Racial Injustice and My Naivety: Anyone can learn!

I am sitting in an REI training session for teachers before we head back in to the classroom for the school year 2020-2021. First off, what is REI? It stands for Racial Equity Institute. Their goal is to help communities address institutional racism. Honestly, I did not think that I would be spending class time learning about how to understand and address racism in my school or community because of the year we lived in. There… that statement alone goes to show how little I know about being something other than White. Until I married my husband, who is 50% Black and 50% Japanese, I never really paid much attention to racial inequality. HOW AWFUL IS THAT!!?? That in itself makes me racist, and I am publicly apologizing.

I definitely grew up falling under the category of “White Privilege”. I was a wealthy, white girl in a small town which had 2 black students. Yep, just 2. I did not think anything of it! That being said, I am now learning that I am naïve and blind to what is going on around me. I am now taking steps to change that through reading articles, blogs, and books. I am listening to my husband which does end up in heated conversation sometimes, BUT I am learning.

I want to share something that happened in my life just this past week that really hit home with me. How many of you get scared or worry for your safety when you get pulled over? Not me, normally! However, I am not black. I am a white woman. My husband has to think about it daily as he drives to work. He got pulled over 3 days ago on his way to workout at 5 in the morning. He immediately called me which I had both girls in bed with me trying to calm them because they wake at the crack of dawn. I missed the 3 phone calls! He needed insurance information, and he wanted me on the line for safety reasons. He got a ticket, not a warning despite going less than 10 mph over and a clean record. Now rewind 3 days before that. I got pulled over in the neighborhood going 13 mph OVER the speed limit. Did I get a ticket? Nope. Did I get a citation? Nope. Did I get a written warning? Nope. The officer didn’t even ask for my insurance. He came back and said drive slower. Now, Avey was screaming in the background, so that may have helped. However, this is just one tiny example of Racial Inequality. I truly believe I got out of a ticket because I am white woman who is not horrible to look at. My husband got a ticket for being a black male.

To put it in terms that make it more understandable for us, I am going to ask you 2 questions:

1. Were you just hit by a large meteor? Just now? (Your answer should be no, hopefully)

2. Were any of you thinking in the last 10 minutes, “Man, I hope that I do not get hit by large meteor.” (Once again, I am hoping that answer is no…)

EXACTLY. You didn’t have to think about it. Being white, you don’t even think about these things. Blacks do. (Things being a routine traffic stop, health issues, employment injustices, etc). These questions were presented to me by Reiney Lin from REI.

We can be better as a society. We just need to open our eyes, minds, and heart to change. We need to accept the fact that there IS racism all around us, and take steps to ridding our world of it.

I want my girls, my girls who are White, Black, and Japanese, to grow up in a world where they are accepted. I do not want to sit at home in a constant state of worry because they live in a world where they will be ridiculed and rejected for their skin color.