Last Wednesday,
the home of NBA superstar, LeBron James, was vandalized with a spray-painted
racial slur.[1]
The same day, a
noose was discovered at an exhibition at the National Museum of African
American History and Culture in Washington D.C.
That was the second time within a week that a noose was found on
Smithsonian grounds.[2]
And these incidents
follow only days after an alleged while supremacist killed two Good Samaritans
and wounded a third attempting to intervene as he viciously harassed two young
apparently Muslim women on a light rail train.[3]
CNN described
this as “America’s Ugly Week of Hate.”[4]
In a televised statement, Mr. James said, "My family is safe. At the end of the day, they're safe, and that's the most important."
"But
it just goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of
America. Hate in America, especially for African-Americans, is living every
day. And even though that it's concealed most of the time, we know people hide
their faces and will say things about you — when they see you, they smile at
your face. It's alive every single day. ...
"No
matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how
many people admire you, being black in America is tough. And we got a long way
to go for us as a society and for us as African-Americans until we feel equal
in America."[5]
The founding
director of the African American Museum stated, the incident "is a painful
reminder of the challenges that African-Americans continue to face," the
museum's founding director, Lonnie Bunch, said in a statement. "The noose
has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity — a symbol of
extreme violence for African-Americans."[6]
I wrote about
the Portland tragedy last week.[7]
The attitude of
overt racism is just incomprehensible to me.
Today, in the 21st Century, I cannot wrap my mind around a
person who will condemn (or kill!) another just because of a different skin
color or religious belief.
Yesterday, I
wrote about Robert Kennedy. I have to
believe he would be shocked to see how little we have progressed in the
half-century since he worked and spoke to bring a bit more justice and equality
into our country.
As LeBron James
said, “Being black in America is tough.”
It just
shouldn’t have to be…..
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