Human beings are hard-wired to view others through the lens of race. Overcoming bigotry requires the higher mind.
This is my background — and how I discovered my own racism:
My first direct experience of violence occurred when a young black boy on a second grade playground demanded my lunch money, and then punched me in the mouth when I refused.
In middle school I was sucker-punched by another black boy. Later that same year, two black classmates picked me up and stuffed me into a garbage can.
Seven years later I was mugged by four black men in Atlanta. My arm still bears a seven inch scar where a steel plate was used to put the broken bone back together. My wrist was broken in three places.
A year after, I was walking down another sidewalk when I saw a black man approaching wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase. As he met me, he suddenly whirled around. I nearly decked him. He took no notice, and continued back the way he had come. Perhaps this older, distinguished-looking gentleman had forgotten something at the office. Whatever the case, it was clear that my reaction had been based entirely upon his race — and no doubt, shaped by my former experiences.
I realized: I have a problem with racism.
Some would say, "Of course you do! Who wouldn't after what you've been through?"
If you are black in America, you likely have experienced at least as much abuse at the hands of white people as I have from black people. You have developed certain expectations and reactions based upon your perceptions of white people.
That is understandable.
It is also bigotry.
A little more background on me: Pictured below is Willie Jerome Manning. Manning is on death row in Mississippi, convicted of two double-murders.
Given my own experiences with black violence, should I believe that Manning is a murderer? That might be understandable.
But this is what I know about Willie's case: He was railroaded. The witnesses have recanted. The evidence was circumstantial. His trials were shams.
This is why in 2013, I joined with the Innocence Project in calling for a stay of execution in Willie's case. I reached out to black and progressive organizations in Mississippi, asking for help. According to Facebook analytics, my posts reached over 500,000 people in a week. We halted Willie's execution — with one hour to spare.
Did I do this for the love of Willie? Because I know that he is innocent? Because I have vanquished all of my own inherent prejudices?
Of course not .
I did it because it was the right thing to do, and for the love of justice, progress and human liberty. I did it because you can't judge somebody by looking at him. These values transcend my instinctual and experiential programming. They are functions of my higher mind.
To my lizard brain, the two BLM activists who took the stage in Seattle to disrupt presidential candidate Bernie Sanders were angry, dangerous black people.
But my higher mind knows that these activists did not say to each other, 'Hey, let's go attack a random white man and piss off a whole bunch of white progressives for no reason.' They were trying to save the lives of black Americans who are being slaughtered by police.
To the two BLM activists, the 15,000 angry white people were no doubt monstrous (put yourself in their shoes, and imagine the courage required).
But white progressives didn't say, 'Hey, let's shut out and marginalize Black Lives Matter and refuse to talk about their issues.' Progressives have always been on the forefront of fighting for racial justice.
I didn't look into Willie Jerome Manning's eyes and think to myself, "I trust him." I felt the opposite. And then I put that aside, and looked at the evidence.
Bigotry is so understandable, so completely normal, that we've actually developed a legal principle around it: Justice is blind. We know that people often misjudge others based upon prejudices. A defendant on trial may be a nasty person, stupid, disagreeable -- but that doesn't mean he killed the victim. Ideally, we're supposed to weigh the evidence and apply the law impartially, specifically to mitigate our own prejudices .
This is the evidence:
BLM is saying: "We demand that systemic racism come to end."
Progressives are saying: "We demand that systemic racism come to an end."
Here are two more objective facts:
1) Black people have very little political power in America.
2) Progressives have very little political power in America. Progressives control just 70 seats out of 536 elective offices in the national government.
If we're going to achieve our common goal, then we're going to have to set aside the lizard brain and use our higher minds to unite. And judge each other on the content of our character — not on the color of our skin.
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Author and activist Sean R. Shealy lives near San Luis Obispo, California.