Taking a Stand

I'll be honest.  I haven't follow much of the recent shootings that have occurred.  I know two black men were gunned down for what looks like no real threat.  I know many police in Dallas have lost their lives or were injured in protest.  I know there have been many peaceful protests all around the county.  I know there are many people that still don't understand the #BlackLivesMatter movement.  I'm not here to explain that to you.  Because if you don't understand by now, I don't think you are really trying to understand.  It's not that complicated.  There is still a huge race problem in America.

We all stereotype. We all judge.  We see a person that "looks" a certain way and assume things about them.  I know this because I've seen it firsthand.  I've done it.  We make judgements based on the first look.  We've been taught this since we were kids.  "Make a good first impression" they say.  Most often this is based upon looks.  Like when  guy on a motorcycle pulls up in leather, long hair and tattoos.  What do you think?  You see a group of skateboarders, what are you going to assume they are up to?  How about a group of teens hiding around a discreet part of your small town?  How about when you realize your 2 and 4 year old go upstairs and have been quiet for 5 minutes?   Or a group of young black men sitting on a park bench laughing and having a good time?  What are they laughing at?

We make assumptions when we come across these circumstances.   Do we base our assumptions on past experience?  Are we only using caution?  Maybe.  But since when are all bikers the same?  When are all young black men the same?  When are all skateboarders the same?  When are all barefoot, long-haired, tatted up guys the same?  They aren't.  And we have to stop treating people by what they look like.  Until we do, nothing changes.  And if people keep looking at you and treating someone a certain way, guess what?  They'll start acting like it.  Don't believe me...look at any book on human development.  If a skateboarder is going to be treated like a criminal when they aren't ever doing anything wrong, they are going to start acting like one.  Why not?  People think you are anyway right?  It gets exhausting trying to reverse stereotypes.


That's when it's time for people like me, a middle class white dude to do something.  There are a lot of people groups that are sick and tired of fighting for a change.  Of fighting for equality.  And it's time people like me take over.  And by fight...it doesn't have to be one.  But I can see how it may have escalated to one.   We are all humans.  We are all people.  We all have our own uniqueness.  We all have our own flaws.   That doesn't make any of us any less human.  Stop judging motive.  Stop assuming.  Stop stereotyping.  If you really want to judge someone, go to school.  Get your degree and be a judge.  Sign up for jury duty.

A friend of mine told me once I needed to pick a side to stand on.  I wanted to stand in the middle, because if I stand in the middle of the road it stops traffic on both sides.  Which is true, but sometimes you need to pick a side and stand with the people on the one side of the road who are stuck.  That try to get out of this hole they were thrown into.  All the people passing by look on, "not my problem, I didn't put them there."  But they aren't doing anything to help them out.   They are maintaining status quo.   But what if everyone just stopped and helped.  That friend that told me that, always stopped for people that broke down.  Picked up hitchhikers too.  He's a real stand up dude.  And often got berated for his good deeds.  He was right.  You need to pick a side.  Until that side is so full of people it overflows and forces everyone to mingle with each other.  When there is no longer one line in the middle of division.