Sick-day Chris here, reading Facebook. The article below, originally posted by Karyn Hunt, is a great invitation to join the race conversation. Frankly, if you live in the USA and don’t speak out against racism, I fear for you. There are two many people among my parents’ generation who probably never spoke out, either, and when they speak now, they can only speak in hushed voices, with some degree of fear, speaking of “them.” I fear that your future might be like theirs.

Let’s “end the them.”

Let’s hold all races accountable for their actions and make sure all races have access to opportunity. Let’s make sure people of every race are given the consideration of being presumed innocent until proven guilty. Let’s catch ourselves when we feel fear in our hearts, and realize that the only reason for that fear is the hue of someone’s skin.

Sounds great. But how? There are lots of great ideas on improving race relations, and I’m just a database guy. But here’s a modest proposal.

Try this as an exercise: sometimes I’ll go watch a crowd of people, any crowd, and I’ll try to imagine that every person I see is of a different race and gender. That snotty white boy talking to his friends becomes an Asian girl. The black dad who seems to love life and is so proud of his kids? He gets to be a white soccer mom. And so forth.

How does this affect your perception of what’s going on around you?

I was watching kids play baseball a few weeks ago, and when I did this, suddenly kids that had looked dangerous looked lonely, and kids that looked mean looked goofy. It can be the difference between “did that guy flunk a few grades?” to “must be hard sometimes, growing up that much faster than your peers.” It’s just a great exercise, to the extent that you can do it honestly. Be brave. Do it. You’ll probably wind up laughing at yourself.

And if you laugh long enough, you might begin to cry, as you think of how some of the kids you are watching, or some of the faces in that crowd, have different lives to live, with different opportunities and challenges, that the ones you are imagining, all because of the color and gender of their body. After all, those kids are still playing baseball; that couple is still waiting in line to go see a movie; that middle-aged guy is still watering his lawn. When you imagine them differently, the main thing that changes is how we perceive them, and that affects their opportunities in life, for better or for worse. Don’t let yourself perpetuate the curses of color, gender, or any other curse that arises from the judgments of your own mind. Whoever you’re with, give them a chance to succeed, to excel, to be themselves – to be ANYTHING other than what you have presupposed them to be. You might well help them, and you will definitely free yourself.

Here’s the link Karyn posted:
For Those Who Are New to the Conversation