Ending racism starts with each of us

To the editor:

George Floyd is dead, but racism is alive. Floyd was a black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. His death is the latest example of people of color suffering and dying from racism in this country. Data shows that people of color disproportionately get sick and die from COVID-19, experience higher rates of violence from law enforcement, and have less access to loans to start businesses or to jobs that provide food and shelter for their families. Those of us who are part of the white majority need to ask, why is this so?

Racism is not just individual acts of discrimination. Racism is a political economic, and social system that gives unjust privilege to a certain group of people, and in the U.S., that group is white people. Because white people are the ones who gain from this system of privilege, it is the job of white people to end that system.

People may say that racism doesn’t exist here in Shawano County, but I’m willing to bet the people saying that are white. If Shawano County is similar to the rest of the country, and I believe we are, then racism exists here. The need to end our racist system exists here as well.

To do that, a good first step might be for white people, ourselves included, to better understand how people of color experience racism and how we, the white majority, benefit from this racist system. The death of George Floyd is another horrific moment where we have a choice to make. Will we continue to ignore the anger and pain that has resulted from a long history of violence, discrimination and economic oppression, or will we take advantage of this moment to learn and change our actions and our society?

To make change, we need our media and educational organizations to research and share information about how racism manifests itself in Shawano County. In turn, we need to use that information to change laws and policies at the local, state and national level that end racism.

Change may be difficult for those of us in the dominant, white society. In the long run, each of us will be better off in a world that equally respects the dignity, welcomes the gifts, and empowers the life of each person and community, regardless of their skin color, culture or background.

Dan and Laura Robinson, Shawano