No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite
- Nelson Mandela
Recently, two events have shaped the way I feel about the movement for social justice in America as it continues and we are called to respond and called to act.
The first was an online event by the Zuckerman Institute and Columbia Wellness Center on Structural Racism, featuring Dr. Olajide Williams, Co-director of the Wellness Center, in conversation with Robert Fullilove, Associate Dean of Community and Minority Affairs at the Mailman School.
They spoke at length of the history of structural racism in this country, in which inequities are built into the infrastructures of healthcare, education, legislation, and voting so that glaring rifts have been created systemically, providing access to services for some and withholding it insidiously from others, all the while claiming ‘freedom, liberty and justice for all’.
Anyone who has been paying attention is aware of this problem. It is not a new problem. It just shift-shapes like a wicked jnoun (malevolent spirit), so that we have to keep tracking it, keep rooting it out, keep calling it out and fighting it.
The take away was something they addressed at the end of the symposium, in answer to the question, “what can we do?”. Aside from marching, and voting, and writing your elected officials, they said, go to the neighborhoods where there is need and be a helping body. Meet and interact with people with experiences different from your own. Feed, serve, love your neighbor. Ram Dass said that, Jesus, too, and the Buddha. Share the wealth you have. As someone who has worked my entire life in food service and healthcare, I can second the invitation. It has opened my mind and heart and continues to clear my vision.
The other event was a screening of the CNN documentary on John Lewis, Good Trouble. The biographical narrative, with great footage of civil rights protests (so familiar in light of the current activism), and interviews with the man himself, underscored the powerful effect of unwavering devotion to a cause. Change needs to be sustained. Hope needs to be nourished. Despair must be voted off the island. Here’s the link:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/john-lewis-good-trouble-documentary/index.html