I’m sitting at home today…don’t know if I’m sick or just
worn down from witnessing blatant acts of racism and bigotry on a daily basis.
Let me say I may have to check out for a breather from time to time but I’ll
use my last breath fighting it. I just watched a very disturbing documentary
Southern Rites.
First let me say the documentary was an excellent piece of
work; it captured the essence and core of the deeply ingrained thoughts and
actions of racists and bigotry in the South. The documentary also, I think
inadvertently, captured the trauma and PTSD that Blacks respond to based on the
actions of racists and racism.
I found myself both angry and moved to tears because I see
this (pardon my language) shit day in and day out. I was taught 2 things by
fearless people 1) know your history and 2) DO NOT let your silence or inaction
co-sign the insanity of racism.
The documentary started out attempting to address the issue
of segregated proms but accidentally fell into a time warp. I all of a sudden
felt like I was watching something from the 60’s civil rights march or an old
blaxpliotation flick. I guess the movie hit me so hard because of my personal awakening to the racist business as usual attitude in this country. I had to acknowledge that I had become desensitize to the issue based on my thinking that I'd arrived and my material striving. I can now say that the "bombing" doesn't stop....I can only imagine how Palestinians and Syrians respond to their conditions. My personal awakening has made me more sympathetic and empathetic to the people struggling to hang on to the fringe of society where they have been relegated by various "isms."
Both Blacks and Whites need to watch this film together and
begin to have dialogue about their thoughts and feelings after seeing this film.
From my understanding, there is a book ….book clubs need to get busy with this
one.
Free thinkers…get busy!!!!
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