Some Americans view the police killings of Black men and boys as acceptable as part of a history of oppression. Some Americans view the disparate COVID-19 rates along racial lines as inevitable considering racial differences. Some Americans view redlining as necessary to maintain racial order.
Others are simply neutral about the killings, disparities and inequalities; it’s easy to block out these realities for those they don’t personally effect. However, being neutral is the same as being on the side of the oppressor.
Still others view these facts as pure evil. Black Americans are 13% of the population in the United States but 40% of all homeless people. Black people are 3.5 times more likely to be stopped and killed by police than White people. Black youth are up to 11 times more likely to be ushered into the school-to-prison pipeline than White youth. These statistics can be viewed from two very different perspectives.
Our country can no longer linger in the middle on these issues. Let’s pick a side and stick with it. Do we want to choose the side of continuing racism? Do we want to choose neutrality? Or do we want to pick the side of ending racism and the racial hierarchy of White supremacy?
Here in Oakland, this racial hierarchy exists everywhere. The police shooting of Oscar Grant is a famous example. The de facto redlined city is another. Look around. Who is cleaning the streets, what are the identities of most homeless individuals, who is most affected by brutal policing, who is most likely to be a maid rather than a surgeon?
We have a racial hierarchy in America in which White Americans are at the top: White people can be White supremacists and hardly get punished, have the privilege to walk outside and not get shot by police because of racial profiling, and more. Others don’t.
What we want to do with this hierarchy is the real question facing America today. We can remain neutral and allow racism to persist. Those of us who don’t experience the reality of racism can simply ignore it.
However, we also have an obligation. History has its eyes on us, and if we truly wish for an equal society, we need to do our duty now to end racism. The racism we see today is part of the cycle of history, and we are stuck in the normal flow right now where it will take many more years before we can put a stop to police brutality and racism. But if we want to end racism and live in an equal society right now, we can work to alter the flow … it will simply require those with privilege to step up and join the movement. We can no longer be ostriches with our blissfully ignorant heads in the sand about this issue because even if the ostriches feel safe and oblivious under the sand, they are suffocating, too.
I call on individuals and our leaders to act. We need a period of reckoning with our past and our present. Educate yourselves, educate the community; Oakland, study and put out statements on the effects of systemic racism in the community. Then we all must move toward action. That could mean organizing for change, protesting in the streets, looking into diversity and inclusivity at your workplace, or educating peers who do happen to benefit from racial privilege. It means advocating for an end to police brutality, a remedy for decades of redlining, and a solution to end the wealth gap. For the city government, perhaps this reconstruction period also means working on reforms in policing and housing, passing reparations or more.
It’s time to end the racial hierarchy that harms everyone on the top and bottom. It’s time for change, and you are necessary in making or breaking it. Your inaction can feel inconsequential, but added up with all the other people’s inaction, it makes a big wave. Your actions, on a similar note, also add up to a huge wave. Which wave will you be a part of?
Olivia Links is a 17-year-old high school student.
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Opinion: Neutrality toward racism promotes continued injustice - East Bay Times
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