2017 - 1957 = 60
I was talking to an acquaintance who is "so tired of reading and talking about racism on Facebook."
I told her that I suffered from racial fatigue too, but, unlike her, I can't stop making sure I remain focused on seeing something and saying something when something needs to be said. She went on to say she doubts that I deal with any racism and I let her know that if any Black person is still dealing with racism...then I'm still dealing with it. I might have more microaggressions that just a look or a quick snap could deal with...but it is still there.
See...just because she can identify with me because we have so many things in common, she thinks I'm "not like the other Blacks" who encounter racist crap. She didn't say THAT...but that's essentially what she said. I have no doubt that should something racist ever happen to me, she'd be on the forefront demanding justice, but she might not consider it worth her time to demand the same justice for a poor Black person she doesn't have as much in common with whom she has never met.
I don't have that luxury to not care or not WANT to care.
Just this morning my husband and I were talking about how the conviction and level of hate among some of these people we've seen in pictures is the same level of conviction and hate seen in the pictures from 1957 surrounding the Little Rock Nine.
That was just 60 years ago. Your parents and grandparents are older than 60 years old. That's not that long ago.
Keep talking.
