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On National Holidays and Independence

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I have a troubled relationship with the 4th of July.  Perhaps this is because I was born on  August 6, 1945, the day when my country used the first atomic bomb to annihilate the population of Hiroshima, to be followed only three days later by a similar slaughter of innocent civilians in Nagasaki. As the first-born of the Atomic Age “Bombs bursting in air” ever calls to mind that racist attack on Asians — not that the fire-bombing of Dresden was any more humane or less indelibly etched on the minds of the knowledgeable.   I remember with some embarrassment my first overseas stay as a college junior  in Marburg, Germany (1965-1966) when I tried to explain to German fellow students (in German, of course) that the holiday “4. Juli " (4th of July) was soon upon us. It had not occurred to me that non-US folk would not find the 4th of July more remarkable than the 3rd or the 5th — and perhaps less so than that 14th (“Bastille Day”).  I had never before re...
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Appreciating Tolerance!

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“Appreciating Tolerance!” — also published in Pilgrim Place NEWS,  July-August 2018 A recent article I wrote for the NEWS elicited much response. Most of it was what I had hoped for — appreciation of definitions of terms that sometimes haunt and trouble us in our efforts to be tolerant of one another and welcoming of diversity and inclusion. Some reactions were unexpectedly strong and may indicate that our discussion has only just begun. Here I would like to connect racial tolerance and acceptance with other “intersectional” aspects which come into play in all of our self-images, our prejudices, and our distancing ourselves from people who seem “other” to us or threaten to make us appear as “other” in our larger social context. The multi-layered conversation enabled by the Pilgrim Place Diversity Study Group and its “Circle of Chairs” in conjunction with NAACP and NCNW has helped me bring my thoughts to expression. Many of us have irrational fears of ostracism or mortal emba...
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A number of persons have contributed comments to this piece in other locations. In addition two persons recommended TED talks to help us better reflect on ‘privilege’ and on being ‘colorblind’ or ‘color-brave’: (1) “Color Blind or Color Brave?” — Mellody Hobson, Ariel Investments (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKtALHe3Y9Q Mellody Hobson Lucas (born April 3, 1969) is an American businesswoman who is the president of Ariel Investments. She is the former Chair of the Board of Directors of DreamWorks Animation, having stepped down after negotiating the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., by NBCUniversal in August, 2016. In 2017, she became the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago.(from Wikipedia) (2) “How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion” (2012) — Peggy McIntosh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-BY9UEewHw Peggy McIntosh (born November 7, 1934) is an American feminist, anti-racism activist, scholar, speaker, and Senior Rese...
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Prejudiced, Racist, Privileged, “Woke”?

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After sitting in on a few sessions of the Diversity Study Group  at Pilgrim Place, the residential senior community where I live, I was invited to share thoughts on why racism cannot be ascribed to racial minorities . This essay was the end result, after major and significant portions of a longer essay were jettisoned in favor of brevity and succinctness. I may post the longer version later. For now here is the short version, First, it is important to grasp that “Isms” artificially construct a high border wall between two groups of people — the “in group” and the “out group,” however defined — to prevent the two groups from discovering their common interests and overcoming their common exploiters. Racism is systemic, extractive and exploitive and can only be exercised by people who have usurped power on the basis of the race construct. Racism is a function of power and greed. It typically defines one group by virtue of skin tone or origins as superior and “denigrates” ano...
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