Hi Steve,

I'm glad you came back!

To your point about focusing on what we have in common, I agree that all of us, as people, have a set of universal wants and needs and that it's easier to appeal to that than to point out our differences. I don't think the differences are inside of us as people, but outside, in the way the systems in our country have been set up to separate us.

I think your heart is in the right place, and that's always a good start. The thing is that there's a through line from slavery to how we got here today. The 13th amendment that gave freedom to black slaves included a caveat that all men would be free unless they were criminals. Sounds like a good plan, except that when white people set the slaves free, they didn't know what to do with them, and they began immediately to criminalize them by arresting them for minor infractions like loitering etc. Every image a white person on TV saw of a black person was of the worst stereotypes, and this perpetuated their maltreatment. In the Civil Rights era, the people in charge killed or jailed a generation of black activists, leaving the community unable to mobilize against threats coming down from white power structures in the 70s and 80s, like the CIA-sponsored crack epidemic etc. I will highly highly recommend that you check out the documentary "13th" (it's on Netflix)—it shows how these attacks from the government were racially motivated, not just random choices that disproportionately affected black folks. The people in charge did not pretend it was about anything else (at least, not when they were talking to each other).

So I think step one is recognizing black people are full people who deserve to live without harassment and unfair treatment from the state (which your comment seems to recognize) but THEN, recognizing that our system here is full of laws that disproportionately punish black people, making it harder for them to get mortgages, making it more likely for their neighborhoods to be overpoliced, making them more likely to be shot by police while unarmed and for minor infractions (white people are also shot by police, but usually when they are armed and actively doing something life-threatening to the police--not like the videos we see with excessive force being used when someone is pulled over for a taillight being out, etc). And then we have to clear all the rot out of these systems and punish the people who used these laws to brutalize people and to divide us. Not just law enforcement, it goes all the way to the top. We also have to look at our politicians, our laws, how money gets into politics, etc. If we don't recognize that this is a structural issue and fight that aspect of it, it's just warm vibes that don't really help prevent it from happening again. So I think being part of the solution is knowing how to spot unjust laws, racist uses of our tax money, etc., and using our political power as taxpayers to set things right.

I hope that tracks for you but again I highly highly recommended "13th"... it really connects all the dots about why we are where we are today. I think many Americans have the impression that things were all good after the Civil Rights movement and that black people could choose how their lives went from there, and that what's happening now is a random uptick in police violence, racist policies, etc. and not a continuation of the same issues that have always plagued this community. Really the only thing that changed is we have cell phones and video now, showing us the things black people have been experiencing ever since being set "free," and how they're experiencing these things by design of our country.

I appreciate you coming back, Steve. If you check out the doc, let me know what you think!