There are things that need to be said. There are things that people are afraid to say now, frightened they might violate the latest PC taboo. But we cannot all jump into the same ditto pools without thinking, without understanding what we are doing or causing. Supporting one group for righteous reasons does not mean that there must be wholesale dumping of the needs and inequities that co-exist in the world. We are all in this together and ignoring the needs of all simply opens the door to other and more targeted hate campaigns and subtleties of prejudice.
Black lives matter, yes, they certainly do. Being pulled out of cars for no reason other than DWB or to soothe some irritation of a police person, is manifestly wrong. However, they are not the only ones as brutal as it is. My dad and brother were beaten damned hard, thrown incommunicado into cells, hidden in the system, charged with assault and resisting arrest, all for the crime of defending - verbally - a friend who happened to be Black, who was driving my dad's car with permission. It makes no never mind that it was thrown out as the damage had been done.
Law enforcement has always been subjected to membership of people who should not be there, who take away from the good ones, the earnest people there to serve and protect. Must something be done? Of course, but all must be protected, from prostitutes harassed for free sex to kids standing on a street, to anyone who just somehow irritates an officer. Color matters, yes, but so do the rights of all and yes, while the All Lives Matter slogan has been usurped by haters, the plaint is valid. All lives do matter. ALL.
Here is another one. White privilege. Am I White? My skin tone is kind of whitish pinkish reddish mixed together, with a semi permanent overcoating of sun browning by virtue of living in Florida, However, there are those who consider me and my people, fellow Jews, as members of the 'mud people' class. That is fine by me, but please do not then classify me as an enemy, blessed with some kind of privilege that does not apply. Every Jew I know had to struggle for a place in the job firmament. Times were when there were quotas against Jews for universities, for professions, just as blocked out of housing by covenants as any other group facing discrimination. I dare to say that there are most probably still clubs and country clubs where Jews are not welcome, persona non grata.
As a member of another group facing discrimination and hard knocks, I am a woman. I had to fight for every advancement I made in my career and went through most of it knowing that males who were my counterparts, doing the same job, were being paid a good deal more. I saw friends in other careers and places facing harassment of all varieties. I saw ceilings being hit and remaining unbroken. And our rights to our own bodies are continuously being attacked, particularly irritating when men lead the charge on that! But for sure, go get your paid for Viagra!
Actually, if we are to press the rights of minorities, then Jews should be at the head of the line. We are a minority in the world thanks to constant pogroms, burnings, murders, forced conversions, and 'scientifically' planned attempts at annihilation of us. And nearly succeeding this last time. We are a minority of one as we attempt to have one state of our own, even as there are what- 27- or so Islamic states? Only Jews cannot have a country? Sounds like discrimination, violation of the rights of a minority to me.
Every group has others imagining things and then hauling off and campaigning, overtly or covertly, against them. Migrants have been vilified for decades, mistreated, called vile names, ignored, as their children become productive and educated members of society. We have hated immigration, so many of the ruling class, that bitter and vicious laws were passed, which resulted in the loss of life to millions.
So does it matter the color, the religion, the ethnicity, even the population figures, if we are to deal with prejudice and hatred? The answer is no. Most definitely no. The sooner we come to realize that, the sooner we come to terms with that, the sooner we can actually work on practical ways to combat this cancer of society. We all have our grievances. We all have to suffer the wrongs perpetrated on those with less power, less money, for no one is immune to it. So while we remember our own personal aggravations and awful experiences, let us all admit to each other, to ourselves, that we all have suffered from the same disease in various forms, with the same results.
One blatant result is the fact that we have allowed some people to fail upwards, to reach positions they have no business reaching. They have placed us in danger, real existential danger. People are going hungry who have never known hunger. People are losing homes, apartments, living with children on the streets. People are without jobs, without recourse, as the contempt of others towards them grows, most particularly now from and by the GOP, led by that demented and dangerous lunatic, Trump.
Here are a few suggestions we might work on. First, realize and accept that under that skin, under that religious belief, we are the same, interchangeable, organ for organ, blood for blood. Understand that we face the same dangers. Lunatics who gin up cabals of child sex rings by prominent Democrats, of course, and out of pizza stores too! We face a virus that is killing so many of us, cruelly, alone, and a vaccine is most manifestly NOT out in October despite what the idiot states, and when it does come out guess what! Oh such a shock, but there will most definitely NOT be enough to go around. Guess who will get theirs first. Try DC for that answer!
Jobs, education, environment, economy as a whole, international relations, the armed race heating up again, the safety of our children, and on and on. All that matters is that we are people. People together. People. No one has a lock on the inequality of it all, on the unfairness of it all. We all have our whines and gripes and justifications. If we but try hard, harder yet, to put them aside and recognize our common humanity, how much farther will we be be able to go. Channel that energy of violence into positive energy and let us make progress rather than more hatred and ever more destruction.
First step: look in the mirror and recognize humanity.
Second step: Reach out for places you can contribute to and towards and with.
Third step: VOTE!!
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