Hate Takes the Bus is the columnist's response to the release over the weekend of the now infamous video of SAE members at Oklahoma singing a vile song.
Blow offers a column that I think is a must read. In it he points out that while Millennials are diverse and in general accepting of diversity that there is still persistent racism among some white young people, what we saw on display in the video. Unlike some, he was not surprised by what we saw, perhaps because he is too aware of the ongoing issues of racism in America.
And while he himself was involved with a fraternity in college (and as he reminds about which he wrote in his book, pointing out there some of the problems that can overwhelm the good intentions of fraternities) we need to remember the ongoing influence those who have pledged fraternities while at college have upon our government and our society.
He provides us data on the impact of racism.
And he concludes powerfully:
This is why the vileness displayed on that bus matters: It was a reflection of the distance that must still be covered, and the rigidity of racism and the casualness of hate. It can wear a smile and be set to a tune.
We have to understand what that hate is. Hate is never about the object of the hate but about what is happening in the mind of the hater. It is in the darkness of that space that fear and ignorance merge and morph. It comes out in an impulse to mark and name, to deny and diminish, to exclude and threaten, to elevate the self by putting down the other.
What happened on that bus was bigger than just that bus; it was a reflection of where we are.
It was, and Blow provides the context to help us understand more fully.
Read the column.
Pass it on.