I can’t tell you how amazing it was to read a facebook post from a friend. It started with those words…
I used to be a racist…
Obviously I won’t say who, as something like this is something them may be ok with sharing with close friends but not the general public. People will judge although they should likely look in the mirror first.
This person outlined how they were not what you typically think of as a racist but rather someone who would have said 10 years ago all lives matter. They had spent most of their earlier years blind to the reality of inequality of women, different races,, people with disabilities, etc.
With a small number of people, I was named as having a significant impact on their world view. So much so, they were very happy to post black lives matter on their facebook timeline and call for the eradication of racism now. Personally this was incredible to see and read completely out of the blue.
I was blown away by this, and it gives me real hope this time we can together make enough of a dent in systematic racism. That is what we are fighting not police, not the judges, we are fighting a system of privilege which spans centuries.