I haven’t spoken up at all about all the goings on with Ferguson, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, etc, not because of a lack of opinion, but because I have been at an incredible loss as to how I could contribute meaningfully to the conversation. For a long time I wasnt sure that I could. But sadness has overwhelmed me, and I was moved enough today to join in the dialogue. The violence and oppression of minorities isn’t something new. It’s not something that only started happening recently, it’s not something that developed 50 years ago, it’s not even something that started three hundred years ago. The oppression and subjugation of darker skinned people has probably been going on for about as long as people first noticed there was a difference. Andre 3000 wore a body suit this past summer that read, “Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?” Well, it’s the easiest way to differentiate ‘us’ from ‘them,’ and people who are eager to misplace their own rage-filled fears and insecurities on others are usually the ones who are inclined to pick the easiest target. Add to that the incredible thing power does to a person. Anyone remember the Stanford Prison Experiment? A group of test subjects was randomly split into groups of ‘Guards’ and ‘Prisoners’, and pretty soon things got wildly out of hand as the guards violently assaulted the prisoners, treating them so inhumanely that the experiment had to be shut down half way through. And why did these people, people who were relatively equals outside of this experiment, resort to such atrocious behavior? Because they had power - because they could. And literally for no other reason. Take the systematic oppression of darker people and add to that the corrupting influence of power, and that’s how we get to these horrifically unjust repeating situations. Situations that result in people dying for no reason. I think it’s enough to make any sane person really, really angry. But here’s the thing. I aggressively believe in non-violence. I honestly think that no matter the situation, no matter the injury or injustice, turning towards retaliation only serves to continue the vicious circle of violence - a never ending, bloody, spinning wheel. The *only* way to meaningfully move forward is to remove oneself from the circle and move towards love. I believe one of Martin Luther King’s greatest achievements was shifting the paradigm of how the oppressed view their oppressors. Instead of thinking them as evil, he urged his followers to think of them as sick people - people who were not whole, people who were not complete, people who didn’t love themselves enough to be able to love all of mankind. And the only way to heal a sick person is through love. Not through hate or violence. But through love, compassion, and peace. In times such as these, violence and hate can overwhelm. Anger is easy. Rage is easy. But this earth will not change by turning to the easy answer. Moving toward love is perhaps the most difficult thing you can do, but I believe it is also the most essential thing to do. So what to do with all the anger? For me, it just turns into sadness. And for now, I will embrace the sadness. I let it happen without pushing it away. It does not move me to raise my fists. It does not move me to shout. It moves me to sit quietly. Whether it’s by myself or surrounded by thousands of other sad people. It moves me to choose the right path, the difficult path, the path of love. Here is a song that I wrote a long time ago when I was sad, and I feel like it applies just as well to how I feel now. With love, Will https://soundcloud/will-post/across-cultures-darker-people-suffer-most-why
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 04:07:51 +0000
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