Pilgrim Jim’s Justice Jottings

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...

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...