I feel frozen in place when I come face to face with the racist tendencies that have been passed down by generations. I see them in me. I fight them, but sometimes they sneak up on me and rear their ugly head when I am in an elevator alone with a Black man.

I have always been told, “Your first reaction is what you have been taught to do, your second is actually you.”

But this again is just sugar-coating the fact that I was taught this fear. I was taught to think that Black men specifically could be a danger to me.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that this is WRONG. That I have treated people that look different than me with hate rather than love. I was WRONG. I am so very sorry.

There is power in acknowledging the pain we have inflicted because we will not move forward and end the pain for all if we continue down this path.

Like Eddie Glaude mentions, "Either we're going to change or we are going to do this again and again."

He continues on saying "We're trying to finally get white folk to leave a history behind or embrace a history that maybe might set them free from being white."

So that is what I am doing here. I am acknowledging and embracing the history of the United States of America. The ugly parts that people who look like me played and still continue to play. The pain my ancestors probably caused. In hopes that it might set us all free from pain.

-Britt