I am often jolted by what occurs in these Divided States of America.

Jolted by those little indicators, the in your face reminders, and an occasional gut punch. All of these experiences point to the deep seeded, historical inequity between people.  They remind you of the polarization between people, groups, parties, and communities.  Not just in our country, nor only in this time. 

You just can’t miss it. Unless you do.  

And we have.  For centuries.  That’s why it’s so important to stay awake to the societal injustice at every level of interaction.  To understand why racism is a huge public health issues. And how being a minority creates risk for disease due to disparity in every system: environmental, food, medical care, safety, education, financial, gender equality, mental health, and the list goes on. 

The haves and the have nots.  The battles between groups for power, survival, rights, recognition, life. 

I hope we don’t go back to sleep. We’ve been unconscious long enough.  I pray we stay alert to the subtle ways we harm one another. And the small to big steps we may take toward reparation and healing. Every day. 

I hope we remain aware, become educated, and learn to have meaningful conversations.  Open and willing to stop when we become defensive or assaultive. To take a breather and find the space within us that just got activated.  To clean that up. And try that conversation one more time. 

Sometimes it is so overwhelming that you just gotta hit the pause button.

Here’s the thing about my blindness. I grew up in white suburbia.  With liberal, compassionate parents. In the Northeast region of the US. Exposed to different cultures and friends in different neighborhoods and different countries. Once I graduated college and throughout my adult life, I was entrenched in communities with people who faced all of the disadvantages and struggles to survive that we are hearing about. 

Systemic racism was the way of life and affected them on every level.

My work, professional relationships, and friendships invited me to participate in many meaningful, uncomfortable conversations. My travels led me to places on the planet that would break me in sorrow.  All this led to tiny actions with the intent to support, respect, join, and empower.  In all of these experiences, I was aware of what was most primary.

I saw them as people. Different than me in ways.  Similar to me in ways.

So I was prepared to be uncomfortable, disturbed even, when my husband and I recently watched the movie, Just Mercy.  I just didn’t expect so many sucker punches or to have my blinders ripped off so violently. 

I needed to hit the Pause button just to breathe. A few times.

Haunted by what happened when an attorney first went to the jail to see his clients, my sleep and mind was disrupted.  A simple sentence. Pause. The collusion of individuals in a racist system. Pause. The way a life could be discarded on a whim. Pause. I was shocked when I recognized that in these Divided States of America people think and act the way they did in that movie. Not just back then. Now.  In lots of places. 

Intellectually I know this. Yet, my blindness and sleepiness lulled me back into my tiny world. 

Where people see each other as people. And, as long as you don’t venture too far out of your neighborhood, you don’t witness the subtle – overt ways people are mistreated. Every day.  In our time. It’s easy to stay in this little bubble. I’ve certainly been living in mine.