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The first step is admitting this IS who we are.
If Americans want to fight racism, we must stop lying to ourselves.
There’s this phrase I’ve heard for most of my life, but especially in the last few years: “This is not who we are as Americans.”
I heard it after Trump won in 2016. I heard it when Nazis marched on Charlottesville, Virginia, and I’ve heard it a lot in the days following the attempted coup by Trump loyalists in Washington. Each time it’s been in response to a demonstration of the racism and white supremacy that poisons America.
And here’s the thing: It’s a lie. This is most definitely who we are.
In addiction treatment, the saying goes that “the first step is admitting you have a problem.” Addicts live in a state of denial, ignoring the clear symptoms of their addiction as their life spirals out of control. To break that spiral, a person has to recognize the pattern so they can break it.
To say the United States is addicted to racism is hardly metaphorical. Racism built our nation; enslaved Africans were among the first non-indigenous people in the Americas, and institutionalized racism was a tool used to justify a system that treated humans as livestock. Racism expanded our nation, in the form of wanton genocide against native people. Racism is why we…
