Today in society, we are forced to live in a new world, one where all the rules have changed.
Since the emergence of COVID-19 we have been constantly told to embrace our new norm. We have to be cautious of one another and fearful of the fact that we all could be carrying an unseen enemy. We are told to social distance ourselves from one another, but what if I told you that social distancing is not the new norm at all. In fact, it was a precedent set hundreds of years ago, where people were distanced from others for no other reason than power, greed and control. This also created a pandemic and this pandemic is called systemic oppression - and the direct effect of this is cultural distancing, a practice that is still the norm today.
Who am I to say if America has a racism problem, as we are all the human race. Things that do not coexist can’t strive in the same ecosystem. Therefore, cats can’t mate with dogs or bears don’t run with wolves. But Blacks, Whites, Latinos and any other ethnicity can procreate and strive in the same environments if given equal opportunities. So, is there a race issue? It depends on who you ask, but I know for damn sure there’s a pigmentation problem.
For centuries, citizens of this country have been oppressed and denigrated because of the color of their skin. Instead of six feet apart, it was white’s only. When it came to education, schools were segregated, and for a society founded on God the vast majority of us go to different churches still to this day. So, I ask. Why do we have cultural distance? Is it because the scales are tilted to make one human feel more superior than the other? Is it because in places where poverty is present, violence and crime strives. As the most powerful nation on earth, how do we solve this, how do we become culturally united. To do this, we have to acknowledge the problem and have uncomfortable conversations to come up with a resolution that represents and affords all of its citizen’s equality and economic opportunities.
One of my favorite quotes is from John F. Kennedy. “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop those talents.” Therefore, I say if we do not learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it. As the world rallies together to find a vaccine for COVID-19 and end all this mass fear and social distancing, we need to rally together to finally end cultural distancing and truly become one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for ALL!
Comments