Hold Up the Mirror
If you have a problem with and criticize Kamala Harris because she was a prosecutor who worked in a systemically racist institution, please hold a mirror up to yourself before passing judgement.
If you work/worked for a bank or financial institution---remember banks/financial institutions overtly in the past and now covertly discriminate against Black/African Americans by refusing to grant loans or by doing predatory lending.
If you work/worked in the medical/health care field---remember the medical experimentation that was regularly practiced on Black/African Americans because doctors believed, and many still do, that Black/African Americans do not experience physical pain as severely as whites.
If you work/worked in the real estate industry—remember how neighborhoods were redlined so Black/African Americans could not get loans to buy houses and how block busting resulted in white flight to the suburbs.
If you work/worked for an institution of higher education—remember how major colleges and universities refused to admit Black/African American students and how non-diverse college and university teaching faculties are even today.
If you work/worked for a public school—remember how segregated schools were and continue to be and how Black/African American students lag behind in achievement.
If you work/worked in corporate America or industry—remember some of these industries in the past used FORCED convict labor that was worse than slavery and put dead convicts in mass graves and that many businesses today still use prison labor, paying pennies to produce their products.
If you attend a church of any denomination—remember in the past, many religious leaders condoned slavery and owned slaves themselves and that churches today remain largely segregated institutions.
We're all complicit. I think of the 30 plus years I worked as a teacher and administrator in public education, even at some of the highest decision-making levels, and I knew I was working in a system steeped in racism. My job was to use whatever power I could scrape together to try and change things from within. And that's the crux of the matter---POWER. When you don't have it, you can't fight as effectively as if you did. So everyone needs to step back and admit they've been co-opted by systemic racism at one point or another in their careers, and hopefully, they were able to figure out a way to make a dent in the system when they were.
Finally, even if you never worked for any of the above, if you used the services of them, you’re part of the racist system, too. I refuse to throw stones at Kamala Harris or anyone else who has worked at any job anywhere in America because America is at its root a racist society in which one group dominates another, therefore it’s impossible NOT to be part of the system. Our only hope is to take a stand against racism in whatever sphere of influence we find ourselves. Systemic Racism: See it, Say it, Confront it and ultimately DISMANTLE IT.
